♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - This week on Milk Street, we're taking an Italian cooking lesson.

We start with Roman braised beef, a stew where you don't have to sauté the meat ahead of time.

Then a very simple recipe for bucatini with cherry tomatoes.

And finally, Tuscan braised potatoes.

Please stay tuned as we take an all-Italian cooking lesson.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect.

We offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our U.S.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

♪ ♪ - I'm here to change your life and make you feel so much better about cooking at home.

You never have to make beef bourguignon again.

It is a pain, and you start by doing what?

Sautéing the meat in batches, which takes about half an hour, five or six pounds of meat.

You get a mess all over the counter.

It smells up the whole kitchen.

You need to go have a cocktail and take a nap before you finish the rest of the recipe, which includes those little annoying onions, too.

So that's how I feel about beef bourguignon.

This is a recipe-- Roman braised beef-- which has a clear, wonderful takeaway.

You don't have to sauté the meat to make a stew, because you're gonna let the oven do the work for you.

What a great idea.

- Absolutely.

It takes out so much work from making a delicious stew.

Not having to brown any beef in any pans makes this dish so much more simple.

In fact, all we're going to be doing to this beef is seasoning it with salt, pepper, and cloves, which is inspired by a lot of the recipes in Italy.

Now, here I do have six-and- a-half pounds of beef chuck that, typically when it's roasted, it's roasted in larger format like a pot roast.

But here we've trimmed it down to two-inch pieces, which means it'll cook quicker and it gives us more surface area to brown in the oven.

So we'll season this with one tablespoon of kosher salt, two teaspoons of black pepper, and finally, just three-quarters of a teaspoon of ground clove.

Now, when you're working with cloves, you need to make sure you're working with relatively fresh cloves.

Odds are you've had cloves in the pantry that have been there for months.

So go ahead and uncap it.

Take a whiff.

If the aroma isn't sharp and pungent, it's time to buy a new set of cloves.

But otherwise, if they're still very, very aromatic, we can definitely use them.

- My mother had cloves in the pantry.

They were there when Truman won in '48.

So they were aged.

- (laughs) - It was aged spices.

- Vintage, vintage spices, yeah.

- Vintage, yes.

- So all we gotta do is, we gotta toss this around to make sure the seasoning does make its way to each and every piece.

And we'll take a look at this beef later down the road.

Okay, so now that we are all set with the beef, we can start building the foundation of flavor in our stew right here in a Dutch oven.

So I'm going to set this large Dutch oven over low, and we're going to cook down four ounces of pancetta.

And this pancetta is going to render out its fat over the course of five minutes or so.

And that fat is going to give us a really nice base flavor to work with.

(pan sizzling softly) So, Chris, we've rendered out most of the fat from this pancetta.

And, as you can see, we're getting a little bit of browning.

I want more, so we're going to increase this to medium-low heat, and we'll keep cooking this pancetta down until it's completely brown, and that'll take seven minutes or so.

So, Chris, now our pancetta is completely browned.

We've really developed a lot of flavor there.

Let's go ahead and keep building the foundation.

So here I have one medium onion that has been thinly sliced.

(pan sizzling) Also going to throw in one medium fennel bulb that has also been thinly sliced.

And finally, six cloves of garlic that have just been smashed and then peeled.

We're going to cook this combination down until it starts to soften and break down, and that'll take six minutes or so.

Chris, our aromatics in here have been softening down, and as you can see, they're starting to caramelize a little bit.

It's a little bit of extra flavor for all of us in the end.

Now we can go ahead and deglaze the pan with our 28 ounces of whole peeled tomatoes that have been crushed up by hand.

(pan sizzling) And as soon as you hear that sizzle, get to working with your spatula and scrape up anything that's caked on the bottom.

All the while, you're gonna be stirring this around, and you wanna bring this combination up to a simmer.

Once it hits that simmer, we can go ahead and add in our beef.

- So where all those little annoying onions?

- Nowhere to be seen, my friend.

- Nowhere to be found.

- They've been thinly sliced, and we don't even have to think about them, because they're just going to break down into the sauce anyway.

We're not looking for little cipollini pearl onions.

None of that nonsense.

- Well, it's also a good reminder.

In most recipes, you don't have to finely dice or cut onions.

Like almost all the time, you can just rough-chop them and put them in?

You know, yeah.

- Yeah, especially because this is going to be cooking in our oven for about two hours, and then an additional one-and-a-half hours.

So any vegetable that's in this Dutch oven is gonna break down and become part of the sauce.

So now our tomatoes are simmering.

And we can go ahead and throw in that beef.

So nestle it right on in.

And try to make room for it amongst all the veggies.

Don't be afraid to really push it in there to make sure that all of the beef can make its way into this Dutch oven.

There we go.

Okay, now all of our beef is submerged in this tomato mixture.

We're going to cook it in an oven set to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, with the rack set in the lower middle position.

So that way we can slide the Dutch oven right in.

But we're cooking this for two hours with the lid on, so that way we can braise the beef.

After two hours, we'll take the lid off, give the whole thing a stir, and then pop it back in the oven for another one-and-a-half hours.

And that way, when it's cooking in the heat of the oven, the top layer of beef is going to brown, and that's going to give us that really deep, rich flavor that we're looking for in a beef stew.

♪ ♪ - Okay, how is that for browning?

- It's pretty brown, Chris.

- Yeah, it's pretty brown.

- Yeah, that is all thanks to that last hour and a half of cooking without the lid.

And as you can see, all of that browning took place right on the surface, so we don't have to worry about missing that flavor, just like we talked about.

- So the key is not having too much liquid, so some of the meat is not submerged, therefore the heat of the oven browns the top.

- Exactly.

Notice that the only liquid that we put into this Dutch oven was that 28 ounces of crushed tomatoes.

What we're going to do now is, we're going to take out all of our beef here.

We're gonna transfer it over to a medium bowl because I want to skim off some of the fat that's risen to the surface on this stew, so that way, the result product is not going to be super-greasy.

- Or make it the day before, take the meat out, put in the fridge, and then the fat solidifies, comes right off.

- Yeah, you could just pick it right up.

But to be perfectly honest with you, after three-and-a-half hours, I want to get right to eating, so we're going to take care of this now.

Notice, as I'm picking up these pieces of beef, not only are they very, very brown, they're also super-tender.

They're basically falling apart.

But because we cut them into those two-inch pieces, they still hold their own.

And that way, you can cut them apart using your fork.

Now, my preferred method for getting rid of the fat on the surface of any stew is a ladle.

What I'm gonna do is, I will tip this Dutch oven over and just move my ladle in until it just barely breaks the surface of the stew.

And as you can see, because the fat rises, it just sinks right into the ladle itself.

Now, don't get too over-ambitious here.

Once you start seeing some of the pieces of the actual sauce make their way into the ladle, you're pulling it way too much.

So... work diligently to get rid of the fat.

So I'm going to try and get off just a little bit more of this fat.

But while I'm doing this, if you want to make our contrasting salad for our stew here, that would be fantastic.

We're actually working with all the flavors that are in this stew.

But by using them fresh, we're creating another layer of that flavor.

- A complementary salad, perhaps.

- A complementary salad.

- There we are.

The fennel and tomatoes with it.

So a little salt, teaspoon of salt, quarter-teaspoon of pepper... - Mm-hmm.

- A little red wine vinegar.

- Yup, we're looking at a tablespoon there.

- And some parsley, of course.

- Beautiful.

Now what I'm going to do is, I'm going to reduce this sauce down until it's just thick enough to coat each piece of beef without being too soupy.

So I'm going to set this over medium-high, and we'll cook this down for about seven minutes or so.

So, Chris, we've been reducing down this sauce for quite a bit.

And as you can see, we've gotten to that nice, thick stage where it can really coat all the pieces of beef we're going to put in.

But, before we do that, we do need to introduce just a little bit of freshness in the form of two teaspoons of chopped thyme.

And that little bit of herbaceousness will really lift the flavor of this dish.

So we'll stir that in.

And now we'll go ahead and add in our beef.

Now, once I put this beef in, I'm going to want to give this a stir and then just cook it over medium, medium-low, until it is completely warmed through.

And while I'm doing that, you can dream about exactly how we're going to eat this.

We could eat this with either polenta... Nice crusty bread is always a good option, because we do want to sop up that sauce that we worked so hard on, in addition to the beef that's nice and tender.

And when you're bringing this up to a simmer, at least warmed through over the course of five or so minutes, you don't want to give it too vigorous of a stir, or otherwise, you'll be breaking up all that beef.

I have a little bit of a simmer going here.

This is plenty warm.

So we're gonna go ahead and serve right up.

- Mm.

- Want to get you plenty of that sauce, so you could use that nice, crunchy bread to enjoy it.

(exhales): I can't wait.

- So, I just want to know, are you just worried about never eating again?

Because this is not Oliver Twist here.

This is not, like, a little bowl of porridge here.

No, this looks fabulous.

- Thank you.

- It's substantial, though.

So we have a salad.

Should we just put a little salad on, top or...?

- Yeah, actually, a little bit of that salad right on top would be fantastic.

That way we get a nice contrast in crunch and a little bit of cooling sensations with all these raw vegetables.

Yeah, the crunch from the fennel is really nice, especially when you're sinking your teeth into a nice piece of beef, having that little bit of extra crunch certainly helps.

- I just want to point out, we have these beautiful little steak knives.

I don't think we're going to need them.

- No, no.

Watch, I bet you you could sink your... - Yeah, you... yeah.

- Yeah, just like that.

Perfect.

- Oh!

- (chortling) Yes.

- This is really good.

I hate to continue the analogy to the French stew, but I think this is as good or better.

It's about a tenth of the work.

Mm... - It doesn't take as much work.

- Boy, this is good.

- The beef itself is flavored throughout.

It's not just, like, seared on the surface, and you have that one little salty, crunchy bite, and then it's done.

No, this is well seasoned.

- And oddly enough, I kind of like the fennel and tomatoes with it.

- "Oddly enough"?

- Well, to put a raw salad on top of a stew is a little different.

It's a little... - Innovative.

- ...outside the box.

Yeah.

- Yeah, yeah.

What I'm finding really, really delicious in here is that little hit of clove.

You know, typically, you don't see a lot of cloves in stews out there, but this, it's framed so well, especially when it's juxtaposed with the freshness of the salad.

It's really, really fantastic.

- So this is Roman braised beef.

You did a fabulous job.

But it's really more than that.

It's a template for how to make a stew.

You have five or six pounds of chuck-- big pieces.

Sauté some onions, some other flavorings, a little bit of liquid.

In the oven for two hours.

Take the top off, finish that way.

The oven does the browning for you.

So it could be Moroccan braised beef, or Mexican braised beef, or Thai braised beef.

The point is, it's the idea for a recipe.

It's a master recipe for how to make stew easily with great flavor.

And that means I should eat some more.

- (chuckles) ♪ ♪ - So who would think about cooking pasta in a multi-cooker under pressure?

Well, you're not gonna save any time, right?

Because it takes ten or 15 minutes to make pasta at home without one of these.

But if you've been to Italy, you'll know that when they cook pasta, especially with tomato sauce, they undercook the pasta and they finish it in the sauce, which means the sauce gets married to the pasta.

Under pressure, that even works better.

So you're gonna get a better product.

Also, it's convenient.

You get one pot instead of a skillet and a stockpot.

So we're gonna start on high sauté.

We're gonna add a third of a cup of olive oil.

♪ ♪ Now we have four cloves of garlic, but we're not gonna mince it or crush it-- we actually sliced it.

This is a good technique for getting garlic flavor, but not that harsh bite, because you're not actually compressing those cells.

Quarter-teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

And then two bay leaves.

And we're gonna sauté that in the cooker for a couple of minutes once it heats up, just to slightly color the garlic.

You don't wanna overdo it.

♪ ♪ And you wanna watch the garlic, 'cause when it starts to color, it goes fast.

So we're almost there, you can see... And you can smell it.

Now we're gonna add two pints of cherry tomatoes cut in half.

(sizzling rapidly) A tablespoon of kosher salt.

♪ ♪ Half a teaspoon of sugar-- just a little bit of sweetness.

And-- this is for the pasta-- three cups of water.

♪ ♪ And finally, we have a pound of pasta, bucatini.

But obviously, it's not gonna fit in the pot.

So we're just gonna break it in half and layer it on top.

So now we're gonna cook it.

It's only gonna take five minutes under pressure.

So we're gonna cancel out of sauté.

We'll put the top on.

Lock it, make sure it's in the right position here, so it doesn't vent.

It's on high pressure, and we'll set it to just five minutes.

So we're almost done.

This will come up to pressure, five minutes under pressure, we'll stop it, vent it, take the top off, add a couple of ingredients, let it sit just for a few minutes till it finally cooks through.

(air hissing) So we vented the top.

It's been five minutes, we'll take the top off, and we're gonna add two things now, a tablespoon of minced sage and three-quarter teaspoon of smoked paprika, and we'll mix that up.

♪ ♪ Now, the pasta is not quite finished cooking yet, so we're going to just put the top back on.

We won't lock it, we'll just put it on.

And we'll wait three to five minutes until the pasta is perfectly cooked.

So this is done.

The bucatini is properly cooked.

It should not be chewy, by the way, on the inside.

Toothsome, but not chewy.

A little pecorino cheese is nice on this.

♪ ♪ (chuckling): Or a lot of pecorino cheese is really nice on this.

And then we have an extra tablespoon of sage.

I'll put just a little bit on top.

So that's it.

Bucatini with cherry tomato sauce and fresh sage.

All done in one pot, which makes it simple, the timing's easy.

And the best part is that the sauce really marries into the pasta, so they come together nicely.

Mmm.

That is superb.

Absolutely delicious.

And out of a multicooker, who would have thought?

Bucatini with fresh cherry tomato sauce.

Fabulous.

♪ ♪ So here's an idea.

If you want to learn a whole new way of cooking, go to Italy.

Now, that doesn't make any sense.

But we did go to Florence, and we spoke to a cookbook author there, Rolando Beramendi, and he had a method which I guess is common-- we didn't know about it-- in Italy of cooking vegetables, potatoes in particular, which is very much like risotto, in umido, which means in water, or in a humid environment.

And you essentially cook the vegetables and keep adding liquid to it like you would with rice.

All-new technique for us.

Not an all-new technique for him.

So how do we do it?

- Well, Chris, like you said, it's much like risotto.

And in cooking the vegetable that way, it absorbs all of the flavors that are in the pot.

So to get started here, we have a fair amount of olive oil, we have a quarter-cup.

And then we add some red onion and smashed cloves of garlic.

And you just want to cook that down, just like you would with a risotto, until it's nice and soft, and now... Could you hand me the potatoes, please?

- Sure.

- So, Chris, these are russet potatoes, and this is not a time to use red potatoes or Yukon Golds.

The russets have a lot of extra starch compared to those other varieties, and it's gonna make all the difference here.

Gives it a nice, really creamy consistency.

- So I would think you'd want a red or new potato, because that wouldn't break down.

Are these gonna get like mashed potatoes after you cook them?

- Chris, I had the same fear.

They don't turn to mashed potatoes.

They do hold their shape.

But they give off enough starch that it gives it a nice creamy consistency into the, into the sauce.

But, speaking of the starch, we're gonna cook this for about five minutes here.

You want make sure that all of the potatoes are coated in that oil, and we're looking for just a little bit of browning.

It's gonna create, like, a nice fond on the bottom of the pot, and that's just gonna add even more flavor to the sauce.

Okay, Chris, so you can see there's some nice browning there.

And you do just want to scrape the bottom of the pot as you cook to make sure it doesn't get too brown.

But now that we have some of that flavor built up, we can start the actual braising of the potatoes.

So this is a can of tomatoes that actually started as whole tomatoes.

It's really a good idea to buy the whole canned tomatoes and crush them yourself.

I just think the quality is better.

You know you're getting a whole tomato and not just, like, little scraps.

And you can either crush it with, you know, bare clean hands, or sometimes I take kitchen shears and stick it right in the can and chop it up.

- I've done that, too.

I do it when no one's looking.

- Right.

- But I do it, too.

- And then a little bit of red pepper flakes for just a little bit of heat.

A substantial sprig of rosemary.

This one's about eight inches.

I'm gonna add some of our broth here.

So low-sodium chicken broth.

We have three cups, but I'm just gonna add one cup right now, because, like risotto, we're adding a bit at a time.

And then just a half a teaspoon of salt.

Gonna give it a stir, and you want to make sure that... - Can I just say, you know, when recipes call for a sprig, like, this is a branch.

(chuckling): This is... - It's a healthy sprig.

- This is a one-year-old rosemary tree.

- Yes.

- That's good.

There's a lot of flavor in that.

- You may want to use two sprigs if you have, you know, a more modest, a more modest sprig.

But you want to make sure your potatoes are kind of in an even layer here, since we aren't gonna cover the pot.

And we're gonna bring it up to a simmer, and then you don't need to stir it constantly.

But you want to stir it occasionally for about another ten minutes, until most of that liquid is absorbed, and then we'll start adding in the rest of the liquid.

- Okay.

- All right, Chris, so you can see it's absorbed most of the liquid here, thickening up a little bit from that starch.

And I'm gonna add another half-cup of this chicken broth.

And, Chris, we're gonna bring this up to a simmer.

Once it's absorbed, we'll add another half a cup of that chicken broth.

Okay, Chris, so we've been stirring in those half-cup increments, and we are down to the very last half-cup here.

Now, once this is absorbed, I'm gonna take it off heat, cover it, and just let it sit for five minutes before we finish the dish.

- You know, if I ever had trouble sleeping, I could just watch you do this-- it's very soothing.

- It's very soothing and uncomplicated, and very delicious.

♪ ♪ All right, Chris.

So this has been sitting for just five minutes off heat, and it smells so good.

I'm gonna get rid of this big piece of rosemary.

- Tree.

- The rosemary tree.

And I'm gonna put in half this basil.

We'll save a little to make our plates look pretty.

And you can see the potatoes... - Did not dissolve.

- They did not turn to mush.

- As you predicted.

- You almost said I was right.

You almost said I was right.

- Almost.

- Next time.

- Next time.

- I'll give you a little more.

Chris, if you wanna drizzle on some oil, it gives it a nice sheen.

And then we'll put on some fresh basil.

- Now, this looks like the main course.

- It could be.

- I think it could be.

Mm...

Boy, those are good.

You know, I didn't know-- you put a lot of rosemary in, that little sprig.

You can really taste the rosemary in here.

- And by adding that chicken broth just a little bit at a time, you really do flavor the potatoes and season them all the way through.

- I could have this for dinner.

Just be my dinner.

Of course, I might put a fried egg on top, because I put a fried egg on top of everything.

- Ooh... - It's a good idea?

- Very good idea.

- That would be breakfast.

Breakfast and dinner.

You know, they have tremendous flavor, it's easy to do.

And also the potatoes, the russets, really did hold their texture and shape.

They're not mealy, which I thought they would be.

- Always doubting.

- It's true.

Mm...

So this is a whole new thing for me, because I grew up in the summers in Vermont, and the farmers would... We'd have baked potatoes at noon, you know, with our roast, and they would open them with their fist.

They have...

It was a real technique.

It took years to master.

You go boom like this, and they would just split open.

They'd put all the butter in there.

So I've eaten a lot of potatoes, but these are so much better.

- I want to see that next time we do a russet potato recipe.

- Okay, we'll show you here, step-by-step.

We'll do it on Instagram.

So Tuscan braised potatoes are a very simple technique borrowed really from risotto, where you cook them slowly in a pot, adding liquid as you go.

Use russet potatoes, so they're nice and starchy, and makes a great sauce, and they have terrific flavor from the outside in.

So if you love our Tuscan braised potatoes, you can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season of Milk Street at MilkStreetTV.com.

Now I'll say it-- you were right.

See?

I finally did it.

After all these years.

- Yes!

- All episodes and recipes from this season of Milk Street Television are available for free at our website, MilkStreetTV.com.

Please access our content, including our step-by-step recipe videos, from your smartphone, your tablet, or your computer.

- The new Milk Street Cookbook is now available and includes every recipe from our TV show, from authentic lasagna Bolognese and roasted cauliflower with tahini and lemon to Indian butter chicken and flourless French chocolate cake.

The Milk Street Cookbook offers bolder, fresher, simpler recipes.

Order your copy of the Milk Street Cookbook for $27, 40% less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177 or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like.

Our U.S.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

♪ ♪ - Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Tel Aviv... - Welcome to Oaxaca's airport.

- Welcome to Beirut.

♪ ♪ (man speaking Hebrew) (speaking world language) - Bonjour, je m'appelle Chris.

- We call it supa kanja.

It's the word for gumbo.

♪ ♪ - Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

♪ ♪ - So this is the Eduardo García blender.

- This is the no electricity.

♪ ♪ - Next is dessert.

- That is really good.

♪ ♪ I notice when you cook sometimes, you add a little bit of something, and then you just put the whole bowl in.

- I like to be generous with my food.

Generosity is important in cooking.

- That's true.

♪ ♪ - Can start building bridges, and food is definitely a perfect common ground.

♪ ♪ - This is a generational thing.

It's, it's something that you inherit.

♪ ♪ - Yeah, that was great.

(woman speaking Mandarin) - What was this for?

What did she say?

- You get one more chance.

- Salute.

- How is it?

He's speechless.

- I'm speechless.

That's so good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪