Secret Sauce Kitchen

Directions

• Spicy Giardiniera
• Day 1
• Put all of the Day 1 ingredients in a large bowl. Toss well with the salt, cover and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
• The salt pulls water from the vegetables which both intensifies the flavor and crisps them up.
• Day 2
• Drain and lightly run under cold water to remove some of the saltiness.
• Combine with the Day 2 ingredients and mix until evenly coated and submerged.
• Use a canning process if you want to keep jars in the pantry long term. Otherwise store in jars in the refrigerator.
• It’s fine to eat after 1 week but letting it sit for 3 weeks develops the best flavor.
• –
• Chicago Italian Beef, Sous Vide
• Toast whole peppercorns, fennel, coriander, paprika, thyme, oregano and red pepper flakes in a dry pan until fragrant. Grind into a coarse spice mix and set aside.
• Rub half the salt and 5g freshly cracked black pepper evenly over the beef.
• Heat beef tallow in a cast-iron skillet until very hot. Sear beef on all sides until deeply browned, then remove. Turn off heat.
• Add garlic cloves to the hot tallow, about 1 minute until lightly browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine water, bouillon cubes and the reserved spice mix. Bring to a simmer over high heat, stirring until bouillon dissolves, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Coat the seared beef with the spice mix, then transfer to a vacuum bag with the browned garlic and cooled bouillon liquid. Seal bag.
• Heat sous vide bath to 64 °C (148 °F). Submerge bag and cook for 24 hours.
• Remove bag and chill completely in an ice bath. Transfer to the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight. Move to the freezer for 6 hours before slicing.
• Strain the jus through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Using a deli slicer, cut beef paper thin across the grain. Immediately add to beef jus to avoid drying it out. If you don’t have a slicer, get your sharpest knife and cut as thin as humanly possible.
• To serve, warm sliced beef in a saucepan with its jus and the green pepper. Cook gently over low heat until the green pepper is softened, but no more than 1 hour.
• Serve on French sandwich rolls with hot giardiniera and a side of the warm jus to dunk in. Or if you prefer, dunk entire sandwich in jus before serving for a real authentic Chicago wet sandwich.
• –
• Spicy Giardiniera Sauce
• Blend giardiniera on high for 1 full minute.
• Add heavy cream and blend for another minute.
• Pour into sauce pan and warm on low. Slowly whisk in sour cream.
• Once sauce is completely smooth, whisk in butter, 1 tbsp at a time until fully combined.
• If sauce is still thick, warm more cream in microwave and add as much as needed to make it easily pourable.
• Put a piece of cheesecloth over a strainer with bowl underneath. Pour sauce over and let sit for 1 hour to allow sauce to pass through.
• Squeeze cheesecloth as-needed to get as much sauce through as possible. The cheesecloth process makes the sauce even silkier, though isn’t absolutely necessary.
• –
• To Plate
• Pour sauce into bowl. Add raviolo in center. Sauce may come up over the sides, but that’s ok.
• Add chopped giardiniera on top of raviolo. Top with a couple microgreens and serve.