Macaroni à la Napolitaine

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4 to 5-quart (3.8 to 4.7 L) heavy cocotte or Dutch oven
• •Immersion blender or food mill
• •Fine-mesh sieve and sturdy ladle
• •Large pasta pot
• •2-quart (1.9 L) deep heatproof serving dish

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the fond

   Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Dry the beef thoroughly and season it with half the fine sea salt and pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) of the butter in a heavy cocotte over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in three uncrowded batches, turning each cube only after its first face has taken a deep chestnut color. Transfer the browned pieces to a bowl. The brown glaze left on the pot is the fond, the concentrated foundation of the estouffade; pale meat cannot give you one.

   If the butter begins turning black, lower the heat and wipe away the burnt milk solids before continuing. Brown is flavor. Black is bitterness, and no amount of wine will persuade it otherwise.
2. 2

   Braise the estouffade

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and carrots to the remaining fat and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring until softened and lightly colored. Add the garlic for 1 minute. Pour in the red wine, scrape every bit of fond from the pot floor, and boil for 4 minutes. Return the beef and its juices, then add the tomatoes, bouquet garni, and remaining salt and pepper. Bring the liquid just to a simmer, cover, and place the cocotte in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Turn the beef once midway through. It is ready when the pieces collapse under a wooden spoon and the wine has lost its raw edge.

3. 3

   Reduce it patiently

   Discard the bouquet garni and set the uncovered cocotte over low heat. Press the collapsing beef against the side of the pot as you stir, then let the estouffade reduce for 40 to 60 minutes. Stir more frequently as it thickens. Stop when a spoon drawn across the bottom leaves a clean path for several seconds and the mixture settles back slowly, not like soup. This reduction is the dish, so don't hurry it with fierce heat.

   If the bottom catches, stop stirring at once. Lift the clean upper portion into another saucepan, leaving the scorched layer behind, loosen it with 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 30 g) hot water, and continue over lower heat. Ça se rattrape.
4. 4

   Pass the purée

   Blend the hot estouffade directly in the cocotte until no pieces of beef remain, then press it through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean saucepan. Work patiently with the back of a ladle and discard only the dry fibers left behind. If the purée is too stiff to pass, loosen it with hot water a tablespoon at a time. If it runs from the spoon once sieved, return it to low heat and reduce again until it holds a soft mound. Keep it covered and hot.

5. 5

   Parboil the macaroni

   Bring the measured water to a rolling boil and add the pasta-water salt. Cook the macaroni until flexible and cooked at the edges but still distinctly firm at its center, about 2 minutes short of the package time. Drain thoroughly. If using long, thick macaroni, cut it into 2-inch (5 cm) lengths; short ziti has already done that bit of brigade work for you. Return the pasta to the warm pot and toss it with the remaining 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) butter until every tube gleams. If it clumps, loosen it with one spoonful of its cooking water and toss again.

6. 6

   Layer the timbale

   Warm a 2-quart (1.9 L) deep heatproof serving dish, the home equivalent of the large timbale. Divide the cheese, hot estouffade purée, and buttered macaroni roughly into thirds. Sprinkle one-third of the cheese across the bottom, cover it with one-third of the purée, and spread one-third of the macaroni over that. Repeat twice in precisely the same order, ending with macaroni. Work briskly and don't stir the layers together; their order belongs to the preparation.

7. 7

   Serve as it stands

   Cover the timbale for 5 minutes so the cheese softens between the hot layers, but don't bake, brown, or unmold it. Bring the dish directly to the table and serve with a deep spoon, cutting straight down so each helping catches macaroni, cheese, and the wine-dark estouffade. Cooking well is not cooking fancy. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Chuck is the right beef here. Its connective tissue softens into the sauce while lean steak only dries out, and the long cooking would waste the dearer cut. Technique first, always.
• •Use good canned whole tomatoes unless fresh tomatoes are fully ripe and dense with flavor. The classical pantry solved the season neatly; a preserved tomato picked ripe is better than a fresh one that tastes of wet paper.
• •Choose a dry, medium-bodied red with enough acidity for the tomato. Cook with a bottle you would willingly pour at the table, but keep the grand bottles for drinking because the reduction will not send a thank-you note.
• •Parmesan gives the clean, savory finish this French idea of Naples requires. Mozzarella changes the structure, forming ropes between the layers instead of melting quietly into the estouffade.
• •The finished purée should resemble a very thick meat sauce, not a loose tomato sauce. When uncertain, put a spoonful on a cold plate: it should spread slowly and leave no watery rim.

Advance Preparation

• •The estouffade purée can be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Cool it promptly in a shallow container, cover, and refrigerate; reheat it gently with a spoonful of water before layering.
• •For batch cooking, double the estouffade in a 6 to 7-quart (5.7 to 6.6 L) cocotte and freeze the extra purée for up to 2 months. Allow additional uncovered reduction time because a larger volume sheds water more slowly.
• •Cook and butter the macaroni only shortly before assembling. An overnight rest makes the pasta absorb too much sauce, so make the long braise ahead and save the quick work for the evening.
• •Leftovers keep for up to 3 days when covered and chilled. Reheat them covered at gentle heat with a spoonful of water around the edge of the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 525g)