Week 8: Slow-Cooked - Red Wine Brisket with Apricot and Onions

mmmmmmmmm brisket.

Homer Simpson made start drooling when he thinks about donuts, but me, I drool thinking about brisket. When I saw that this week's theme was slow cooking, I didn't even consider any other possibilities. The recipe that I did is a rewrite I did a couple of years ago on Wolfgang Puck's Wone-Braised Brisket of Beef with Caramelized Pearl Onions and Dried Apricots (my recipe is below). I wanted to try to make the same thing in my slow cooker instead of having to pay attention to the thing all afternoon. That night I had my in-laws over to enjoy dinner with us. He enjoyed dinner so well that he went out and bought the same slow cooker!

Brown the meat before it goes in the slow-cooker

mise en plas

Throw it all together and walk away. Just walk away!

Resist the urge to lift the lid. After 8+ hours it turns out like this.

As the meat rests, saute up the onions and apricots that will accompany it. Also the red wine sauce.

 I served the brisket with a root vegetable mash (made with Yukon Gold potatoes, parsnip, and sweet potato), oven-roasted carrots (that turned out like carrot french fries), and sauteed leeks with peas (finished with butter and sherry). All our guests brought bourbon. My wife broke out the Girl Scout cookies afterwards. A very fulfilling President's Day dinner party.

Oh yeah. I forgot. I made this Monday and didn't post it until now. A bit of a procrastinator, aren't I?

el fin

Recipe:

5 pounds beef brisket

2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 bottle red wine

all-purpose flour

2 plus 2plus 2 tablespoons vegatable oil

10 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

6 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 celery stalks, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 medium leek, white part only, cut into 1-inch chunks

1 cup of dried apricots

6 sprigs fresh flat leaf parsley

2 sprigs fresh tyme

2 bay leaves

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 ¼ cup homemade beef stock or good quality canned beef broth

1 cup pearl onion

minced parsley for garnish

1. Season the brisket evenly on both sides with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the wine to a boil and continue boiling until it reduces to half its original volume, 15 to 20 minutes

2. Evenly sprinkle the brisket all over with flour, shaking off the excess. Heat a wide skillet or dutch oven (cast iron preferably) over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil. When it is almost smoking, turn the heat to medium high, carefully add the brisket, and sear until well browned, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the brisket to the slow-cooker.

3. Pour off the fat from the skillet and add another 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the garlic, shallots,carrots, celery and leek and saute until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add half the apricots and the parsley, thyme, bay leaves, and tomato paste and cook for 1 more minute. Add about ¼ cup of reduced wine if it is needed to deglaze the pan.

4. Add vegetable mixture to the slow cooker. Add the reduced wine. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours, or 5 to 6 hours on high.

5. Blanch and peel the onions, leaving them whole. (Bring saucepan of water to a boil. Add the pearl onions and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain and immediately immerse them in an ice bath. Cut the ends off and peel the onions.) Cut the remaining apricots into ¼ inch strips

6. In a small saute pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat and saute the pearl onions until lightly golden, 5-7 minutes. Add the apricot strips and pour in ¼ cup of stock or broth, stirring and scraping with a wooden spoon to deglaze the pan deposits. Reduce the heat and simmer gently until tender, about 5 minutes. Cover and keep warm.

               (NOTE: My wife has continually held that the onions and apricots are not needed. I like them.)

7. When the meat is done, carefully transfer (you’ll probably need two people) to a “heated” platter and cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15-25 minutes.

8. Strain the remaining liquid from the slow cooker through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan, add ½-1 cup of beef stock or broth and bring to a boil. Continue at a boil until the liquid thickens and reduces (Wolfgang says when it is a quart, but he also was counting on an additional 2 qt of broth, I went until it was "gravy-like"). Season to taste with salt and pepper.

(NOTE: All the cooking shows and Cooks Illustrated says to throw away the vegetables after they have been used for this recipe. I feel like I am wasting food when I do this, but this time I did.)

9. Serve by slicing the meat across the grain in ¼ inch slices. Arrange the slices on the platter and spoon about half the sauce over it and garnish with the onions and apricots. Spinkle minced parley and pass remaining sauce.