Beef braised in red wine

I made the tastiest dinner on Monday night: beef braised in red wine, polenta with parmesan, and sauteed brussels sprouts. It was a slight variation on a recipe for beef braised in Barolo wine that I'd cut out of a 2005 issue of Cooks Illustrated magazine. I did not use Barolo, but some other dry Italian red wine that I happened to already have. Barolo is widely recognized as Italy's best red wine, and as a result it can be pretty pricey. So to pour a whole bottle of it into a pot seems crazy! And my sauce turned out just fine with a less-expensive substitute. Here's the recipe:

Beef braised in red wine

1 boneless chuck-eye roast (3-4 lbs)

1 thick slice of pancetta, about 4 ounces, cut into cubes

2 onions, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste*

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1 bottle dry red wine

1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes

2 sprigs thyme, plus 1 teaspoon thyme leaves

2 sprigs rosemary

10 sprigs parsley

salt and pepper

*I buy tomato paste in tubes, not in a can, so you can just use the amount you need and not end up throwing any away.

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In the meantime, pat roast dry with paper towel and season generously with salt and pepper.

2. Heat large dutch oven over medium heat. Add pancetta and cook until browned and crisp. Remove pancetta cubes with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.

3. Turn heat to high and add the beef roast to the same pot and cook until brown on all sides. Remove roast and set aside on a large plate.

4. Reduce heat to medium and add the onions, carrots, celery, and tomato paste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften and begin to brown. Add garlic, sugar, flour, and reserved pancetta. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Add wine and tomatoes and stir, trying to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Add sprigs of thyme, rosemary and parsley. Return roast and accumulated juices to pot and bring liquid to a boil.

5. Place a large sheet of foil over the pot, then fit the lid on top, and place pot in the oven until the meat is fork-tender, about 3 hours, turning the beef every 45 minutes.

6. Remove meat from liquid and set on large plate. Add fresh thyme leaves to liquid and bring to a boil on stove, mashing the vegetables to break them down. After about 5 minutes, remove the liquid from the heat and strain through a mesh colander over a bowl, pressing on the vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the mashed up vegetables in the strainer and return strained liquid and beef to pot. Sample sauce and adjust salt and pepper seasoning. When everything is piping hot again, serve over polenta or egg noodles. The beef should be easy to break up with a fork and can be served in chunks. Or you could remove it from the sauce and slice it.

The best part of this recipe is the leftovers! Tomorrow night, I will shred the remaining beef, heat it with the remaining sauce and some pasta cooking water, and toss it with cooked rigatoni for dinner. I think I'll make a salad to go with it since it will be very rich.