What I’m calling the “french method” is that impulse to extract the maximum amount of flavour, to add more vegetable, spices, herbs, maybe wine and simmer on low for hours on end.
For exemple, that is my standard vegetable stock:
Ingredients (makes approx 3 litres)
1 pound onions, keep the skin
1 pound leeks
1 pound carrots
½ pound fennel (the bulb)
½ pound mushrooms (white or Portobello without the gills)
4 tablespoon tomato paste
24 cups water
2 bunches of parsley
2 bunches of thyme
2 bay leaves
Salt
Whole spices (To taste I used star anise, mustard seed, allspice, coriander seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, whole pepper, cloves)
Stockpot
Cheese Cloth
Strainer
Wooden spoon or potato masher
Method
Chop all the vegetables roughly and put them in the stockpot
Cover with water
Put your herbs and spices in
Bring the water to 180F (less important in case of vegetables because there is no animal fat to emulsify)
Simmer for 1 to 2 hours (2 is better for me)
Strain the result and press on the vegetables to get all the flavor out
Salt to taste (it will need a lot of salt)
For beef or veal stock I’d simmer at least 10 hours and maybe add a bottle of wine.
It creates something a dense and flavourful broth that I identify as “good”. It is not, however “light bodied and soft spoken”. I’m french canadian and I felt, well, very french reading her comment on the ideal italian broth! 
Almost finished the broth and made the first of the three sauces I had in mind, her “Piquant green sauce”.
The sauce is pretty simple to make. Put the following ingredients in the food processor and spin to win:
2/3 cup parsley leaves
21/2 teaspoon capers
1/2 teaspoon strong mustard
1/2 teaspoon red vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
I bought salt packed sardinian capers for the occasion. First time I used these because I usually get the french lelarge in vinegar. They are pretty simple to use: just put them in water for 20 minutes, put them in a strainer and wash under the faucet. They taste brighter than those kept in vinegar, less astringent and less salty. I think I like them better.
Used dijon mustard, red sherry vinegar and my most vegetal olive oil (the O-Live). Processed it until it was “uniform” but kept it pretty coarse. It just felt right.
I didn’t need to adjust the seasoning, the balance felt right. I like the sauce very much but I think it fits white meat and fish better than red meat. It is not piquant at all… its actually pretty delicate.
It doesn’t render a lot. I don’t know what I had in mind when I got my food processor out. Next time I’ll try my immersion blender accessory.
So!
Here is the broth as it came out of the fridge. There was a lot less rendered fat that I expected. I guess its normal since I’ve simmered the broth only 3 hours vs 10-12 hours normally. Its a bit opaque since I’ve started the broth at a full boil before reducing it to a simmer (Ruhlman does not take it above 180F) but I don’t mind since I’m not after a consommé and rustic is fun too!
Here it is degreased, seasoned and stored. Its going directly to the freezer. Eat pot is 2 cups so that makes roughly 19 cups of broth.
It cost me approx 30$ if I am conservative. The meat and bones cost me between 20-25$ and I need 6 vegetables at 5$ for the lot if I decide to pay a lot for some reason.
19 cups is 4495ml. That makes 0.67$/100ml but you bought the bones, meat and vegetables yourself and controlled the cooking process so chances are the broth will be much better than the ones bought in the supermarket right!
If I look online at my local supermarket the Knorr brand beef broth is roughly 0.29$/100ml so I guess my housemade version is about twice as expensive. Its also much longer to process. You do make a lot at the same time however and I do feel its worth it.
The resulting broth is less intense that the ones I’m used to (I don’t have a ton of experience with veal broth but the beef broth I know are much more savoury). I think I prefer the more intense “onion soup style” beef broth but this one has its charms and, as Hazan says, “It is light bodied and soft spoken, helping the dishes of which it is a part to taste better without calling attention to itself.”
I already made the salsa verde, now it is time to prep the boiled meat that resulted in the broth making.
I am using her instructions guiding the use of leftovers from a recipe called “Bollito Misto” (in which she boils different cuts of meat).
The broth gave me about 470 grams of mixed boiled beef and veal. It doesn’t look very appetizing and trust me its rock hard since its just coming out of the fridge. It will make, say, two portions of meat at 235 grams each.
That below is 2 portions of meat at 235 grams each with what is supposed to be “between 4 to 6 portions” of Salsa Verde. Clearly Hazan is not a fan of sauce. I am however so I’ll use all my salsa verde for one the the portions.
Final result. The meat needs to marinate with the sauce for 3 hours. I will make “salsa rosa” or “salsina di barbaforte” tonight for the other portion (I already have the ingredients as I thought I’d have 3 portions of meat). I’ll eat it with rice.
Just a small update on the boiled meats with salsa verde.
Made it with a bit of rice. It gave a great result! Its almost worth destroying a perfectly good cut of meat by boiling it to get to that dish! The shortened boiling period did not render all the fat on the meats and the marinating period gave time for the oil to carry the flavour in all the nook and crannies of the beef. The result is that the delicate flavour of the sauce permeated the meat and combined with the unrendered fat to carry the flavour.
The rice was a bit perfumed (made it with a clove, a cardammon pod, aniseed, salt, pepper and fluffed it with a bit of butter) but the sauce carried its essence in it and it was great!
Tried Penne, tomato sauce with vegetables and olive oil.
The concept is pretty simple: you start with a hot cooking pot, you add a can of san marzano tomatoes (mine was 796ml-ish so I had to adjust the quantities) and 1 cup of diced onion, diced carrots and diced celery, raw. You bring to a simmer and you let simmer 30 mins.
You then add 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil and you “fry” the tomato sauce 15 mins. You season to your preference and you serve with spaghetti or penne with parmesan.
The frying process really concentrated the tomato flavor and it made for a very pleasant sauce. It also felt very healthy because it was packed with vegetables and my rough dice made sure they were cooked but still were a bit crunchy in the middle. Next time I’ll try with a much finer dice to see the difference but the experience was a pleasant one.
I’ll do this one again!
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Everything looks great Captain . Nice job .
Just a small update, currently cooking the next sauce on my list (that would be the tomato sauce with sautéed vegetables and olive oil!)
For the record:
1 can (796ml-ish) of san marzano tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup onions
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup celery
Salt
Observations:
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I understood that the same amount of olive oil was to be added but to see the onions swimming in olive oil was a bit disquieting. When you said “cooked the onions until golden” you meant “fry the onions in olive oil until golden”. Check. You can’t really cook onions in the same volume of oil without them swimming. That’s a bit contrary to what I usually do (half oil and butter, just enough to coat the onions, “steam” them in a closed pot for 20 minutes and caramelise them uncovered until they get golden)… I certainly don’t use half a cup
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There will be a lot less vegetables in that sauce, 2 whole cups to be exact. The texture will not be the same.
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The carrots and celery are a lot less cooked than I expected. 1 minute in oil? That’s it? I thought that we would use a similar volume of vegetables than the previous sauce but cook them a lot more.
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Hazan suggested that I simmer the sauce 45 mins, I’ll do it for 1 hour because I prefer a thicker sauce generally.
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I expect to enjoy this version much more, although the previous one wasn’t bad. It reminds me of a simpler version of a marinara (which is probably my favorite non meat tomato sauce variation)
30 mins to go!
I’ve never heard of a marinara sauce with onions, carrots, celery. ??? More like this: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/classic-marinara-sauce
As far as understand there are a lot of variants!
I guess I’ve just not seen one with vegetables. 'Course what does it matter its name if it tastes good?
Sounds good Captain . I would use less oil also . Maybe drizzle a little fresh when done cooking . I cook my veg tables until soft . And would cook for at least a hour on low simmer as you are doing .
I make the same recipe for marinara except I never cook the basil in the sauce . I brings a off flavor for me . Same as pesto pizza . I just do not like the cooked fresh basil flavor . So what I do is take a bunch of the sprigs and toss them in the pot after I have taken it off the heat , cover and let sit for a half hour and then remove the sprigs .
Ok, finished cooking it, finished eating it and here is my feedback:
- All in all it made 3 3/4 cups of sauce, so about 4 portions
- Served it with 100g of spaghetti and cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup of oil is a lot of oil! A bit too much for me! You always have to mix it because the oil just floats on the top
- Taste pretty good, pretty lively, zesty, good tomato taste
- Pretty liquid! Good enough I guess but I’m a fan of thick sauces.
- I miss the garlic!
Overall, if I do a similar sauce I’ll do one of my marinara variants (or “american red sauce” or whatever you call it… in my head its all marinara 
). I prefer this one in the category:
The previous tomato sauce with raw vegetable had a “healthy” flair to it with a lot of crunchy vegetables so it had something new to offer. This one is a variant of a sauce I already do and unfortunately prefer.
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Did my prep for tomorrow’s Marcella Hazan fiesta (will be doing Risotto with its spring vegetables, Roast beef braised in red wine and mushrooms in olive oil and garlic)
Some comments:
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Hazan always starts on cold pans. It bugs me. I always start on hot pans and never put anything in them unless the drops of water falling from a wet hand on the surface sizzle and evaporate (if they roll like water marbles you are witnessing the ladenfrost effect and it means that your cooking surface is way too hot)
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She deglaze her pan on a cold pan (i.e.: she browns her meat, put the pan aside, put the wine in a cold pan and put the pan back to heat again). I always deglaze a pan just as the meat leaves it. I love the hiss of the alcohol on the cooking surface.
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She never mentions letting her roast rest. The least you can do after spending 3 hours and half cooking a roast is to make sure you don’t scrap it by cutting it too soon. What’s 20 minutes among friends?
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I find it cute that she mentions “dry majoram” her and “dry thyme” there. I have them in my pantry… its called “dry italian seasoning”
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Julia Child passes her cooking juice through a sieve before reducing it in a sauce. Hazan doesn’t… weird. I’ll put that on french cooking being more precious than italian cooking.
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I almost always do a breakdown because I hate finding out I have to peel and cut a vegetable in the middle of a recipe as I’m watching meat on a hot pan. I like prepping in advance and a nice mise en place makes sure I have pleasure cooking.
I don’t do “seasoning.” I add what she tells me to.
Regarding “resting,” IMO something that’s cooked for long hours doesn’t need to “rest.”
Well, I don’t always cook from the same book so sometimes my recipes call for “italian seasoning”. Yep, I do low brow AND high brow. Robuchon sometimes interest me, as well as that weird guy nobody knows on youtube from an italian-american heritage doing his “red sauce” his mother from new jersey showed him (its a fictional exemple in case you wondered… I don’t really remember why I bought italian seasoning but its usually to try a more commercial recipe out). It was meant as a fun comment, its not like I suggested we shoot the pope.
You might have a point for resting. I’d have to try with or without resting to test it. Not sure I want to cook two roast to test it and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to scrap 3 hours of cooking because I wanted to save 20 minutes so I’ll take the “resting” insurance. Besides… all the cool kids do it!
In a perfect world, when something like a pork shoulder cooks for a lot of hours, I love to remove the meat from the ‘jus’ and refrigerate over night and then remove the fat.
Agree! I always de-fat broths and demi-glacé but somehow always render cooking juice “à la minute”.
