The word I use almost every day when talking to the chefs I work with at Cactus is love.
Just give it love. I love to cook and, more importantly, I love to eat - love is what makes a chef give that much more to a dish.
Braising is a method of cooking that you can put your heart into. I love to serve things family-style in my home, and braising is not only comforting, it gives a cut of meat that is normally looked upon as less desirable a new life.
Through long and slow cooking, which is the true art of braising, even the lesser cuts will melt in your mouth. There is nothing more powerful than simmering a veal shank, a short rib or a lamb shank for six hours until it is falling off the bone.
The real joy of braising is that it takes less than 20 minutes to prepare. In six hours of cooking time, you can let the oven do the rest of the work.
A few tips that will go a long way when braising: Don't worry if your meat is not completely covered in liquid. When the lid is on your braising pan, the steam helps break down the meat and tenderize it.
Long and slow means just that - if you heat the oven too high, all you will be doing is boiling your protein.
In this recipe, I use tomatoes and wine as the liquid; you do not need chicken or veal stock, as the flavour of the shank alone carries the dish. It's like liquid gold.
Along with the rapini, you can serve mashed potatoes, creamed polenta, pasta or risotto for starch. And with the leftover veal shank, you can take the meat off the bone and use the liquid to make a rigatoni sauce with the meat, some chilies and of course some freshly grated parmesan.
WHOLE BRAISED VEAL SHANK WITH TOASTED PINE NUT
GREMOLATA AND RAPINI WITH ROASTED GARLIC
What you need
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
One whole veal shank, 3 to 4 pounds.
One carrot, coarsely chopped
One onion, coarsely chopped
Two celery stalks, coarsely chopped
Two garlic cloves, minced
Two thyme sprigs
Four sage leaves
One bay leaf
One can of whole plum tomatoes
One cup of veal stock (optional) or extra cup of wine
Two cups of white wine
What you do
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish. Season the shank generously with salt and pepper. Sear the shank on all sides. Remove the shank and place all the carrot, onion and celery into the dish. Roast over a high flame for one to two minutes. Place the shank back in the casserole and add the garlic, herbs, tomatoes, stock and white wine. Cover with a lid and braise for 2½ hours or until the meat is falling of the bone.
Remove the meat from the casserole and reduce the liquid by half. Strain all the solids and place the meat back in the dish with the reserved liquid. Serve with the gremolata and rapini with roasted garlic on the side.
GREMOLATA
What you need
¼ cup of parmesan cheese
½ cup of roasted pine nuts
Zest of one lemon
One bunch of flat-leaf parsley
What you do
In a small blender, combine all the ingredients and pulse on and off for 30 seconds.
RAPINI WITH ROASTED GARLIC
What you need
1 head of whole garlic
1 pound rapini
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chili flakes
What you do
Preheat oven to 400 F. Wrap the garlic in a small amount of tinfoil and bake for 40 minutes. Cut off the end of the garlic with a sharp knife and squeeze out the soft roasted flesh into a separate bowl. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a large pot and blanch the rapini for four minutes. Remove and immerse the rapini in a large bowl of ice water. Drain and pat dry.
Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add rapini, salt and pepper, roasted garlic and chili flakes, and toss together for 45 to 60 seconds.
Serves 4-6.
Rob Feenie is the food concept architect for Cactus Restaurants in Western Canada. He has also published three cookbooks.
