PANCETTA-WRAPPED SHRIMP WITH ZUCCHINI PUREE
HERB-CRUSTED BAKED MONKFISH WITH EGGPLANT CAPONATA
BRANZINO WITH HEIRLOOM CHERRY TOMATOES, FAVA BEAN AND MINT PUREE, AND ASPARAGUS SAUCE
HALIBUT WITH WHITE ASPARAGUS RISOTTO
PANCETTA-WRAPPED VEAL CUTLET WITH RADICCHIO, APPLES, AND WHITE-WINE SAUCE
RACK OF LAMB WITH POTATO PUREE
NEW YORK STRIP STEAK WITH VANILLA SAUCE
BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS WITH CHANTERELLES AND SUNCHOKE PUREE
Il secondo for me is the most important course of the meal. The main course is what can make or break a dinner. If your appetizer is just OK but the main course blows you away, you will have a great memory of that meal. If the appetizer was awesome but the main course was disappointing, most likely that dinner will leave you with a bitter taste.
I try to keep food choices cohesive for my meals; a seafood or fish primo calls for a seafood or fish main course, with white wine most of the time, and a meat primo calls for a meat main course and red wine.
This chapter showcases a variety of dishes; there are a few very homey and traditional dishes, a few MasterChef classics, and some restaurant-quality recipes that will amaze your guests. You’ll learn how to make frico, a classic potato and cheese dish from my region of Friuli, and cotechino, the most traditional dish of my Christmas holidays. The vanilla steak and rack of lamb will leave your friends speechless, and when you make the halibut and my famous short ribs (the ones that helped me win the competition), you will feel like you are in the MasterChef kitchen cooking with me.
America, meet frico! I was so excited when I got to cook this dish in the MasterChef finals (see this page for the story on how this Italian got to cook cheese), as it gave me the honor of paying tribute to my roots on national television. Frico represents where I come from, as it’s one of the most traditional dishes of Friuli. If I don’t name my first restaurant Luca, I just might call it Frico. It’s a humble and simple dish, like the people of Friuli; it’s made with potatoes, onions, and cheese—all ingredients that were and still are never missing from any kitchen in that area. It can be served as a main course or as an accompaniment to a meal. Traditionally it is served with polenta—plain, creamy, or grilled.
Frico is traditionally made with Montasio cheese, which is an important cheese in the cuisine of Friuli, but that does not mean you can’t use other cheeses instead. You just need a young cheese, one that is not aged more than three months, and a second cheese that is aged for more than six months. Avoid any cheese with a bite in it such as blue cheese and creamy cheeses; mild-flavored cheeses work best. You might use Piave or Asiago if you cannot find Montasio. On MasterChef I had to use Grana Padano, which is the king of Italian cheeses, and I matched it with a very young Gruyère. It doesn’t sound as if it would be the best combination, but it actually worked. These are two cheeses you could easily find at the supermarket.
I would not suggest serving this dish in the middle of summer, as you would probably melt like the cheese inside it. This is a fall/winter dish that needs to be served with lots and lots of red wine—even better if the wine is from Friuli.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 white onions, very thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 g) russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
8 ounces (225 g) young Montasio cheese, cut into small cubes
8 ounces (225 g) aged Montasio cheese, cut into small cubes
Bring a small pot of water to a slow simmer over low heat and keep it warm.
Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, until the onions are very soft, taking care not to let them get caramelized and adding a little hot water if the pan starts to get dry.
First, raise the heat to medium. This is where it gets a little tricky: Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the potatoes right into the pan with the onion (if that seems a little daunting, quickly grate them into a bowl and add them to the pan all at once). Using two wooden spoons, work the potatoes and onions together until they are fully incorporated into a very sticky and wet paste; this will take about 5 minutes. Work that paste! We want to make it as homogenous as possible.
Add the cheeses to the potato mixture. Using the two wooden spoons, work the mixture—grabbing it, lifting it up, stretching it, and repeating— until all the cheese is melted and incorporated and you have a uniform paste; this will take about 5 minutes.
Smooth the mixture into an even layer to cover the pan’s bottom and cook until lightly browned on the bottom, 5 to 10 minutes (use a spatula to lift and check on the color of the bottom crust). Place a large round plate upside down on top of the pan. Turn off the heat, then very rapidly invert the pan and the plate together so the frico ends up on the plate. Set the pan back on the stove, slide the frico back into the pan, and turn the heat to medium-low. Continue to cook until a light brown crust forms on the bottom, 5 to 10 minutes.
I suggest serving this classic on a large wooden tray or even a cutting board.
LUCA’S TIPS: Three simple but very important steps will give you a perfect frico: 1) Cook down the onions very slowly; 2) Grate the potatoes—don’t cut, chop, or shave them; and 3) Most important, you absolutely need a nonstick pan to get that all-important crust. Don’t even waste your time if your nonstick is old and scratched—it will be impossible to flip your frico. It just won’t work!
PANCETTA-WRAPPED SHRIMP WITH ZUCCHINI PUREE
Gamberoni con Pancetta e Puree di Zucchine
Whenever you go to a seafood restaurant on the Adriatic coast, you will find a grilled gamberoni (shrimp) dish on the menu. My shrimp, wrapped in pancetta and served over a zucchini puree, kicks this standard up a notch. If you’re ever in an authentic Italian butcher shop, look for lardo di colonnata and give it a try; this type of cured fatback is even fattier than pancetta and is simply amazing.
12 jumbo shrimp, peeled but with the tail left on
1 large potato, peeled and cut into cubes
1 cup (115 g) very finely chopped leek, white and light green parts
2 zucchini (about 10 ounces/280 g), finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¾ to 1 cup (180 to 240 ml) vegetable stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
Place 2 slices of pancetta on a work surface, place a shrimp on top, and wrap the shrimp in the pancetta (you may need to overlap the pancetta depending on how big your shrimp are); give it a little squeeze to seal it. Place on a plate and repeat with the remaining shrimp and pancetta. Refrigerate.
Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, reduce the heat, and simmer until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large sauté pan over low heat. Add the leeks and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened, then add the zucchini, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 to 7 minutes more, until the zucchini is softened. Add the potatoes and ¾ cup (180 ml) stock, cover, and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat, transfer to a food processor or blender, and process until smooth, adding more stock through the hole in the top, if needed, to make a very smooth puree. Season with salt and pepper, add the mint and tarragon, and process to combine. At the very end, with the machine still running, drizzle in the olive oil and then immediately stop the machine—this will give your puree a nice sheen. Return the puree to the pan and keep warm until ready to serve.
Heat a drizzle of oil in a large sauté pan until screaming hot. Add 6 of the pancetta-wrapped shrimp and sear until the bottom is golden brown, about 90 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat, quickly flip the shrimp using tongs, return the pan to the heat, and sear until the second side is golden brown and the shrimp turn pink, another 90 seconds or so. Transfer the shrimp to a plate. Repeat with the remaining 6 shrimp. Return the first batch of shrimp to the pan, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 2 minutes more.
Spoon the zucchini puree into the center of each of four plates and top each plate with 3 shrimp. Serve immediately.
You can use any type of white-fleshed fish, such as cod or halibut, instead of the shrimp. Cut the fish into pieces and wrap them the same way you’d wrap the shrimp. If you are wrapping the fish in pancetta, sear it the way you did for the shrimp and finish it in the oven for about 3 minutes at 375°F (190°C).
LUCA’S TIPS: You can turn the zucchini puree into a soup by adding some vegetable stock to thin it a little.
If you are using lardo di colonnata, make the entire recipe in the oven, baking it for about 5 minutes at 375°F (190°C) so the lard will completely melt into the fish.
In case you haven’t noticed, I love pancetta, and I also love to wrap food in it! It’s a very simple thing to do, and the flavor of any food goes through the roof when you wrap it in pancetta. Pancetta can be very delicate, and it’s almost impossible to slice at home, so please have your butcher do it for you. If you find the pancetta is hard to handle and starts to tear, try freezing it for about 30 minutes before wrapping, then refrigerate the food you’ve just wrapped until it’s ready to go into the pan. (This isn’t something I would do in my kitchen, but if you’re new to pancetta wrapping, it can make things easier for you.) This allows the pancetta to melt right into the food, which will make your taste buds very happy and get you plotting how to wrap other foods in pancetta!
For our anniversary, my wife, Cate, and I treated ourselves to a meal at a restaurant here in New York City called Marea. It’s the restaurant where Cate, my best man, and I went for lunch after Cate and I eloped. Marea is Chef Michael White’s modern Italian seafood restaurant, and it earned him two Michelin stars. It is my favorite restaurant in Manhattan. The last time we went there, I had a phenomenal brodetto di pesce, a classic seafood soup with a brandy broth and toasted ciabatta. I ate it very slowly because I did not want it to be over, and that soup was my inspiration for this recipe. It’s a pretty long recipe, but the individual steps are easy, and the final result is incredible.
You could be served this dish anywhere along the coast of Italy, from the Adriatic to the Amalfi coast. You’ll need some seafood stock for it, so when you buy your red snapper, ask the fish guy to clean and fillet them for you and bring the bones home to make a stock. I love to season my fish with a flavored salt, like black or red salt, and I particularly love smoky salt for the snapper. For something really different, I use a salt infused with lavender and oranges. But I leave it to you to get creative with your seasonings so you can give the soup your own personal touch.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup very finely chopped celery
⅔ cup (75 g) finely chopped leeks, white parts only
⅔ cup (70 g) finely chopped shallots
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
⅔ cup (120 g) pitted green olives
2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed
1 (28-ounce/795-g) can chopped San Marzano tomatoes (with juice)
1 cup (40 g) thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
8 head-on jumbo shrimp, peeled but with tail left on, and deveined
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
½ cup (120 ml) fish stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound (455 g) clams, cleaned (see this page)
1 pound (455 g) mussels, cleaned and debearded (see this page)
½ cup (120 ml) fish stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
½ cup (20 g) chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (optional)
4 (4-ounce/115-g) skin-on red snapper fillets
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the celery, leeks, shallots, and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened; add a little water if the pan starts to get dry. Season the octopus with salt and pepper, add it to the pan, and cook for 5 minutes to begin to soften it. Add the olives and capers and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the tomatoes (with juice), basil, and 1 cup (240 ml) of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with foil, and cook for about 45 minutes, until the octopus is tender. Using tongs, remove the octopus from the sauce and place it in a bowl. Grab a fine-mesh strainer and set it over a large bowl. Strain the sauce into the bowl; use the back of a spoon to push all the juices out. The result will be a clear reddish liquid (discard any solids in the strainer). This is the base for your broth.
MEANWHILE, WE’LL MAKE THE SHRIMP:
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil with the garlic and thyme over medium-high heat. When the pan is screaming hot, add the shrimp and sear them for 2 minutes or so, until they are nicely browned on the bottom (turn one to check). Turn the shrimp, add the brandy, and turn off the heat. With the lid to the pan nearby, carefully ignite the brandy with a long kitchen match or a burning wooden skewer. (This is called flambé, and it gives an incredible flavor.) The alcohol should burn off in a few seconds, and the flames will extinguish. If they don’t, quickly cover the pan with its lid. When the flames have subsided, transfer the shrimp to a plate. Turn the heat back to medium-high, add the stock to the pan with the shrimp cooking juices, and cook for 2 minutes, scraping the pan to remove any browned bits from the bottom. Strain the cooking liquid into a medium bowl and set aside. Discard any solids left in the strainer.
LET’S MOVE TO THE CLAMS AND MUSSELS:
Rinse and dry the sauté pan in which you cooked the shrimp. Add the oil and garlic and heat over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add the clams, mussels, wine, stock, and parsley. Cover and cook, shaking the pan often, just until the clams and mussels open, about 3 minutes. Discard any clams or mussels that don’t open. Transfer the clams and mussels to a medium bowl. Cook the pan liquids for about 2 minutes to concentrate the flavors. Strain the clam and mussel cooking liquid into the bowl containing the shrimp cooking liquid. Discard any solids left in the strainer.
Rinse and dry the sauté pan in which you cooked the clams and mussels. Cut 4 small (1-by-4-inch/2.5-by-10-cm) and 4 large (1-by-7-inch/2.5-by-17-cm) slices from the baguette. In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Arrange as many bread slices in the pan as can fit and toast for about 5 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. Sprinkle another tablespoon of oil over the top of the bread slices, then flip them and toast until golden brown and crisp on the second side, about 5 minutes more. The idea is to soak the bread in oil, then crisp it up on the outside so the bread is crunchy outside and nice and moist inside. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining bread.
Score the fish a few times with a knife; I like to trim the narrow part of the fillet to pretty up my presentation. Season with sea salt or flavored salt. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add the rosemary, then add the fish to the pan, skin-side down, pressing a few times on the fillets with a spatula for the first 30 seconds to prevent the fish from curling. Cook until 90 percent cooked through, about 3 minutes. Quickly flip the fish and cook for about 20 seconds more, until the fish is just cooked through (keep in mind that it will cook a little more when it gets topped with the broth). Remove from the heat.
FINALLY, WE’LL FINISH OUR BROTH:
While the fish is cooking, in a medium saucepan, combine the shrimp, clam, and mussel cooking liquid with the octopus cooking liquid. Set over medium heat, bring to a simmer, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to combine the flavors. Taste for seasoning and add some more salt, if needed, and the red pepper flakes, if you like it spicy. I personally don’t, but I won’t disagree with you if you do.
Add the octopus, shrimp, clams, and mussels to the seafood broth and heat just enough to warm them all up. Arrange the smaller pieces of bread in the middle of four soup or pasta bowls, dividing them evenly among the bowls. Place the red snapper fillets right on top of the bread, then divide the clams and mussels among the bowls, arranging them around the fish. Place the shrimp and octopus on top or around the fish, then add broth to cover the fish, about 1 cup (240 ml) per serving. Finish by placing the larger piece of bread on a diagonal over the side of the bowl. Serve immediately.
LUCA’S TIPS: This recipe takes a little organization, as it includes four different kinds of seafood cooked separately and all put together into the same dish at the end. If you organize your time efficiently, while the octopus is cooking you can make just about everything else—the shrimp, clams and mussels, and toasted bread, cooked one at a time in the same pan, rinsing the pan out between ingredients.
Use the Flip It and Kiss It technique from this page when cooking the red snapper fillets.
You could add chunks of potatoes to this dish, as they do in the south of Italy.
HERB-CRUSTED BAKED MONKFISH WITH EGGPLANT CAPONATA
Coda di Rospo con Caponata di Melanzane
Monkfish, called the “poor man’s lobster” because of the resemblance of its flesh to the fancy crustacean and its low price tag, is one of my favorite types of fish. The Italian name—coda di rospo—means “toad’s tail”; in some areas they call it “swimming frog.” At the fish market, they’ll sell the whole fish without the head because the head is extremely big and heavy. If monkfish isn’t available, any thick, white-fleshed fish fillet can be used. The caponata is one of those dishes that tastes even better the next day, so feel free to make it in advance. This is a great dish for summer.
10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup (40 g) chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 cups (180 g) fine bread crumbs
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 (6-ounce/170-g) skin-on monkfish fillets
1 (1-pound/455-g) Italian eggplant
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup (80 g) capers in brine, rinsed
1 cup (180 g) pitted black olives
1 cup (150 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup (125 g) pearl onions, peeled and halved,
1 (14.5-ounce/415-g) can chopped San Marzano tomatoes (with juice)
¼ cup (60 ml) apple-cider vinegar
1 cup (40 g) fresh basil leaves, julienned
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Combine the butter, parsley, bread crumbs, lemon zest, and salt and pepper, to taste, in a food processor and process for a minute or so until the butter is smooth and the ingredients are fully combined.
Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides, then spread the bread crumb mixture on top of each fillet, making a ½-inch-thick (12-mm) crust. Remember, the crust is what will make this fish super-delicious, so don’t worry if it looks like there’s too much. Just be sure you make an even layer. Refrigerate the fish while you work on the caponata (refrigerating ensures that the butter firms up and that when it goes into the oven it will melt slowly to form the crust).
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Peel the eggplant and cut it into ½-inch (12-mm) cubes. Place them on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle heavily with salt to get the moisture out (a process called degorging). Place a layer of paper towels over the eggplant and let stand for 30 minutes. Pat the eggplant with paper towels to absorb the liquid that was released.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the eggplant in an even layer and season with pepper. Cook, without stirring, for about 2 minutes, then check if they are starting to brown. When they are good to go, turn them all. (We are lightly panfrying the eggplant to crisp it a little so it won’t turn to mush when we cook it with the rest of the ingredients.) Cook the eggplant for about 10 minutes more, turning occasionally, until nicely browned.
Add the capers, olives, cherry tomatoes, and pearl onions and cook for about 10 minutes more, until the onions start to soften. Add the chopped tomatoes (with juice) and ½ cup (120 ml) of water and cook for about 10 minutes, until the mixture has thickened, then add the vinegar and sugar and cook for 5 minutes to combine the flavors. Remove from the heat and add the basil. Set aside.
Remove the fish from the refrigerator; the crust should be hardened. In a large ovenproof sauté pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Place the fish in the pan with the crust side facing up (you’ll cook them just on one side; no flipping). As the fish cooks, the fillets will shrink, and the crust will be bigger than the fish. Not to worry! When you transfer the pan to the oven, the crust will kind of hug the fillets as they cook. Sear for about 5 minutes, until a nice crust is formed on the bottom and the fish can move in the pan. If you’re not using a nonstick pan, they may need a little help from a spatula. Remove from the heat, add the wine, and transfer to the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until cooked through.
Heat the caponata until just warmed through. Divide the fish among four serving plates and serve the caponata alongside.
BRANZINO WITH HEIRLOOM CHERRY TOMATOES, FAVA BEAN AND MINT PUREE, AND ASPARAGUS SAUCE
Branzino con Pomodorini, Purea di Fava e Menta con Salsa di Asparagi
While this restaurant-style secondo includes four separate components, each is relatively easy to put together and can be prepared in advance and finished in minutes. Branzino, also known as Mediterranean sea bass, is a moist, white-fleshed fish with skin that crisps up nicely as it hits a searing-hot pan. If unavailable in your area, black sea bass, red snapper, or trout may be substituted. If you are on a budget, you can use just two branzini and serve one fillet per dish, enough to satisfy most appetites. Ask your butcher to fillet the fish for you and to wrap the bones, heads, and tails separately so you can use them to make fish stock (see the recipe on this page).
I like to use a variety of colors of heirloom cherry tomatoes for this dish, but of course you can also use standard red cherry tomatoes. If you use fresh fava beans, you will need to soak them in water overnight and then shell them. If you can find frozen favas, you’ll save yourself some time.
4 (1- to 2-pound/455- to 910-g) branzini, filleted
1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Leaves from 1 fresh thyme sprig
1 pound yellow fava beans in the shell, soaked in water to cover overnight and drained, or 8 ounces frozen shelled fava beans (about 1 1/2 cups/225 g)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
About ½ cup (120 ml) vegetable stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
½ cup (20 g) fresh mint leaves, chopped
FOR THE MARINATED CHERRY TOMATOES
2 cups (300 g) red and/or yellow heirloom cherry tomatoes
½ cup (20 g) loosely packed basil leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
40 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed (see Note)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
NOTE: Save the woody asparagus ends for making stock for the Asparagus and Lemon Risotto on this page.
Score the fish a few times with a knife and sprinkle the flesh with some salt. Arrange the lemon slices, garlic, and thyme over one fillet from each pair. Find the matching fillet and place it on top, as if you were reconstructing the fish. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
Fill a large bowl with ice and water to make an ice bath. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If you are using fresh fava beans, shell the fava beans by pulling the stem string down the length of each pod to release the bean, as you would shell a pea pod. Discard the outer pod. Place the shelled fava beans in the boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes to loosen the waxy outer skin and soften them a little. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to the ice bath and let cool for a minute, then peel off the thick, waxy outer covering from each of the beans. For frozen beans, simply blanch them in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to the ice bath to cool. Bring the blanching water back to a boil.
Meanwhile, in a medium sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for about 3 minutes, until softened. Add the blanched beans and cook for 2 to 3 minutes to combine the flavors. Transfer to a food processor, and with the machine running, slowly add enough vegetable stock through the feed tube to process into a chunky puree. Add the mint and process to incorporate it. Return the puree to the pan and season with salt and pepper; keep warm.
PREP AND MARINATE THE CHERRY TOMATOES:
Add some more ice to your ice bath, if necessary. Using a paring knife, score a tiny “X” on the bottom of each cherry tomato. Add the cherry tomatoes to the boiling blanching water and cook for about 15 seconds to loosen the tomato skins. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the tomatoes to the ice bath. Let cool for about 15 seconds, then transfer the cherry tomatoes to a medium bowl and peel them.
Toss the peeled tomatoes with the basil, oil, and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to marinate while you finish the dish.
Drain the water in which you blanched the cherry tomatoes, fill the pot with fresh water, salt it, and bring it to a boil. Set up a fresh ice bath. Add the asparagus and cook for about 5 minutes, until slightly softened and bright green in color. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to the ice bath. Reserve 1 cup (240 ml) of the cooking water. Let the asparagus cool for a minute, then remove the asparagus and chop it roughly. Place it in a food processor or blender along with the shallot and reserved 1 cup (240 ml) of cooking water. Process until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium saucepan, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard any solids left in the strainer. Set the pan over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, until reduced to a medium-thick sauce. Stir in the butter one piece at a time until melted and incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Keep warm.
NOW IT’S TIME TO COOK THE FISH AND SERVE THE DISH:
Take the fish out of the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Separate the fillets and remove the lemons. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add four fish fillets to the pan, skin-side down, pressing a few times on the fillets with a spatula during the first 30 seconds of cooking to prevent the fish from curling. Cook until 90 percent cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Quickly flip the fish and cook for about 20 seconds more, until the fish is just cooked through. Carefully transfer the fillets to a plate. Repeat with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and remaining four fish fillets.
Spoon the asparagus sauce into the center of each of four plates. Stir the mint into the bean puree and spoon it over the asparagus sauce. Place a few tomatoes on top of the puree, arranged so they act as a stand for the fish. Plate two fillets per serving, placing the fillets one on top of the other at a slight angle to give the dish that cool, restaurant-style presentation. Finish with a pinch of microgreens.
Kiss is a term we use in the culinary world: It means to let the food touch the hot pan for a few seconds, as fast as a quick kiss. First, we cook the fish, skin-side down, until it is cooked about 90 percent of the way through; as it cooks, the skin crisps up, and you see a white line of doneness rise up the fillet. When the white line reaches that 90 percent mark, we flip the fish and kiss the flesh side to the pan for just a few seconds to finish cooking. I learned this from watching YouTube videos of Chef Gordon Ramsay demonstrating the technique.
HALIBUT WITH WHITE ASPARAGUS RISOTTO
Ippoglosso con Risotto Agli Asparagi Bianchi
If you watch MasterChef, I’m sure you’ll remember this dish. It was the family mystery box, where the contestants’ loved ones made a surprise visit. Many people said that challenge was the moment of no return for me. At that point in the season, I had made one good dish, some dishes in the middle, and some dishes at the bottom. But everything changed when I made this halibut. I was back in the running.
The challenge was to create a dish inspired by the people we love: something that had meaning for them, maybe something that we had cooked for them in the past and that showed them what we had learned so far in the competition. That day, we were down to just seven people, and of course everyone wanted to shine.
As I mentioned before, the first thing I ever cooked for my wife, Cate, was my Asparagus and Lemon Risotto (this page). Cate loves whitefish, so I decided to combine the two to create a restaurant-quality dish. It was also a way to try to redeem myself after the catastrophic crab risotto I’d made a few weeks before; I needed to show the judges and all of America that I could really cook risotto—and Italian food in general!
White asparagus has a very short season, in early spring, so that’s the time to make this recipe. For the fish, I used halibut, but you can use any white-fleshed fish; even monkfish would work nicely. I wrapped the fish in caul fat for that extra bit of flavor. Your butcher should have some caul fat; it is usually sold frozen in bulk. You may not use all of it, but it’s a good thing to have in the freezer, and it is very cheap. The sweet-pea puree is more of a garnish than a side; it’s there to give some color and brighten up the flavor.
8 ounces (225 g) fresh or frozen sweet peas
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
½ bunch (about 7 ounces/200 g) white asparagus, trimmed
2 cups (480 ml) vegetable stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ large shallot, very finely chopped
½ cup (50 g) freshly grated Grana Padano, at room temperature
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
4 (6-ounce/170-g) skinless halibut fillets, each 2 inches (5 cm) thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces (225 g) caul fat, soaked in salted cold water for 30 minutes and drained
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
FIRST, WE’LL TAKE CARE OF THE PUREE:
Fill a large bowl with ice and water to make an ice bath. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until they turn bright green. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peas to the ice bath. Let cool for a minute, then, using a slotted spoon, transfer the peas to a blender. Add ¼ cup (60 ml) water and the oil and blend until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon; discard the solids left in the strainer. Season the puree with salt and pepper and add the lemon juice. It will taste very acidic now, but that’s OK, because when you eat it with the rest of the dish, everything will balance out. Spoon the puree into a squeeze bottle and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Fill a large bowl with ice and water to make an ice bath. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for about 3 minutes, until slightly softened. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the asparagus to the prepared ice bath. Let cool for a minute, then remove the asparagus and pat it dry with a paper towel. Chop the asparagus into ½-inch (12-mm) pieces.
In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer. Keep it at a low simmer while you make the risotto.
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and rice and toast the rice, stirring, for about 3 minutes, until the rice starts looking chalky. Add the wine, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine has been absorbed, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium.
We’ll begin to add our stock now, and at the same time test our multitasking skills by cooking the halibut in between additions (see below). Keep stirring and adding the hot stock 1 cup (240 ml) at a time, as the rice asks for it, waiting until the previous addition has been absorbed before adding the next. At the 10-minute mark, add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter and the asparagus, reserving a few tips for garnish. Keep on stirring to bring the starch out of the rice and get your risotto very creamy. At the 17-minute mark, taste the rice. It should still be too al dente, but we are getting closer. Keep cooking, adding stock as needed in ½-cup (120-ml) increments, until the rice is just tender and creamy-looking but still al dente. The total cooking time will be about 18 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter (cut it into cubes first), the cheese, and the parsley. Stir vigorously, adding a little more stock if it is looking too thick. When the butter has all melted, the risotto is ready. Season with salt and pepper.
WHILE THE RISOTTO COOKS, MAKE THE HALIBUT:
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Lay the caul fat on a work surface, spreading it to form a large thin sheet, and pat it dry with a paper towel. Cut out squares large enough to wrap each piece of fish completely, then wrap the fish, tucking the ends under to form a package.
Heat the oil in a large ovenproof nonstick pan until screaming hot. Add the fish and cook for 30 seconds, then reduce the heat to medium so the fat can gently melt into the fish. Cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes, then flip the fish and cook for about 4 minutes more, until golden brown on the second side. Place the fish in the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, until just cooked through.
Spoon the risotto onto four round plates, lay a fish fillet on each, and, like an artist giving the final touches to his masterpiece, squeeze the puree all around the plate in a circular motion. Garnish each plate with a few of the reserved asparagus tips.
LUCA’S TIPS: It is important to not overlap the caul fat when you wrap the fish, or the bottom layer will not cook. If, by the time the fish is cooked, some parts of the fat didn’t melt, take them off before serving, following my rule that “if it is not edible, it should not go on a plate.”
Use white asparagus as much as you can when it is in season in early spring. It is sweet and delicious and so good for you. One of my favorite ways to eat white asparagus is simply blanched in boiling water, served with a fried egg on top, and finished with some shaved pecorino and cracked black pepper.
Checking Your Fish with a Skewer
The secret to making sure that oven-baked fish is cooked through: Take it out of the oven, poke it with a metal skewer right through the middle, and hold the skewer there for 15 seconds. Pull it out and touch the skewer: If the skewer feels just warm, the fish is perfectly cooked. If it’s cold, put the fish back into the oven. If it’s super-hot, well … tough luck. It will be better next time!
If you followed MasterChef Season 3, you know that this is the dish that sent me home after the first round. Looking back, I realize that making this was a bold move but wasn’t the best strategy. I wanted to cook something that really showed who I am and where I come from. Joe Bastianich liked it because he is very familiar with the dish, but Chef Gordon Ramsay and Chef Graham Elliot probably had never had it before, and, at the end, it was poorly executed, with the liver a little overcooked and the polenta not as smooth as I wanted it to be. When I was eliminated, I was devastated. At that moment, I never would have guessed that one year later I was going to be here writing my very first book.
This is a dish that my dad would make for me at home once in a while, and its history takes us back to Roman times, when it was cooked with figs. Figs were too expensive for average people, so they started using more affordable white onions instead. The original recipe calls for sage, and you can add a little at the end if you like. I am sure many grandmothers back in Italy cooked the liver all the way through, but I like to keep mine medium-rare. Serve it with polenta (this page), either cooked with cream and cheese and served straight from the pan or cooked with water, firmed up, and grilled. Mashed potatoes is another good option.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (240 ml) vegetable stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
1 1/2 pounds (680 g) calf’s liver, cleaned of excess sinew or silver skin
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
In a medium sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring it to a simmer, and cook until the onions are very soft and the stock has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Pat the liver dry with paper towels and cut it into 2-inch (5-cm) strips. Season the liver with salt and pepper and lightly dust with some flour. This will give a little crust to the meat.
In a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat until screaming hot, almost smoking. Add the liver and sear for about 3 minutes, until deeply browned on the underside but still pink in the center. Turn the liver pieces, add the onions to the pan, then immediately add the wine and sprinkle in about 1 teaspoon of flour to help thicken the sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes more, until the liver is just cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Add the parsley. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt and pepper, if needed. Divide the liver and onions, including the sauce, among four plates and serve immediately.
I was petrified. We had to recreate a braised pork noodle soup that Chef Ramsay ate years ago in Vietnam. I wound up cooking the best dish of the evening and at that point became unstoppable.
LUCA’S TIPS: To make slicing your liver easier, first freeze it for about 45 minutes to firm up. Even easier, have your butcher do it for you when he cleans the liver, or buy packaged presliced liver.
The liver should be served medium-rare to medium, so it is very important to get the pan very hot before you start to cook it, and then add the wine right away after you turn it.
MY FREE PASS TO THE MASTERCHEF FINALE
Veal, Grana Padano, and radicchio: There’s nothing more Italian than these three ingredients, and this was the first time in the competition that I actually succeeded in making an Italian dish.
PANCETTA-WRAPPED VEAL CUTLET WITH RADICCHIO, APPLES, AND WHITE-WINE SAUCE
Scaloppine di Vitello Avvolte in Pancetta con Radicchio e Mele e Salsa al Vino Bianco
This is another MasterChef dish that made history. We were down to the top 3—Jessie, Natasha, and me—and headed to our last elimination challenge. Jessie had won the last Mystery Box, so she got first pick on the protein she’d be cooking. She had to choose between Alaskan King crab, Japanese Kobe beef, and Italian Grana Padano cheese. I almost had a heart attack when I saw the crab, because everybody knew how much I don’t like to cook with crab. Somehow, and really I don’t know how it happened, but those two lovely ladies worked things out so I would be left to cook with the king of Italian cheeses. Are you kidding me? You give cheese to the only Italian in the competition?
I was allowed to choose from a fridgeful of proteins that would play a supporting role for the recipe, with the cheese remaining the star of the dish. Initially, I thought of a beautiful breast of duck, but when I saw the veal cutlet, I thought it would be smarter if I stuck to my roots. And when we are talking about my roots, of course frico comes up. Frico is made with a lot of cheese (see this page for my recipe), so I decided to serve these two classic Friuli dishes together. The judges liked my dish; the only criticism was that the plate lacked color. I completely agreed with them, but I stuck to my roots. This is a very warm, homey, rustic dish, and that’s just how it’s done back in Friuli.
8 veal cutlets (about 1 pound/455 g total), thinly pounded scaloppini-style to about 7 inches (17 cm) long
Leaves from 1 bunch fresh sage
1 cup (100 g) thinly shaved Grana Padano (shaved with a vegetable peeler)
32 very thin slices pancetta (about 1 pound/455 g)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 white onion, very thinly sliced
1 head radicchio, halved, cored, and very thinly sliced
1 small Belgian endive, halved lengthwise, then very thinly sliced crosswise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup (240 ml) chicken stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
½ cup (120 ml) chicken stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
FIRST, WE’LL ROLL UP OUR VEAL:
Lay the cutlets on a cutting board. Starting 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) from the bottom of each cutlet, arrange 4 or 5 sage leaves over each cutlet, touching but not overlapping, leaving 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) bare at the top of the cutlet. Cover the sage leaves with the cheese. (Of course, in this case, overlapping is allowed. The more cheese, the better!)
Roll up the cutlets, starting at the end closest to you; roll away from you and pull the cutlet toward you slightly as you roll to keep it tight. Secure with a toothpick, if needed. Set them on a plate as you finish rolling each one.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the cutting board and lay 4 slices of pancetta over it, two next to each other overlapping just a little bit and the other 2 underneath, overlapping again a little. So now you should have more or less a rectangle of pancetta on the wrap. Take the toothpicks out of the veal rolls if you used them. Place one of the rolled cutlets at the edge of the pancetta, seam-side down, starting from the edge. Roll the wrap on it away from you, squeezing it tightly, and when you get to the point that if you were to keep rolling the wrap would get wrapped into the meat, stop and very slowly pull the wrap away from the pancetta so the pancetta will stick to the meat. Then keep on rolling until the pancetta is completely wrapped around the cutlet. I am telling you, it really sounds harder than it actually is! Repeat for the remaining cutlets using the same sheet of plastic, place them on a plate, and put it in the refrigerator while you continue with your recipe.
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened. If the pan gets too dry, add a little water to help soften the onions. Add the radicchio and endive, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle a little oil on top. Cook for about 5 minutes to release the water from the vegetables. Grate the apple on the large holes of a box grater directly into the pan (so you don’t lose the juice—if this is daunting, grate the apple over a plate and add the grated flesh and the juices to the pan all at once). Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until the pan starts to get dry. Add the wine, bring to a simmer, and cook until the wine has been almost completely absorbed, about 10 minutes. Add the stock, return to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes more, or until the liquid has been absorbed and the vegetables are very soft. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
In a small shallow saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, shallots, rosemary, and thyme and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until aromatic, then add the wine and cook until it has reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the stock and cook until it has reduced by half, about 5 minutes more. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean saucepan; discard the solids left in the strainer. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce the heat to very low, add the butter, and stir to melt it. Cook for 5 minutes to thicken the sauce a little and season with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice. Keep warm.
Heat a large ovenproof sauté pan over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Drizzle in just a little bit of oil (you don’t need that much because the pancetta will release a lot of fat as it cooks). Add the veal and sear for 60 to 90 seconds, until it is browned and crisp and the fat starts rendering from the pancetta. Turn the veal and reduce the heat to medium to avoid burning the pancetta. Sear the veal on all sides, 60 to 90 seconds per side, until nicely browned and crisp all over. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 2 to 3 minutes, until the veal is medium-rare, with the outside layers cooked through and the inside nice and pink. Remove from the oven and let rest for 3 minutes, then cut the veal rolls into ½- to 1-inch (1.25- to 2.5-cm) slices.
I like to use rectangular plates and set the radicchio mixture on the four plates as a bed for the veal, but you can use any shape plate you like. Arrange the sliced veal rolls on top, spooning a little sauce over the top, and serve.
LUCA’S TIPS: It is super-important you get those Grana Padano shavings as thin as possible, because you want them to melt as the veal is cooked.
Here in the States you can find radicchio almost all year long, but the real radicchio di Treviso comes into season in the fall around the end of October, beginning of November. It’s shaped like an endive and red, and it’s a favorite of mine. It makes me think of home, as Treviso is just thirty minutes from where I grew up. If you do find real radicchio di Treviso, halve it, core it, wrap it in pancetta, and grill it. You won’t believe how good it is this way.
No Christmas season in Friuli passed without eating cotechino con brovade, and whenever I’m home in the winter, I’m sure to ask my mom to make this special dish for me.
I am sorry, readers, but I’ll be direct and to the point to describe what cotechino is: It’s every part of the pig that is not used for prosciutto, salame, porchetta, or whatever else, ground together with a lot of fat and made into sausage. Where I am from we use a lot of musetto, from the Italian word muso, which means “face” or “snout” (again, pardon me for the directness!). You will find cotechino in very traditional Italian grocery stores during the holiday season. Most will be imported from Italy, though my friends from Sorriso Italian Salumeria in Astoria, Queens, make a delicious homemade cotechino. If you cannot find cotechino, you could try zampone, which is the leg of the pig from the heel to the knee, and cook it the same way.
In the rest of Italy, this dish is served with lentils for good luck. In Friuli, it is served with brovade, cabbage that’s been marinated in grape pomace (a by-product of winemaking), probably because we don’t believe in luck, just hard work. Brovade is deep red in color and has tons of acidity; my grandmothers would add some apple to cut the acidity. Traditional brovade is almost impossible to find, even here in New York City, so in this recipe, I add some apple-cider vinegar to plain sauerkraut to give it a little extra acidity. I like to serve this with salsa verde on the side; it’s not traditional, but I have noticed that people who are not very familiar with this dish like it better that way.
2 (1-pound/455-g) cotechino sausages
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup finely chopped bacon (5 ounces/140 g)
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 white onions, finely chopped
2 pounds (910 g) prepared sauerkraut (with juice) (about 3 cups)
¼ cup (60 ml) apple-cider vinegar
2 cups (480 ml) chicken stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups (80 g) fresh parsley leaves
1 slice day-old bread, crust removed, bread torn into pieces
1 tablespoon drained and rinsed capers
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Using a fork, pierce some holes into the cotechino casings. Place them in a large saucepan with enough cold water to cover them by a few inches. Set the pan over high heat and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat a little to maintain a slow boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain the cotechino and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the bacon and garlic and cook until the bacon releases its fat and starts to crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sauerkraut (with juice) and the vinegar, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook until most of the juices have been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
Coarsely grate the apple on the large holes of a box grater directly into the pan. Add 1 cup (240 ml) of the stock, the sage leaves, bay leaves, cloves, paprika, nutmeg, and cinnamon and season with pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until the stock is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Add the remaining 1 cup (240 ml) of stock, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 30 minutes more (the more you cook it, the better!), until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the sauerkraut has a nice, saucy coating.
MEANWHILE, MAKE THE SALSA VERDE:
In a food processor, combine the parsley, egg yolks, bread, garlic, capers, vinegar, and salt and pepper and process. Through the feed tube or hole in the top of the machine, add enough oil until the mixture has the consistency of pesto. Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl.
Spread the sauerkraut on a serving platter. Slice the cotechino and arrange the slices on top. Pass the salsa verde at the table for guests to take as they like.
LUCA’S TIPS: If you let the sauerkraut you’ve prepared rest for at least half a day in its juices, it will taste even better, making this a great make-ahead recipe.
You can cook the sauerkraut for even longer than I’ve suggested; cook it a couple of hours and it will be very good. Cook it for six hours and it will be great. (You will probably need to add some liquid so it doesn’t dry out.) The next day, forget about it—the best!
If you want to stay very traditional and care more about flavor than presentation, slice the cotechino after you boil it, add it to the cooked sauerkraut, and warm it all together for 30 minutes before serving. That is what my nonna Anita and my mother used to do. Again, if you keep it on low heat for hours and hours, you will be very happy. When you taste it, you will think you have died and gone to heaven.
This is another recipe that takes me back to when I was growing up in Italy. I can’t even imagine how many times I ate these meatballs when I was a kid— and even as a grown-up kid grabbing them cold from the fridge at six in the morning after a night out clubbing. The translation for polpette is “meatballs,” but my mother’s were bigger than meatballs, smaller than hamburgers, not quite flat and not quite round. All the garlic, the freshness of the lemon, and the moisture of the bread dipped in milk makes this meatball the best I’ve ever tasted. You can serve them with anything you like—salad, roasted potatoes (this page), grilled vegetables (this page), or polenta (this page).
1 ciabatta roll, cut into small cubes
½ cup (50 g) freshly grated Grana Padano
½ cup (30 g) minced white onion
⅓ cup (13 g) finely chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Place the bread in a medium bowl and add enough of the milk to cover it. Set aside to soak for about 30 minutes, until completely soggy.
In a large bowl, combine the beef, cheese, onions, garlic, wine, egg, egg yolks, parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Stir well with a wooden spoon, or put on disposable gloves and mix everything together with your hands.
Squeeze the bread to release most of the milk. Add the bread to the bowl with the beef mixture and mix well.
Take a generous amount of the meat mixture (about 4 ounces, or 115 g), put it on the palm of your hand, squeeze it a little to round the edges, and then press it with the other hand to flatten it a little. Repeat with the remaining meat mixture, setting the formed meatballs on a plate until ready to cook.
Heat the oil in very large sauté pan over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add the rosemary sprigs, then add the meatballs. Cook, without turning, for 3 minutes to give them a nice crust. (If you turn them in the first 3 minutes, they’ll fall apart.) Turn the meatballs and cook for 3 minutes more, basting them with the juices being released from the meat. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked through, basting them frequently. Transfer to a platter and serve family-style.
I knew I had a great dish in my hands, but it was all down to the pressure cooker.
When the moment of truth came and I opened the lid, the short ribs (recipe on this page) were my ticket to victory.
RACK OF LAMB WITH POTATO PUREE
Carre di Agnello con Puree di Patate
This is a very fancy dish. Anything with a beautiful, just-carved lamb chop is going to be super-special. Ask your butcher for a whole rack of lamb. She will ask you if you want all the fat cut out, and you will say yes, and then you will ask her in a very sweet way if she could French the bones for you, cut the excess meat, and save it for you on the side. Then you can freeze it to later make a lamb ragout the same way you cooked the veal for the chestnut pappardelle on this page. I serve this with a potato puree that’s like mashed potatoes but even smoother and creamier.
1 pound (455 g) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) whole milk
Salt and freshly ground white or black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
1 (1 1/2- to 2-pound/680- to 910-g) rack of lamb
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup (240 ml) beef stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) beef stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
FIRST, WE’LL WORK ON THE POTATOES:
Place the potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover them with the milk and cream. Season with salt and pepper. Set the pan over medium heat, cover, and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are softened. Strain the potatoes through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, reserving the liquid. Pass the potatoes through a food mill into a large bowl, or place them in a large bowl and coarsely mash them by hand with a potato masher to a rough mashed-potato consistency. Add the sour cream and chives; add a little of the reserved liquid if the potatoes are too thick. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
Season the lamb heavily with salt and pepper. In a large heavy-bottomed ovenproof sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, rosemary, and thyme and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until aromatic. Then crank up the heat, and when the pan is screaming hot, place the rack of lamb, fat-side down, in the pan. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes to render the fat and get a nice sear on the lamb, then turn the rack and sear for 3 to 4 more minutes on the second side. Add the stock, let it sizzle for a minute, then place the pan in the oven and roast until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of the meat reads between 125° and 130°F (52° to 55°C) for rare to medium-rare, 20 to 25 minutes (check it at 20 minutes), or 135° to 140°F (57° to 60°C) for medium-rare to medium, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the lamb rest for 7 to 8 minutes.
WHILE THE LAMB IS IN THE OVEN, WE’LL WORK ON THE SPINACH:
Heat the garlic in the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper and add the red pepper flakes, if using. Cover, and cook for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan a bit, until the spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat.
FINALLY, WE’LL MAKE THE SAUCE:
In a medium saucepan, heat the oil with the garlic, shallots, rosemary, and thyme over medium-high heat. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is aromatic and the garlic is starting to brown. Add the wine, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook until it has reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add the stock and cook until it has reduced to about ½ cup (120 ml), about 20 minutes. Set aside and keep warm until serving.
Set a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water to make a bain-marie and spoon the potato puree into the bowl to reheat. Rewarm the sauce over low heat and melt the butter into the sauce. Slice the lamb between the bones into eight chops.
Set out four large plates and spoon the potato puree in the middle. For each serving, set 2 chops next to each other on the plate (try to make them stand; if not, just set them on the plate as prettily as possible), arrange some of the spinach around the lamb, and spoon some of the sauce on top. Serve immediately.
LUCA’S TIPS: You can serve the lamb with any puree. The puree from my beef short ribs, made with turnips and goat cheese (this page), would be great, but really just about any puree will work. I love purees (did you notice that yet?). Natasha from MasterChef was always making fun of me because I would make so many purees on the show. She would tell me: “Luca, even if you don’t win, you can write a book—My 101 Purees!”
NEW YORK STRIP STEAK WITH VANILLA SAUCE
Tagliata con Salsa alla Vaniglia
This is a classic all over Italy. It is called tagliata because in Italian the word means “cut,” and the steak is sliced before plating. It is always served with arugula and Grana Padano. What is not classic is to serve it with a sauce, especially a vanilla sauce. This idea came from my very good friend Max Convertini. Max is not only an old friend; he is also a great chef, who, for a wedding present, cooked for the guests at my wedding reception. Max and I met here in New York City, and we have been friends for long time. I owe him a lot, because in my months of preparation for MasterChef, he was the one I would call on for his advice again and again. Thank you for everything, Max: This recipe is for you!
3 cups (720 ml) beef stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
4 (10- to 12-ounce/280- to 340-g) New York strip steaks (about 1 1/2 inches/4 cm thick)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 chunks
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pour the stock into a medium saucepan. Cut the vanilla-bean pod in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds using a paring knife. Add both the seeds and the pod to the stock, then add the rosemary and thyme. Set the pan over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until it has reduced to about ⅓ cup (75 ml). Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean saucepan. Taste and season with salt, if needed. Set over low heat to keep warm.
Season the steaks heavily with salt and pepper and set aside.
Heat two large sauté pans over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add 1 tablespoon of oil to each. Add the steaks, 2 to a pan, and cook, resisting the urge to touch them, for 4 minutes to create a nice crust, then flip them and add 2 tablespoons butter, 2 garlic cloves, 1 sprig of rosemary, and 1 sprig of thyme to each pan. Use a spoon to baste the steaks with the melting butter. Cook for just 4 minutes, then transfer them to a cutting board and let rest for 4 minutes.
Place the arugula in a medium bowl and add a drizzle of oil and a quick drizzle of vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
Divide the salad among four plates. Thinly slice the steaks against the grain and arrange the slices on top of the salad. Drizzle with some of the sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.
LUCA’S TIPS: I use New York strip steaks, but you can also use sirloin steak; both cuts come from the loin. The New York is from the bottom part and will have less fat than the sirloin, which comes from the top.
You’ll need to heat up two sauté pans in which to cook the steaks. Four steaks in the same pan could seriously affect the quality of your sear; the steaks will release a lot of juice into the pan, so if you crowd the pan, you will wind up boiling the meat rather than searing it!
This recipe will produce a medium-rare steak, which, to me, is the only way to eat a steak. As a rule, steaks need to rest for at least half as long as you cook them, so for a great medium-rare, 1 1/2-inch- (4-cm-) thick steak, cook it for 4 minutes on each side and then rest it for 4 minutes before serving.
BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS WITH CHANTERELLES AND SUNCHOKE PUREE
Brasato di Costolette di Manzo con Galletti e Tobinambur
Ladies and gentlemen, I am so happy to share with you the recipe for my braised beef short ribs, the one I served to Chef Gordon Ramsay, Chef Graham Elliot, and Mr. Joe Bastianich at the MasterChef finale. Chef Ramsay said it was a dish he could picture asking for as his last meal.
In Italy, beef short ribs are traditionally cooked in a red-wine braise (like the one we used for the veal with the chestnut pappardelle on this page) and are served with polenta (see this page). This recipe is a mix between classic Italian and all that I learned on my MasterChef journey. Take the tamarind, for example, an ingredient that is not part of Italian cuisine. I had never even heard of it before I came to the United States, and when I did, it never crossed my mind to use it until I read the Worcestershire sauce label: tamarind, molasses, anchovies, cloves, chiles, and garlic. What a mix of tastes! It made such an impression on me that I based this braise on those very ingredients and went on to win the MasterChef title with it.
I am big fan of braised meat. There is something romantic about it. But don’t try to braise meat in the middle of summer. You will not find any romance then, and you will be annoyed with me for even suggesting it. Braised meat calls for fall or winter weather, maybe some snow, the house infused with the aroma of spices and you relaxed and sipping wine on the sofa surrounded by loved ones. If you don’t have all that time, though, no worries: Braising meat is a low-and-slow cooking technique, so you could do many other useful things while it’s cooking.
I paired my short ribs with a sunchoke puree, chanterelle mushrooms, and fresh watercress. Sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem artichokes, are a species of sunflower, in the daisy family, and, unfortunately, are in season just a few months of the year, from fall to early spring. We eat just the root, which looks a lot like ginger and has a nutty taste and crisp texture that turns creamy when cooked. If sunchokes aren’t available, you can substitute turnips or parsnips; if you do, I suggest adding a little goat cheese for the creamiest results. On the show, I added fresh black truffles to the sunchoke puree, but they can be very expensive, and you really don’t need to go so fancy!
Then there are the chanterelles, my favorite type of mushroom. In Italy we call them galletti, which means “rooster,” reflecting the top of the mushroom’s resemblance to the crest of a rooster. Their season is usually late summer and fall. I had the luxury of the MasterChef pantry, so I had immunity to the seasons for this special meal.
I finish the dish with watercress puree brightened with lemon zest and lemon juice. The acidity that this component brings to the dish lightens the flavor, making the dish less heavy. I call this dish “a walk in the forest early morning in the fall”: The ribs represent the trees, the puree is the trail where we walk, the mushrooms are everywhere, and the watercress is the wet grass.
4 (10-ounce/280-g) beef short ribs on the bone
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 white onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 leek, white and light green parts, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 (2-inch/5-cm) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped (wear plastic gloves when handling)
2 cups (480 ml) balsamic vinegar
1 quart (960 ml) beef stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought, plus more if needed
1 (2-ounce/55-g) can anchovies in olive oil, finely chopped
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) whole milk
½ cup (4 ounces/115 g) soft fresh goat cheese (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
5 ounces (140 g) chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned (see this page)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons beef stock, homemade (this page) or good-quality store-bought
5 tablespoons (75 ml) extra-virgin olive oil (if making the puree)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (if making the puree)
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (if making the puree)
FIRST, WE’LL SEAR AND BRAISE THE SHORT RIBS:
Heavily season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until screaming hot. Add the ribs and sear them on all sides, about 4 minutes per side, turning them with tongs as you go. It is important to get a nice hard sear so the meat will keep all its natural juices. Transfer the ribs to a roasting pan. Leave any rendered fat in the saucepan.
Add the onions, carrots, celery, leeks, and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the ginger and jalapeño and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Put the ribs back in the pan. Add the vinegar, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook for 20 minutes to reduce the vinegar a little. Add enough stock to cover the ribs, then add the anchovies, molasses, tamarind, peppercorns, and cloves. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low, cover with foil, and cook for about 3 hours, until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender. Take the ribs out of the pan, brush off any bits of vegetables from them, and place them in a clean, large pan. Strain the braising liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into the pan. Discard the solids left in the strainer. Keep the pan on the stove over low heat to coat the meat with the delicious juices and form a glaze around it.
WHILE THE MEAT IS BRAISING, WE’LL WORK ON OUR SIDES, BEGINNING WITH THE SUNCHOKES:
Wash the sunchokes. You can peel them or keep the skin on, as the skin has a lot of flavor. I like my puree to be bright white, so I peel them. The choice is yours. Finely chop the sunchokes; the smaller the pieces, the faster they cook. Combine the milk and cream in a medium saucepan and add the sunchokes. Season with salt. Set over medium heat, bring to a simmer, and simmer until very tender, about 10 minutes. Watch the pan carefully and reduce the heat as needed if the milk and cream threaten to boil over. Strain the sunchokes through a fine-mesh strainer set over a medium bowl, reserving the liquid. Put the sunchokes in a food processor with ¼ cup (60 ml) of the milk and cream mixture and the cheese, if using. Process until you have a super-smooth puree, adding more of the milk and cream mixture, as needed, to achieve the desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.
NOW WE COME TO THE CHANTERELLES:
In a large sauté pan, heat the oil with the garlic until screaming hot. Add the mushrooms, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the rosemary and thyme. Cook, without moving the mushrooms, for 2 to 3 minutes to form a golden brown crust, then continue to cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes more, until the mushrooms are well browned and starting to soften. Add the butter and stir to melt it in. Add the stock, shaking the pan very quickly to get the mushrooms to jump and move in a circle; cook for about 3 minutes to thicken the sauce and soften the mushrooms. Remove the thyme, rosemary, and garlic cloves. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
OPTIONAL: THE WATERCRESS PUREE:
Combine the watercress, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a blender and blend until smooth. Place in a squeeze bottle. Should you prefer to skip the puree and instead add a few leaves of watercress, like the photo at left, you can, but the puree makes the dish extra special.
Bring the braising liquid from the ribs to a simmer, and warm the sunchoke puree, if needed. Spoon some of the sunchoke puree into the middle of four plates and place the short ribs on top of the puree; drizzle with a little of the braising liquid. Top with the mushrooms and garnish with the watercress puree squeezed from a bottle to paint the plate with a few green dots.
