My husband’s favorite dinner
My husband Andrea is the happiest when I make bollito misto. I like to make it the day before the meal.
We begin our meal with chicken liver crostini, serve tortellini in brodo as the first course, and the boiled meats for the main course, along with the vegetables that were cooked in the broth.
The best parts of bollito misto are the sauces on the side! Traditionally, olive oil and salt are the base, then salsa verde and mostarda di Cremona (candied mustard fruits). A side of giardiniera (pickled Italian vegetables) is good too.
My favorite dishes are with the leftover bollito misto. I love lesso rifatto, where the beef is cooked with twice the amount of red onions stewed with the beef and red wine. True comfort food!
If you are really eating, this is the extravaganza! Try a double first course, such as the pasta served in sugo. The sugo is from cooking the second main course, stracotto, served with sautéed spinach and roasted potatoes.
I usually make the lesso to have the broth and the lesso rifatto! I freeze any leftover broth in small serving sizes so I can easily reheat!
Panettone, panforte, ricciarelli, and other sweets follow this. After all this a digestivo--an after-dinner drink that helps you digest the feast!
My best wishes for a fabulous and peaceful new year. "Peace on Earth" never meant as much as it does this year.
Bollito Misto
Ingredients:
2-1/2 pounds beef (muscle, tongue, etc. for boiling)
2 beef bones
1 onion, peeled and left whole
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch lengths
1 celery stalk
1 tomato
Parsley
Sea salt to taste, about 2 tablespoons
One-half capon or boiling chicken, optional
Preparation:
Place all the ingredients in a large soup pot, and cover with water. Bring to a slow boil, covered for 1 hour. Skim the surface. Add the chicken and cook for another hour. Control the beef to see if it is cooked. It should be very tender; the skin will easily come off the tongue.(I like to make this the night before so I can remove any excess fat from the broth.)
Remove the beef and vegetables from the broth. Throw away the tomato, parsley, and beef bones. Strain the broth and replace the beef in the broth. Refrigerate overnight. Remove the solidified fat from the broth the next day. Reheat all together.
To serve, remove enough broth for the soup. Heat the tortellini in broth and serve with grated Parmesan cheese. Serve the beef already cut and arranged on a serving plate.
Salsa Verde
Ingredients:
1 cup Italian parsley, leaves only
2 tablespoons capers
1 garlic clove
1 anchovy filet
Red wine vinegar, to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1 slice white bread
Preparation:
Finely chop the parsley, capers, garlic, and anchovy, using a sharp knife. Put the mixture into a serving bowl and add olive oil and red wine vinegar.
Adjust seasonings. Remove the crust from the slice of bread, and soak the bread in red wine vinegar.
Then crumble the bread into sauce. (This is the poor man's technique; the bread looks like pine nuts in the sauce!
Instead you can add some chopped pine nuts!)
I love salsa verde on hot green beans and boiled potatoes. I also make an appetizer by removing the yolks from hardboiled eggs and blending them with the sauce. Refill the eggs and refrigerate before serving.
Lesso Rifatto
Ingredients:
1 pound leftover boiled meat, chopped into small cubes
1-1/2 pounds red onions, finely sliced
2 cups stewed tomatoes, or red wine
Olive oil
Salt
Preparation:
Sauté the onions in olive oil; when golden, add tomatoes or red wine. Season to taste with salt. Bring to a boil and let cook for 10 minutes. Add the leftover beef and cook covered for an additional 20 minutes. To make this even richer, add some cubed raw potatoes to the pan with the onions.
Buon appetito!
Buon appetito!
