If you've been subjected to non-descript Americanized Italian food, join the club; a club that is by no means small since most of us had no clue what Italian food really was during our formative years.  Andrew Carmellini is one such person who now, as a famed New York City chef, has enlightened many and continues to do so with his book "Urban Italian".  Written by Andrew and his wife Gwen Hyman, while they awaited the opening of Andrew's restaurant A Voce, Urban Italian combines recipes for the home chef with intriguing stories of Andrew's assent from neighborhood Italian restaurant worker to one of the best young chef's in New York.  The stories reflect Andrew's personality as much as the recipes.  But the recipes are what won me over.  

While not necessarily simple, the recipes are straightforward and the results, in my hand at least, were amazing.  I sought out some great cold weather fare and was pleased with both the Lamb Ragu and the Short Ribs Braciole - both make wonderful meals and are a perfect way to spend a snowy winter day.  The Ragu was not only delicious but the directions impeccable.   I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the required ground lamb wasn't very expensive, especially compared to other forms of lamb.  

I can't wait to try more from Urban Italian, which provides a full collection of recipes from starters to desserts.  I'm particularly eager to try Fettuccini with Summer Corn, Bacon, and Shiitake Mushrooms with the first crop of summer corn; and  the Squash Tortelloni the next time I get squash in my CSA box. I can easily see myself cooking from this book time and time again, which places Urban Italian in that small, but growing, group of chef cookbooks from which one can actually cook!

Lamb Ragu

From Urban Italian by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman, Bloomsbury, 2008.

Traditional ragu is made with beef, veal, pork, or a combination of the three, but you know I'm not afraid to mess with tradition in the interest of great food. Lamb is just more flavorful in this kind of dish. And the Italians love their lamb; they just haven't put it together with pasta very often, an oversight thought I'd correct for them. I add a little cumin here too-think Bologna by way of the Sicilian beaches, just about a rock's skip from North Africa-but only enough to enhance the meat, not enough to really taste.

I like to use canned cherry tomatoes in this recipe because they're packed full of sweetness. If your grocery has these, grab 'em, but if not, good Italian canned whole tomatoes will do. If you're having the butcher grind the lamb for you, ask for the shoulder: it's got the best meat-to-fat ratio for tender meat. In any case, you want 25 to 30 percent fat. If the meat is too lean, it won't be tender no matter how long you cook it.

I like to put this ragu together with gnocchi, rigatoni, or papardelle, and top it with sheep's milk ricotta. I haven't included a pasta choice here: that's up to you.

Timing: About 15 minutes of prep time and another 2 hours to cook. This sauce will hold in the fridge for up to 2 days, or you can stick it in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Serves 6

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 ½ pounds ground lamb (shoulder if possible)
• ½ cup finely diced carrot
• ½ cup finely diced onion
• ½ cup finely diced celery
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 ½ cups dry red wine
• 1 cup canned cherry tomatoes or good quality Italian canned whole tomatoes
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or water)
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground fennel
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
  

To finish the dish:

• Gnocchi or pasta of your choice
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
  

To Prepare the Ragu
Heat the olive oil in a large stewpot over medium-high heat. (You need a pot with a very large bottom in order to brown the meat all at once. If you haven't got one, brown the meat in a large saucepan first and then add it to the stewpot.)

Add the ground lamb, breaking it apart into small bits as you drop it into the oil, and brown it over high heat, about minutes. If the lamb releases a lot of liquid, so that the meat begins to steam instead of browning, just drain off the juice and put the pot back on the heat to start the browning process again.

Add the carrots, onion, and celery and mix well. Cook together over high heat until the vegetables start to soften, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and stir to incorporate. Cook together until the mixture becomes a thick reddish mix, about 1 minute.

Add the red wine and stir to incorporate, making sure that no bits of meat or vegetable are sticking to the bottom. Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to scrape down the sides; you don't want bits of sauce to burn and flavor the whole ragu. Cook until the wine evaporates completely: about 2 minutes.

Add the canned tomatoes and the broth (or water). Then add the bay leaves, cumin, coriander, fennel, red pepper flakes, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Scrape down the sides of the pot again.

Bring the mixture to a low boil, and then reduce the heat to medium- low to keep the ragu cooking at a simmer. Cook the lamb, uncovered, until the liquid evaporates and the flavors meld, about i½ hours. Continue scraping the sides of the pot at regular intervals to avoid burnt bits. The meat will turn dark brown and the liquid will turn a dark orange color as it cooks. When it's done, all the flavors will be melded, and the sauce (if you've broken the meat up enough) will look like a sauce: dark brown, rich, thick, and textured.

To Finish the Dish

Cook the gnocchi or pasta of your choice.

Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce, and stir together over the heat, adding the olive oil, butter, and mint to make it smooth and rich tasting on the tongue.

Remove the pot from the heat, ladle the pasta and sauce into individual bowls, and top with the pecorino.

Short Ribs Braciole

From Urban Italian by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman, Bloomsbury, 2008.

If the name of this dish doesn't ring any bells for you, you're not alone. To be honest, I never knew what braciole meant until one of my cooks made it for family meal when I was at Café Boulud. He used his grandmother's recipe: rolled-up flank steak with provolone cheese, prosciutto, and hard-boiled eggs, braised in tomato sauce. I looked for braciole when I traveled through Italy, but it was nowhere-until one day I spotted it in a butcher's window in Puglia, made out of horse. Maybe mine is a little less authentic, but instead of having to compete with the dog-food guys at the racetrack, I've done it with short ribs (and everyone loves short ribs). This dish is great in the depths of winter: real stick-to-your-ribs stuff, if you'll excuse the pun, with deep flavors balanced by the freshness of the topping.

Serves 4

Timing: About 3 hours

For the short ribs:

• ½ cup roughly diced pancetta (about ¼ pound)
• 4 boneless short ribs (about 2 pounds), cut into thirds
• 1 heaping tablespoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, sliced Goodfellas thin
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 20 canned whole tomatoes (2 28-ounce cans, about 4 cups), preferably San Marzano, plus their juice; or 4 cups crushed tomatoes, plus their juice.
  

For the topping:

• ¼ cup pine nuts, chopped roughly
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup Crumbs Yo! or panko breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably on the branch
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• a pinch each of salt and coarse-ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  

For the short ribs:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°.
2. Cook the pancetta in a large, dry, ovenproof saucepot over medium-high heat until the fat renders, about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking.
3. Season the short ribs on both sides with salt and pepper, add them to the pan, and brown the meat, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the onion and cook until it softens, about 1 minute. Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes, mix well, and continue cooking.
5. Crush the tomatoes over a bowl with your hands, then add them to the pot along with their juice. Bring the mixture up to a low boil.
6. Remove the pot from the stove and place it in the oven. Check the ribs about every 15 minutes or so to make sure they're not boiling too hard. Cook until the meat is supertender and a fork can pass through it without sticking, about 2½ hours.

For the topping:
1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry sauté pan over low heat, shaking the pan occasionally to avoid burning or sticking, about 8 minutes.
2. Add the olive oil and mix well. Add the Crumbs Yo! or panko breadcrumbs and continue cooking over low heat, mixing occasionally, until everything is toasty brown, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the oregano and parsley. Season with the salt and pepper and cook together for a few seconds, so everything is warmed but the parsley does not wilt.
4. Remove from the heat and then add the Parmigiano-Reggiano (not before-otherwise, you'll have a melted-cheese mess).

To finish the dish:
1. Remove the pot from the oven and immediately remove the ribs to a plate, using a pair of tongs.
2. Use a ladle to remove some of the fat from the sauce, by pressing the chunky sauce away as you tip the pot so that the ladle fills only with the clear fat. (This is optional, but it definitely makes the sauce prettier-there's about 2 tablespoons' worth of fat there.)
3. Add ½ cup of water to the sauce and stir to bring it together.
4. Place 4 to 5 pieces of meat on each plate. Pour the sauce from the pot directly over the short ribs and sprinkle the topping generously over each dish. Serve immediately. 

About Urban Italian

The recipes that one of New York’s best young chefs cooks in his own kitchen: a cookbook full of soulful, sophisticated food and delicious stories. While waiting for construction to finish on his restaurant A Voce, Andrew Carmellini faced an unusual challenge. After a brilliant career in professional kitchens (including a six-year tour as chef de cuisine at Café Boulud), he was faced with the harsh reality of life as a civilian cook: no prep cooks, no saucier, no daily deliveries—just him and his wife in their tiny Manhattan-apartment kitchen. Urban Italian is made up of the recipes that result when a great chef has to use the same resources as the rest of us. In these hundred recipes—covering four distinct courses, side dishes, and base recipes—Carmellini shows how to make stunning, soulful food with nothing more than the ingredients, techniques, and time available to the ordinary home cook. The food is sophisticated but also easy to make: lamb meatballs stuffed with goat cheese; veal, beef, and pork ravioli; roast pork with Italian plums and grappa; fennel with Sambuca and orange; and a honey-flavored pine nut cake.

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