Li Veli wine dinner, January 20, 2012

On January 20th, Tomasso & Panzano hosted a wine tasting followed by a 5 course dinner with Masseria Li Veli and Southern Visions Travel of Puglia.  It was a great turn-out totaling 77 attendees taking up most of the restaurant.  The menu, however, was originally written for a group of no more than 18, which certainly presented us with some challenges, but it ended up turning out great and we even had 2 people sign up for the trip!

WINE TASTING

 

Leigh & Antonello from Southern Visions Travel

 The Menu

                                                                        Cozze Ripieni

1. Steam open mussels in white wine. 

2. Pick the meats from the shells, reserve shells.

3. Chop mussels and mix with bread crumbs, herbs, parsley, lemon zest, olive oil, crushed red pepper.

4. Fill the reserved shells with bread crumb mixture, roast in high temperature oven until warm throughout. 

                            

    Burrata

The Burrata we used for the dinner was from the Mozzarella House in Everett, MA.  Giuseppe is a Puglia native and was kind enough to make his signature burrata for the evening.  The creamy stracciatella like filling surrounded by mozzarella was the perfect texture and almost melted in your mouth.  I served the cheese over a mixture of chilled roasted vegetables including spinach, red & yellow peppers, & trumpet royale mushrooms.

Orecchiette

For the primi course we made an amazing 1600 pieces of orecchiette pasta all rolled out by hand, one by one.  It was an all hands-on-deck 3 day process in between the kitchen's normal work load.  The stress of trying to push out all of this prep was too much for one of our now former cooks, but the remaining crew persevered and did a great job.  The hand-rolled pasta was served with sauteed broccoli rabe and just the right amount of spice from julienned red jalapeno peppers.

Braciole

Pronounced (Brah-chee-o-lay) not (brah-jole) as it is often mis-pronounced, this is a classic Puglian dish of stuffed braised beef.  This was also a three day process to prepare. 

Day 1:  The Butcher- Butchered 7 beef top butts into 14 roasts, butterflied open, pounded, stuffed with sauteed escarole and caciocavallo cheese, rolled the roasts back up and tied them up tight.

Day 2: The Braise- Each of the stuffed, tied roasts was seared on all sides in stages, then placed into hotel pans.  Small diced morepoix (carrots, celery, & onions) were sweated in the large rondeau used for searing.  The pan was then de-glazed with red wine, canned tomatoes were added.  The vegetable & wine mixture was poured over the top of the roasts, and stock was used to fill the remainder of the pan.  The Braciole were braised for a little over 4 hours, then chilled over night in the walk-in.

Day 3: The Portions & Service-  Each of the roasts now had to be broken down into the proper portion size.  Originally set for 18, I was now taxed with making sure I got 80 portions for service.  The butcher's twine was cut off of each roast, and the ends were squared off to ensure even portioning (the scraps were turned into a braised beef ragu served as a special that evening as well), and the slicing began.  Each portion was placed back into hotel pans and covered with enough of the braising liquid to keep them moist.  Once the guests arrived, back into the oven (300 degrees both times) and slowly re-heated for service.  The remaining braising liquid was reduced down and seasoned as the sauce which was ladled over the top during service.  Spoon tender after 6 hours of slow braising. 

Torta

The orange & olive oil cake with whipped mascarpone & candied orange peel was a bit simpler for me personally.  I handed my pastry team a recipe, and they were in charge of making sure we had enough slices for service.  The moist cake had a strong citrus flavor and the mascarpone cheese added the right amount of creaminess.  The only issue we had here was just before I was about to serve this course, I realized that we did not have nearly enough mascarpone for all 77 portions, but nothing that a quick trip to the walk-in (down-stairs in the parking garage) and a kitchen aid couldn't take care of.  The dessert went out without a hitch.

 

Branzino

Whole Roasted Rhode Island Black Bass, Wilted Frisee, Salsa Verde

1 whole black bass, fins clipped, gills removed, seasoned with salt and pepper, stuffed with lemons

salsa verde (chopped shallots, capers, parsley, olive oil)

frisee

1. Sear the bass in smoking hot pan with olive oil, place in oven for 6 minutes, flip and return to oven for 6 more minutes.

2. While fish is cooking, saute the frisee in olive oil, set on plate

3. Once fish is cooked through, carefully with a spatula, place the entire fish on the bed of frisee

4. top with salsa verde, buon appetito!

Barolo & Truffle Dinner at Tomasso

White truffles and Barolo, who could ask for more?  The Truffle & Barolo dinner at Tomasso on December 16th was a great success.  Everyone is attendance was treated to some unbelievable wines, and of course, the amazing white truffles from Alba.  The six course meal included some variations of recipes I learned while working in Piemonte, and some Tomasso favorites. 

Basket of Truffles that filled the room with incredible aromas

The Menu

Sformato- roasted mushroom souffle with a yellow foot mushrooms sauce, and shaved truffles

Carne Crudo- Beef loin from Northeast Family Farms, raw quail egg, crostini, tomato oil

Raviolo- a single raviolo filled with seasoned mascarpone cheese & raw egg yolk tossed in a burro fuso sauce (pasta water & butter) and topped with, you guessed it, white truffles

Risotto ai Tartufi- classic white wine & parmesan risotto, truffles

Brasato di Manzo- barolo braised beef short-ribs, braised for 4+ hours with tomatoes, onions, & beef stock served with roasted celery root, butternut squash, & parsnips

Pera- red wine and truffle honey poached pears (truffle honey available at Panzano), the poaching liquid was reduced down to a syrup, and drizzled over the warm pear with a homemade whipped cream

Westport Rivers Wine Dinner

On November 18th, winemaker Bill Russell from Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery (not this Bill Russell!) joined us at Tomasso Trattoria for a 5 course wine dinner.  Westport Rivers, located in Westport, MA has been making some pretty great local wines for 25 years now, and we have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to do a number of events with Bill over the last few years.  Trying to get a serious photo of the chef, winemaker, and wine director not an easy task!

                                   Me                                    Bill                                                        Fred

*The Menu

Baccala Fritta~

10# skinless cod, packed in salt for 24 hours, soaked in water for another 24 hours

10# yukon gold potatoes (Verrill Farm in this case) peeled, boiled, and cooled

20 egg yolks (reserve whites for another time!)

1 bunch chopped chives

1. simmer the salted & soaked cod in water until flaky, cool

2. mix cooked potatoes, cod, parsley, and egg yolks in a bowl and mix with potato masher until it comes together

3. form into desired size and deep fry until golden brown

4. top with chopped lemon zest and parsley (gremolata)

Carne Crudo~

mix ground Northeast Family Farms beef loin with, salsa verde (equal parts shallots, parsley, capers),tomato paste, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

topped with fried capers & parsley over grilled homemade brioche (also makes great french toast)

Spaghettini~

Calamari tubes & tenticles marinated with olive oil, crushed red pepper flakes & parsley

Sear the calamari in a smoking hot saute pan, add olive oil and parsley, toss the pasta and serve immediately being sure the calamari does not over cook

Quaglia~

Cavendish Farm quail stuffed with house-cured pancetta (recipe for another blog) carrots, celery, onions, ciabatta bread over roasted butternut squash

Crostata~

Pasta Frola dough recipe:

600 g flour

300 g sugar

zest from 1 lemon

240 g soft butter

4 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

32 g baking powder

*mix all ingredients together by hand in a bowl until combined, form to the bottom of a buttered pie pan, fill with your favorite pie filling, bake @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes until dough is golden brown.  Dough can also be used to make cookies, tartlets, etc, etc.  I learned this recipe while Emily and I were in Italy working at Campanaro in Asti

Homemade Mozzarella

Since graduating from the Culinary Institute of America almost 6 years ago, many of my classmates have gone in very different directions.  Some got out of cooking all together, others are sous chefs and executive chefs across the nation, and one of my very good friends is a cheese maker.  Sam Kennedy makes cheese for Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville, NJ.  I buy cheeses from him to sell at Panzano, and also featured this week on the cheese plate at Tomasso. In a recent conversation with Sammy, we were discussing cheese curd.  I had him send me some to play around with homemade mozzarella under the condition that I report back to him how it came out.  The results are in, it's a winner!  I ran the homemade cheese for specials over a two night span at the restaurant, and sold out both nights with great feedback from guests.  Needless to say, next cheese shipment from Lawrenceville will certainly include the delicious curds. 

The chopped curds are placed into a bowl

180 degree water is added to slowly melt the curds

Slowly mixing the cheese to help the melting

Once a mass is formed, the cheese is ready for shaping

I rolled the mass into a tube wrapped in plastic

Every two inches I tied butcher's twine to form mozzarella balls

finished product

Involtini con lonzino & basilico (rolled mozzarella with cured pork & basil)

Burrata ripieni con mascarpone e tartufi (mascarpone & black truffles filled burrata)