Recipes from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Brisket in Garlic Sauce

Brisket in Garlic sauce

5 lbs of first cut brisket

40, or more cloves of garlic, peeled
Olive oil
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 c. beef or chicken broth, low sodium
3 - 4 sprigs of thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 tsp lemon peel

N.B. this can easily be increased, just increase all ingredients proportionally

Preheat oven to 325

Heat oil in pan and brown brisket on both sides, remove from pan & set aside.
Cook garlic cloves until golden
Deglaze pan with vinegar
Add broth, thyme & rosemary, reduce heat to simmer
Salt & pepper brisket as desired and put in pan spooning up the garlic cloves on top of the meat
Cover brisket with foil or a lid and place in oven.
Cook, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes until fork tender (about 2.5 - 3 hours)

Remove from oven, remove brisket and place into service (i.e. foil) pan. Skim & defat pan juices. Spoon garlic, thyme & rosemary leaves into a blender (discard the stems) with about 1.5 cups of pan juices. Puree the garlic cloves and return the puree to the pan or a sauce pan with the rest of the pan juices. Add the lemon zest and boil until the sauce is thick enough. Nap the meat with the sauce, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight to firm (if you're in a real rush 5 hours in the fridge will do it but overnight is better).

2 hrs before serving, Thin or thick slice the meat according to preference and replace in sauce (you can redefat the sauce at this point if desired). Reheat in 180 degree oven, covered, until at serving temperature. About 2 hours.

Enjoy.

Serve 10 or so depending on what else is present at the meal

Recipes from the Twit Army Mess Hall - Manicotti

Meat Stuffed Manicotti:
Serves 3 - 4 depending on your appetite

Ingredients
14 manicotti
2 lbs italian style sausage (I've used turkey or pork, the choice is yours)
1 -2 onions, chopped (depends on how much you like onions)
2 eggs
1/4 c. italian style bread crumbs (if you don't have italian style use plain and add 2 tsp. dried parley & 1 tsp. of garlic powder)
1.5 c. shredded pecorino romano (NOT the stuff in the green cardboard tube)
3 c. of your favorite tomato sauce

Brown meat & onions until fully cooked. Place in strainer over sink & drain well. Let cool to room temperature (This is very important if you don't want the eggs to be cooked)

While the meat mixture is cooling mix the eggs, lightly beaten, with the bread crumbs and 1/2 c. of the cheese. Refrigerate.

After the meat is cooled cook the manicotti according to package directions and drain.

Mix the meat mixture with the eggs (this is why you have to let it cool, if you mix the eggs in while the meat is still hot they will cook immediately and you'll have scrambled eggs).

Stuff the manicotti (I use my fingers but if you're fastidious you can use a pastry bag).
Place 1/3 c. or so of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 foil pan (just enough to cover the bottom). Place the manicotti on the sauce in a single layer. If there is any of the stuffing mixture left over you can spread it over the top of the manicotti. Pour on the rest of the sauce and then sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake in 350 oven for 35 minutes until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy.

N.B. You can make this dish in advance and do the final baking right before serving. Just let it return to room temperature before you bake it.
Unbaked, refrigerated storage time 1 - 2 weeks
Unbaked, frozen storage time: 2 months or so

Upcoming Lectures, travel & events

OK, I'm starting this off by posting my upcoming lectures, travel and meetings.
Now you'll see why I won't be posting much for a while.

Lil

Nov. 8 - Lecture at Surgical Board Review Course, NYC
Nov. 10 - Lecture at "Enhancing the Safety of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition", Boston
Nov. 15 - Son's 15th birthday event (bowling party)
Nov. 16 - 17 - Travel to Chicago for meeting about setting up a Speakers Bureau
Nov. 23 - 30 - On west coast with daughter for college tours
Dec. 1 - Home, collapse and post more to blog
Jan. 28 - Feb 3 - New Orleans for ASPEN meeting