Sous-vide truffled veal chop with radicchio "pesto" pasta

Recently a friend of mine sent me a link for cooking sous-vide style in a standard issue beer cooler. Fascinated by the concept, I immediately piloted the technique with a chicken breast, and the results were stunningly good. This technique has found its way into my culinary arsenal ever since.

Sous-vide cooking has two main advantages: first, the meat is cooked perfectly while incredibly tender and juicy every time, and second, that you can really infuse flavor into the meat during the lengthy cooking process. The second was more important to me last night, as I wanted to infuse as much of the valuable truffle flavor as I could into the meat.



Meat recipe as follows:

2 veal chops
1 tsp truffle oil
1 tsp truffle salt

Rub chops with oil and salt on both sides and place them into ziploc plastic bags, individually. Seal as tight as you can, removing as much air as possible (rubbing the chops inside the bags reduces waste, btw). Add water to a thermal cooler until the interior of the cooler is 140 degrees. Add the meat, seal, and wrap tightly to insulate (or, put it in a warm oven, but don't leave the oven on). I used a drink cooler which fit perfectly in the oven, and twice during the two our period I turned the oven on until the temperature was almost 170, and then turned it immediately off. The better your cooler is, and the more water you're able to use, the easier this will be. After at least an hour and up to, well, whatever you want, remove the meat from the baggies and sear for 1 minute per side in a blazing hot dry pan. Deglaze with a touch of water if you like to make a scant sauce, but really you don't need to do this - a light pepper dusting is all you really need.

The meat turns out phenomenal if you do it this way. It is unbelievably tender, and the flavor of truffle permeates throughout it. Be forewarned - it may look raw when you cut into it. It isn't at all.

Pasta recipe:

3 cloves garlic
1/8 cup hazelnuts, about 10 or so
2 tsp olive oil
1 head radicchio, washed and quartered, center rib removed
1/4 cup stock
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp agave nectar
Parmesan cheese to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Roast the garlic in the pan, skin on, until soft. Remove skin and put into blender. Lightly toast the hazelnuts and add to the blender as well. Blend until chopped. Sear the radicchio quarters until lightly browned, and then toss in blender with olive oil and stock. Blend until smooth, and add vinegar, agave nectar, cheese, salt, and pepper to taste. Note it will be slightly bitter - that's what radicchio is. But the sauce does a nice job of highlighting a flavored pasta, and the slight bitter flavor contrasts well with the meat. I used a fresh olive pasta I got at a local farmer's market, and it was a delicious pairing.