Chef Davide Pugliese Jazzes Up Certified Angus Beef® Top Round at Celebrity Chefs´ Brunch, Wilmington, DE

Photo Credit: Broadsword Communications

Photo Credit: Broadsword Communications

Chef Davide Pugliese, owner of culinary retreat Wali Nikiti, Scrub Island in the British Virgin Islands, will be serving up his original recipe dish of Crostini of "Smokey" Carne Salada in Wilmington, DE. Chef Davide will be attending the fourteenth, annual Meals from the Masters, Celebrity Chefs´ Brunch this Sunday, April 17.

Chef Davide´s Crostini of "Smokey" Carne Salada Certified Angus Beef® Top Round with Cipolline Pickled Jam was on the menu at the James Beard House dinner he hosted last November.

"I adapted this North Italian dish to give it a particular Caribbean kick," said Chef Davide. "I use a special salt to give the tender Certified Angus Beef® top round a smoky flavour - it´s an effective way to cure the meat and get the taste without using a smokehouse. The Cipolline Pickled Jam with the fresh scotch bonnet pepper adds a mildly spicy, tang to give the dish its Caribbean accent."

Chef Davide, who is an ambassador for the Certified Angus Beef® brand, will join more than thirty, world-renowned chefs at the charitable, Meals On Wheels signature fundraiser event. Chefs will be serving tastings of their gourmet dishes to more than 1200 guests. The Celebrity Chefs´ Brunch will be hosted in the light-filled atrium of the Bank of America 1100 N. King Street, Wilmington.

This is the third consecutive year that Chef Davide will be participating in the Celebrity Chefs´ Brunch. Other participating celebrity chefs include Top Chef contestants Lee Ann Wong and James Beard nominees, Stephanie Izard, and Kurt Butcher. This year, Wilmington´s autumnal Rehoboth Beach Jazz Festival will be joining the Certified Angus Beef® brand in supporting Chef Davide´s attendance.

The Meals from the Masters initiative is a weekend-long culinary extravaganza. Proceeds of the event benefit Meals on Wheels Delaware, part of a nationwide program that provides hot, nutritious meals to homebound senior citizens. Meals On Wheels Delaware agencies and their volunteers deliver almost 600,000 hot meals annually to seniors statewide.

Crostini of "Smokey" Carne Salada Certified Angus Beef® Top Round, Cipolline Pickled Jam - Chef Davide Pugliese, Wali Nikiti, Scrub Island, British Virgin Islands

Serves approximately 10 people

2 lbs Certified Angus Beef® top round
1 cup D´Alessandro smoked coarse salt
¼ cup D´Alessandro smoked ground pepper
1 cup kosher salt
¾ cup sugar

Cipolline Jam

12 oz red Cipolline (Italian spring onions), cleaned
½ fresh Scotch Bonnet pepper
2 oz white wine
Juice from ½ lime
6 oz sugar
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Mix smoked salt and smoked pepper together; rub thoroughly over beef. Stretch a piece of cheesecloth across a 12x8-inch deep baking dish and secure with rubber bands to rest above the bottom of the dish.

Mix Kosher salt and sugar together. Pour ½ cup on cheesecloth, set meat on cheesecloth and cover beef with remaining salt and sugar mix. Refrigerate for 48 hours to cure.

Peel and wash onions; slice into fine strips. Mix wine and vinegar. Put onions in a large pan with sugar and sweat for about 30 minutes over low heat. Add the wine and vinegar mix and lime juice; let cook for about 30 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally. After cooking, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Can the jam in glass jars. When cool, set them in boiling water for 20 minutes. When cool, dry jars and store in a cool, dark place.

Once beef is cured, remove beef from salt mixture and wipe salt and pepper away with a paper towel. Slice beef very thinly, preferably with a slicer.

Toast some sliced baguette bread in to crostini and top with sliced cured beef. Garnish with Cipolline Jam and serve as hors d´ouevre.