Recipes: Steak Oscar Sous Vide

Ingredients
2 Hanger steaks (you can buy in bulk and butcher the beef yourself, as in this recipe, or purchase the steaks pre-cut at the butcher shop)
1/4 cup Cabernet
8 pc. asparagus

1 cup fresh chopped tarragon

1 clove fresh garlic

1/2 lb. crab meat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups semolina
2 eggs
1/4 cup White wine

Slice the steak along the seam (horizontally), then using a Weston 9” Food Slicer, slice the steaks into 2” pieces.

Put about 10 cups ( gallon) of water on the stove at medium heat until it reaches 130^oF (for medium rare - see a Food Temperature Chart for other steak temperatures), then reduce the heat to the lowest setting to stabilize the temperature. The easiest way to do this is to place the digital thermometer indicator into the water and set the temperature to 130^oF so that it sounds when you reach your desired temperature.

Vacuum seal the steaks with the Weston Pro 2300 vacuum sealer. Place fresh asparagus with 1/4 cup fresh tarragon and 1 clove fresh garlic into a Weston Vacuum Sealer Bag and seal. Vacuum seal crab meat with butter.

Place the vacuum sealed steaks into the water for at least 45 min. After 45 minutes, you can leave the steaks in for several hours and the steaks will not cook any further. Monitor the temperature of the water to ensure it stays at the correct temperature throughout the cooking process. While the steaks cook, heat water to 185^oF in a separate pot. This is where you will cook the asparagus.

 During your downtime, prepare the tarragon pasta with a Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine.

Mix together semolina, eggs, white wine, and fresh chopped tarragon. Knead the dough by feeding it through the rollers of the machine several times at the thickest setting. Feed the dough sheet through the machine until setting 7, then feed the thin sheet through the spaghetti cutter and string the noodles over a Roma by Weston Pasta Drying Rack.

Once the steaks are done, set them aside and use the same water to cook the vacuum sealed crab meat (140^oF for 25 min). Cook the asparagus at 185^oF for 25 min in a separate pot at the same time.

Prepare the sauce by boiling champagne vinegar and white wine until reduced to 2 tablespoons. Let cool slightly (so that eggs do not immediately cook in the liquid). Beat in egg yolks. Whisk sauce in a double boiler, beating in the melted butter until you reach a perfectly smooth mixture. Set aside (but try to use as soon as possible after preparing). Add lemon juice just before serving.

When there are about 5-10 minutes left on the crab meat and asparagus, boil the pasta for 2-3 minutes, until fully cooked, drain, and toss in a little olive oil (no need to rinse). Pan sear the steak in cabernet just to brown the outside (not cook it) – the steak will be cooked perfectly to temperature all the way through, which means that it will not be brown outside as a steak is expected to be. Pan-searing it merely adds a nice, browned crust without taking away from the tender perfection of the meat.

Serve the steak immediately with the asparagus, crab meat, and pasta all on top and drizzle with béarnaise-style sauce.  Enjoy with a loved one.

Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish or eggs may increased your risk of foodborne illness.

Tools
Weston Pro Vacuum Sealer & Vacuum Sealer Bags
Weston 9" Food Slicer
Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine & Pasta Drying Rack
Weston Marinade Injector
Digital thermometer

Techniques
Using the Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine

Recipes: Very Merry Pasta

Prep Time 30 min    Cook Time 2 min    Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Red Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon crystallized ginger, crushed
10 drops red food coloring

Green Pasta Noodles
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/8 cup, 25 mL Disaronno (or other amaretto liqueur)
1/2 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon thyme leaves (about 8 sprigs)
10 drops green food coloring

Pasta Sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup egg nog

Tools
Roma by Weston Electric Pasta Machine

Techniques
Using a Pasta Machine (see below or follow the link)

Put two separate pots with 3 cups of water each on to boil.

Sift together 2 cups flour and cinnamon in one bowl (this will be your red pasta) and 2 cups flour and sage in another bowl (this will be your green pasta). Mix crushed crystallized ginger into the red bowl and thyme leaves into the green bowl. Mix in eggs and amaretto liqueur. Knead each ball of dough until uniform.

Put each ball into a separate plastic sandwich bag. Add in respective food colorings. Knead dye into each ball of dough for about 5 minutes each. The dough will not be a uniform color after this point, it should just be marbelized most of the way through.

Watch the video below for help with using an electric pasta machine:



Feed a palm-sized chunk of red dough through the pasta machine, folding it over several times. By setting four, the dough should be completely red. If not, fold it over and feed it through in setting seven a few more times, until it is completely red. This pasta recipe can be used for any type of pasta, but for this particular recipe, I use fettuccine and so I only roll the dough out to setting four.

Feed the pasta sheet through the fettuccine cutter, then hang the strands on a Roma by Weston Pasta Drying Rack. Repeat these steps for the remaining red pasta dough.

Inspect the machine for any leftover red dough. If there is any red dough left on the rollers, the green pasta will end up with red spots. Repeat the above steps for the green dough.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg nog and whipping cream over medium heat until sauce is thick.

Drop the red pasta into one pot of boiling water and the green into the other. Boiling them separately ensures that the dyes do not mix - you don't want brown pasta. Cook for two minutes, strain, and then toss with a little olive oil (to keep from sticking together; do not use the old cold water trick, it steals some of your starches from the noodles).

Toss the pasta with the cream sauce and serve.

Recipes: Pumpkin Ravioli with Frangelico Sauce

Pumpkin Ravioli with Frangelico Sauce
Serves: 2   Prep Time: 1 hr. 30 min.   Cook Time: 5 min.

Dough
1 1/2 cups Semolina
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/8 cup white wine

Filling
1/2 pie pumpkin, cubed
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Sauce

1 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons Frangelico hazelnut liqueur

2 oz crushed hazelnuts for garnish (optional)

Cube a half of a pie pumpkin and sautee in butter until soft. Let cool, then drop the pumpkin into the Roma by Weston Sauce Maker & Food Strainer (you may drain the butter or include it in the filling). Simmer with heavy whipping cream for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool.

Sift together Semolina, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Crack eggs and pour wine into center of dry mixture. Turn mixture into center until mixed thoroughly. This dough should be somewhat drier than regular pasta dough. Knead for five minutes and let rest for 20 minutes.

Finish kneading by rolling through the Roma by Weston 6" Pasta Machine at setting seven, folding over a few times. Finish rolling the pasta sheets by feeding them into the machine, lowering the setting each time until setting setting two. Remember to constantly flour the dough.

Trim the sheets with the wheel cutter (comes with the ravioli attachment). Attach the Ravioli Cutter Attachment to the machine and insert the handle. Divide the sheets with a horizontal line into two equal sized sheets. Place the two sheets onto the wooden rollers of the attachment. Start cranking the handle, making sure the dough is being fed into the machine.

Drop the pumpkin filling in between the two sheets. Turn the handle to seal this row, and then repeat. When the ravioli sheets are complete, allow them to dry for 10 minutes before tearing them apart.

Cook ravioli in boiling water for 4-6 minutes. Rather than cooking them, you may also freeze the ravioli at this point to save them for later. Add a little olive oil or vegetable oil to keep them from sticking together if you choose to freeze them.

Simmer Frangelico and heavy whipping cream for 20 minutes, then drizzle over ravioli. Garnish with crushed hazelnuts.