Awesome Short Rib Ragu

I have been making this every weekend for three weeks running because short ribs have been on sale, and frankly, this is just so delicious that I don't mind that it taking 2 days to make it.

If you like slow-cooking beef, give this a try.

If you don't like slow-cooking beef... give this a try.

Step 1 - brown that meat.

Let your short ribs (about 3 lbs worth) come to room temperature, trim off any of that really thick, hard fat, season with salt, and get a good sear on the outside (use a little evoo in the pan).

Do this in batches so you don't end up steaming your meat.

Yuck.

Add 1 medium/large white onion, 2 celery ribs, and 3 carrots, 4 garlic cloves, all medium diced, into the bottom of the pan with all the tasty brown bits left by the meat. Season with salt.

You may need another drizzle of olive oil to get them all going.

Cook until the onions are almost translucent.

Next add a TBSP or so of tomato paste to the pot and pour in one bottle of dry red wine: tempranillo, cabernet, even a dolcetto would work.

Just make sure you like the taste of it to drink before you cook with it.

Throw in your herb bundle (use cheesecloth if you have it. I use tea bags meant for loose tea.)

Inside it should have: 1-2 bay leaves, half a sprig of fresh rosemary (or 2 tsp dry), 3-4 fresh thyme stems (or 1 -2 tsp dry), 1/4 tsp ground clove, 1/2 tsp ground allspice, 5-6 crushed black peppercorns.

Allow that to simmer for about 10 minutes and then allow to cool.

Pour over browned short ribs, or place short ribs in the pot with the wine mixture, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day allow the chill to come off everything before starting to cook.

Over medium low heat on the stove, add 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes and 3-4 cups of beef stock. Enough to cover all the meat in the pot but not come more than 3/4 of the way up the sides of the pot.

Optional addition: chopped, reconstituted porcini mushrooms.

Once up to a simmer, turn off the burner, add the lid to the pot and place in a 325º oven for 3 hrs.

If you remember, stir once or twice over the 3 hrs to move things around.

No, these are not Fig Newtons or dog treats.

By the time you remove it from the oven,  the meat should have fallen away from the bones (see above).

At this point I like to remove the meat and the bones and reduce the liquids in the pot over medium-high heat for another 40-45 minutes, or until thick.

I also shred apart the meat once it has cooled for easier consumption.

Add the meat back in and allow to set.

I prefer to let it sit overnight again, eating it on Day 3.

This goes brilliantly over most things: polenta, pasta, couscous, hearty bread... whatever you have on hand.

I was really in the mood for pappardelle, so that's what I made this time around.

As always, cook the pasta in salted boiling water, drain, and cook the final minute or two with the sauce so the flavors combine.

I gave this a sprinkle of pecorino, but it doesn't need it.

It's perfect just as it is... somewhere between a stew and a ragu.

Try it out the next time you have a laid-back weekend.

You won't be sorry.

And if you've been reading my blog for a while now, yes, this is essentially what I made for the So-Bro(nx) Dinner Party, but I have perfected it since then, so it deserved a second showing.

I think this will be showing up for Christmas Eve Dinner as well.

Quinoa Satay

No, this is not a post with quinoa somehow impaled on a skewer. Rather it is the use of leftover beef satay, served over quinoa with red spring onion and broccoli*.

I love Thai satay of all kinds: chicken, shrimp, beef - all are tasty, and all would work in this dish. (Just use the chicken stock if you make it with chicken or shrimp, rather than the beef stock I use here.) When I order-in, I frequently get extra orders just so I can have leftovers. And while meat on a stick is very tasty and can make a quick protein snack, this is a way to make a more rounded out meal out of your leftover satay.

*Yes, I make a lot of dishes with broccoli. I happen to really like broccoli, it's very healthy, and I can usually get 2 bunches for about $2-3, so it's a fairly cheap vegetable for how many servings it yields as well. Subsitute whatever you like. Snow peas, sugar snap peas, water chestnuts, bok choy, or bamboo shoots would all go very well in this dish as well.

I start by steaming a bit of broccoli for 2-3 minutes in a few TBSP of water with a pinch of salt. When I remove the lid, most of the water has already boiled/evaporated away, so I add a generous splash of olive oil, reduce the heat to medium, and this time threw in some chopped red spring onion. 

Sadly, that is not a ramp, just a spring onion I chose for it's lovely color, and to add a bit more flavor to the dish. It has more kick than a scallion, but is milder than an onion, like a shallot.

Cook with some of the white/red bulb base, finely sliced, and finely chop some of the green scallion-like tops for garnish.

Since I was just cooking for myself, I only used one satay skewer (even tho I show 2 here.) Removing the beef from the stick, I then slice each piece into more manageable bites.

Toss your meat of choice in with the broccoli and onion (which has cooked down a bit) and add just enough of the matching stock (in this case beef) to cover the bottom of the pan.

Turn the heat back up to medium-high to reduce.

The point of the stock is that it will rehydrate and heat through the slightly tired leftover beef, and also allow the wonderful seasonings on the outside of the meat to flavor the vegetables as well, and create a very small amount of sauce.

By now my quinoa has finished cooking. As always, rinse it very well in a fine mesh strainer before cooking it, and I season (this was 1/2 cup dry) with about a tablespoon or so of standard cooking olive oil (you don't want a super fruity flavor competing here) and salt to taste. The salt I add to the water at the start of cooking, and the olive oil I add when there is barely any liquid still covering the cooking quinoa.

I use the quinoa as a base and then pour the rest of the dish and minimal sauce over the top.

Start to finish this is another healthy 15 minute meal.

If you make it for a group it might take a bit longer, only because you would be using more liquid in the last stage of cooking and so it would take a bit longer to reduce down, but even then it probably only takes 20 minutes.

If you know the secrets to the seasonings on a Thai satay dish, by all means add a bit when you add your meat of choice. I can only guess one or two, so I just let the ample flavor that is already there dilute a bit into the sauce, and it still comes out very tasty.

Enjoy.

Tortellini en Brodo

Hey look!
An actual post about food!
Yay!

This is a super simple choice for a quick meal, and I make it for myself for lunch whenever I can get my hands on the particular tortellini that I love.

Fun with Fisheye Effect

Quick backstory: I used to dislike this dish, but maybe it was because of the name.

And I don't mean "Tortellini en Brodo".

Growing up sometimes my mother would make this for dinner, and I don't know if it was because I didn't like the tortellini she chose (I'm quite fussy about my tortellini) or the chicken broth she bought, or maybe the onion flakes she added, but it just was not my favorite meal. 

It might also have had something to do with the fact that it was called "Sneaker Soup" in my family.

Why, you ask?

Well, I don't remember the entire episode, but I know that it involved my older brother playing Keep-Away with the babysitter, and the item kept-away was her sneaker.

And guess where he chose to hide her sneaker?

Yes.

I don't know what we had for dinner that night, but Tortellini en Brodo became Sneaker Soup.

Moving on.

You can use any broth that makes you happy, and any type of tortellini that you prefer. There are so many options for fillings: various meats, 4-cheese, goat cheese, walnut & gorgonzola, spinach, pesto, lobster, mushroom... really you can make this uniquely different each time just by changing up either of the main ingredients.

My favorite, however, is Giovanni Rana's Tomato & Mozzarella Tortellini in homemade oxtail broth.

I swoon every time I have it, and it's so simple it's laughable.

Ingredients:

Water

Oxtails

Salt

Tortellini

This is by no means a hearty or beefy broth that I make. For that you need all kinds of other parts of the animal for depth of flavor as well as using a soffritto to start it all. Instead this is a very light, mostly clear,  uniquely flavorful broth that is undeniably beefy, but nothing like any beef broth you know.

The way I have been making this is as follows:

About 3lb. of oxtail or so

I trim any excess fat off the edges of the oxtails (it can be quite thick) and place them in the bottom of a soup pot and cover with water, maybe up to 2 inches above the layers of oxtails. Throw in a hefty pinch of salt and bring up to a boil, and then simmer anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

Bear in mind that oxtails usually need to cook for at least 2 1/2 hours before eating, so after you make your broth you can throw the oxtails into a pot with the usual soffritto trifecta, and whatever else you like. Maybe some wine, veal or chicken or beef stock, tomatoes, whatever seasonings makes you happy, and braise them for another hour or two and still get a slightly thickened sauce upon reduction and tasty meal.

But recipes for that will come another time.

Once you have simmered the oxtails to flavor degree that pleases you, salt the water to taste and strain all the meaty and fatty bits out of it. (There will be quite a bit.)

If you really want an intense broth, you can bring the stock back to a boil after removing the oxtails and reduce it further. If you do that, do not salt it until after you have reduced it.

Once your broth is done, all you have to do is add a few tortellini (if fresh they cook in about 2 minutes) and place it in a bowl for devouring.

If you use a traditional chicken broth for your version, I suggest grating some fresh parmigiano reggiano over the top of your soup, as it will add a nice depth of flavor, and is rather traditional.
However you choose to make this, it's a light and quick meal or snack (once you have the stock made anyway...) that I hope you find comforting and delicious.
I might need to go back for seconds...

So-Bro(nx) Teachers Dinner Party

I taunted you with the mention of an amazing dinner for a party, and now I am delivering.

This meal took me 3 days to cook, but it was absolutely worth it. (As are the leftovers!)

The whole dinner party kind of came together out of little bits of serendipity. The hubs announced one night that he wanted to have a dinner party with some of his coworkers before our roof closes for the winter. I did a little mental math and suggested drinks on the roof and dinner in our apartment, considering that eating outside in October is a good way to eat an unfortunately cold meal. He agreed, but no solid plans were made.

Next, I noticed that short ribs were on sale. This of course lead me back to a wonderful cookbook I own called All About Braising (by Molly Stevens), and which I mentioned when I made hard cider-braised chicken. (It really is a wonderful cookbook.) Then I thought how easy it would be to feed guests with short ribs.
You can see the lightning-quick flashes of brilliance that occur in my brain...

Finally, I checked the calendar and saw the Monday was Columbus Day, which would mean the teachers would have the day off. I then informed the hubs that, if he really wanted to (have me cook for all his buddies so he could) have a dinner party, that Monday was the day it was going to happen.
He agreed.
Everyone was in.
I started cooking... Saturday.

The recipe: Red Wine Braised Short Ribs with Porcini Mushrooms and Tomato

Step one of this meal is to make a marinade, simmer, allow to cool, and THEN put the meat in for 12-24 hrs of luscious bath time.

The marinade includes:
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon allspice berries, crushed
8-10 black peppercorns
3-4 whole cloves
All of that goes into a little sachet of cheese cloth, to be used and re-used for the next 3 days. As I did not have any cheese cloth on hand, I used one of my empty tea bags I have on hand for brewing loose tea, and it worked perfectly.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, use 2 TBSP olive oil to sauté 1 large onion, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot (all coarsely chopped and to be discarded later) 2 peeled and smashed cloves of garlic, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 whole bottle of "robust dry red wine". I opted for a Dolcetto, as that was what I had on hand. It worked beautifully.
Sauté the vegetables for about 7 minutes before adding the wine and spice sachet, and then allow to simmer on low for ten minutes to bring the flavors together. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

The gorgeous short ribs

Once the marinade has cooled, cover your short ribs (about 4 lbs) with the marinade & sachet in a non-reactive bowl and refrigerate overnight, stirring on occasion to make sure everything is covered.

This is what happens when you leave beef in a bottle of red wine overnight.

Day 2

About 20 minutes before you start to cook, soak 1/2 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in 1 cup of warm water. (The water will be used later as well as the mushrooms.)
Preheat the oven to 325º

Make sure to let your short ribs come to room temperature and pat them dry.
In the same heavy bottomed pot, add another 2 TBSP of olive oil and begin browning your ribs on all sides. Do this in batches so as not to crowd your pan and prevent steaming instead of browning.
When all of your meat is browned, set them aside and wipe any charred bits from the bottom of the pot.
Brown bits are good. Burnt bits are not.
Pour out the fat rendered from the ribs and add 1 fresh TBSP of olive oil and add:
1 large onion, thinly sliced (or chopped) - allow to cook down until just browned and softened, 8-10 minutes
2 cloves of garlic, minced. Cook an additional minute.
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes with their juice
Porcini mushrooms, drained and coarsely chopped, and simmer another 8-10 minutes
Pour in the reserved (and strained) mushroom liquid and the wine used for braising (strained of the first round of onion/carrot/celery/garlic but RETAIN the sachet) and bring to a boil.

Add the short ribs to the pot, as well as the spice sachet and 2 sprigs of rosemary*.

If there is a great deal of space between the meat and the top of your pot, you can place parchment paper inside so that it is just shy of touching the food, and then add the lid. I did not do this step as my pot was quite full.

Place the covered pot onto the lowest rack in your 325º oven and braise gently 2 1/2-3 hrs, turning the ribs gently every 45 minutes or so, until the meat is falling-off-the-bone tender.

*The recipe does not say this, but I would place the rosemary in cheesecloth or a tea bag as well because otherwise in your final product you have giant loose rosemary leaves floating around, which can be unpleasant to eat.

Success! Meat has fallen off the bones.

While you COULD serve this meal at this point, I suggest letting it sit overnight. Not only will that allow the flavors to meld more completely, but it also allows you to much more easily degrease the sauce.

Ew.

Let the pot cool down (this can take a few hrs) and then place it, covered, in your refrigerator overnight.
The next morning, scrape of as much of that congealed yellow fat as you can from the top of the stew.

Close-up Ew.

Cuz that's some seriously thick fat coagulation.

Aren't you glad you didn't eat that yesterday?

YUM!

Reheat your meal gently on a low flame (or back in the low oven) with the lid on. (Discard spice sachet)

When you are ready to serve, place 1-2 short ribs on each plate and top with the sauce, which should be the "consistency of a thick vinaigrette." 

(Truthfully mine was a bit runnier, in which case I could have tried to reduce it a bit more without the meat in, or just serve it in a bowl. We did not mind the runny sauce as it was juicy and fantastic.)

Serves 6

But what do you serve WITH this decadent slow-cooked meal?

Mmm... charred.

I opted for a potato-cauliflower mash, which was DELICIOUS all by itself, and I was just as happy that there were leftovers of this as well.

 Take one whole head of cauliflower, chopped into reasonably sized chunky florets.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, and roast in a 400º oven until browning. About 20-30 minutes, depending on size.

In a large pot of water, add 3 medium-large sized yukon gold potatoes (peeling optional) chopped into chunks, and bring up to a boil. Cook until potatoes are fork-tender, and RESERVE the cooking water!!

(If you thought pasta water was starchy and could bring sauces together, boiled-potato water is even better!)

Could have used a touch more olive oil.

At the same time that the cauliflower is roasting in the oven, have the oven do double duty and roast half a head of garlic (or one small head of garlic, maybe 8 or 9 cloves) as well. Slice off the top of the head of garlic, drizzle with olive oil to prevent burning, and season with a touch of salt. Wrap in tinfoil, and since this is a small head or only the inner portion of "colossal garlic" it should only take about 35-40 minutes to roast.

Allow the garlic to cool before handling!

Yes, this photo was taken of the leftovers I snacked on all week...

The food processor does all the work for you. First, whiz the cauliflower with a bit of the potato cooking water to get it going into a rough chop. This will not only help get a smooth texture in the end, but make room in your FoPro for the potatoes!

Next squeeze the roasted garlic from its papery shell and add that to the food processor, along with the potatoes, and a generous pinch of salt. Add another small ladle of potato water so everything moves along easily.

The finishing touch that will make the whole dish luscious is 3/4 of a cup of mascarpone cheese. It will make the purée velvety and rich, and incredibly luxurious to eat.
(And when you consider 3/4 cup of mascarpone to 1 entire head of cauliflower and 3 potatoes, it's really NOT that much fat per serving, and so still a pretty healthy side dish.
At least that's what I'm telling myself as I devour it...)

Check again for seasoning, and if it's still too tight a mixture, just add a bit more water and blend until you get your desired consistency. It should be creamy, not watery, but also it should be smooth, not gunky.

Brownie Sundae!

Dessert was super simple. After 3 days of cooking, I wasn't about to make a fancy dessert too!

(OK, I DID bake the brownies myself, but from a mix, so not like it was hard work.)

Step one: warm brownies and then place in the bottom of a dish.

Step two: scoop desired flavor of ice cream on top of brownie (we offered chocolate or vanilla)

Step three: top with raspberry sauce

(OK I made the sauce too, but it was beyond simple. Bag of frozen raspberries, about 1/4 cup of sugar, a splash or two of water to hasten the maceration, mash with fork or potato masher, and serve at room temp or with 30 seconds in the microwave. I made the "sauce" about 3 hrs before we ate it and left it in the fridge ready to go.)

So did I deliver?

Was that not a meal to make you wish you lived in my neighborhood and could just "stop by" around dinner time?

Because really, it was. 

And it was also worth the 3 days of prep and cooking.

This is the perfect time of year for this kind of cooking, so I suggest keeping an eye on the prices of short ribs at your local market and planning a dinner party of your own some time soon.

Also, buy the cookbook.

It is chock full of great meal ideas, as well as idiot-proof in its explanations.

Enjoy.

Teriyaki Done Right

Oscar Night and I was cooking during all the red carpet setup (and Mike played video games). But I have a few thoughts on what I saw:
Someone tell Miley Cyrus to stand up straight. And stop acting/singing/speaking. Seriously.
Kate Winslet looked stunning in a silver column, channeling Veronica Lake with frizz-proof hair and great poise. That woman is gorgeous.
Poor Sandra Bullock had under-done eyes and waaaaaaaaaay too dark lipstick. Undecided as to how I feel about her dress, but congrats to her for her accomplishment.
George Clooney needs the back of his hair cut.
John Travolta wore JEANS as a presenter. I really hope there was some kind of accident and someone threw up on his tux pants and it was an emergency change, because otherwise that is NOT cool.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin randomly changed from bow ties to long ties halfway through the show... I'm sorry boys but that doesn't count as a costume change. Whoopi has your ass beat.

So, Teriyaki Hanger Steak & more roasted potatoes. Luckily, I do not have to fit into a slinky dress, and can instead blog in my pajamas. And eat steak and potatoes.

I admit right off that I use the Fresh Direct brand teriyaki marinade. I think it has fantastic flavor (frankly the Kikkoman blows) but it is still lacking something. So, I grate about an inch of fresh ginger into the bottom of the pan I'm going to marinate the steak in, and then add the liquid. Makes a huge difference.

This disgusting strip of tendon runs down the middle of my hanger steaks, and I always remove it before cooking because it is completely impossible to eat, and I hate dealing with it when I'm trying to scarf down my delicious teriyaki steak.

Because I do this, I end up slicing my steak into smaller serving sizes. If you are following along with this to do it yourself, keep that in mind when you try to cook your steak. I am cooking much smaller pieces, and so you might have to adjust your cooking times.

*I marinate this overnight, turning it once when I get up the next day

I generally brown one side of the meat in a little evoo for about 6-7 minutes, and then flip the meat and toss it into the oven at 400º for another 7 minutes, and my steak usually comes out rare to medium-rare, depending on the size of the hunks. Tonight, they were very small.

Once I move the steak to the pan to cook, I then pour all the marinade into a smaller pan and turn that sucker on high to reduce down. As it starts to boil, give it a stir so nothing burns on the bottom.

I'm serious about cranking the flame to reduce the sauce. Because of how fast cooking the steak is in this form, the sauce will actually take exactly that long, if not longer, to get to the "sludge" consistency that you're aiming for.

I also made roasted potatoes to go with the steak tonight, but this time I did not use duck fat. This was just my usual go-to roasted potatoes. Drizzle evoo, healthy sprinkle of salt, some fresh thyme sprigs, a crushed clove of garlic, and about a tablespoon of butter broken up. 400º until at your level of crispness - usually 30-45 minutes, turning once halfway through.
*Remove the garlic when you flip the potatoes because otherwise it will burn and turn everything bitter.

As everything finishes cooking, hopefully your sauce will have reached "sludge" status. You should be able to move it to the side of the pan without it sliding back as proof that it has reduced enough.

And yes, I nuked peas because the rest of the meal was enough work, and Mike really likes peas, and the Oscars were starting.

Presto! A meal that most of the starved actresses on my TV last night would trample their personal assistants for. And rightly so, because hanger steak is super tender, very flavorful, and actually a really good bargain. Maybe one day I'll finish it with grilled pineapple or some such fancy note, but right now, this version makes us happy.
Enjoy!