Slow-Cooked Short Ribs

Short ribs are great comfort food and very easy to make, so long as you have plenty of time to let them cook.  In researching information on short ribs I came across recipes that called for cooking the short ribs for up to 11 hours.  Joy of Cooking on the other hand recommends about 2 hours.  I cooked mine for about 2.5 hours and they were falling-off-the-bone tender.

Ingredients:
- 8 short ribs
- 1/4c tomato paste (half of a small 6oz can)
- 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1T worcestershire
- 2 bottles stout beer
- 1T butter
- 1T vegetable oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/4c dried oregano, divided
- Smoky Paprika
- 8 dates, pitted and diced

Combine about 3T oregano, 2t smoky paprika, 2t salt and 2t pepper and rub all over ribs.

Heat butter and olive oil in a dutch oven.  When hot, add ribs and sear each side.  When each side of the ribs is brown, remove.  Add onions and saute in the fat from the ribs until brown and soft.

When the onions are cooked, add the tomato paste and remaining 1T oregano and stir to coat the onions.  Let cook for about two minutes.  Add worcestershire sauce, stir.  Then deglaze the pan with beer.

Return the ribs to the pan, reduce the heat to very low.  Place ribs meaty side down to make sure the meat stays submerged during the cooking.  Add the dates.  Now you can leave the ribs to cook for about two hours, or until they are the desired tenderness.  George and I took advantage of this opportunity and the clear weather to wakl up to the National Cathedral.

When ribs are tender, remove from the sauce.  Skim fat off top of sauce.  At this point you can reserve the ribs and reheat later.

 

Serve with sauce and a starch of your choice.  We served with pearled barley, which was sturdy enough to stand up to the ribs and also was nicely flavored by the rib sauce.  Potatoes or other whole grain would be good too.

Bon appetite! 

Impromptu Dinner Party

On Monday afternoon my husband called me at work to say that we were having company for dinner!  His childhood friend and college roommate was in town and since Monday was the only night I was going to be home all week, it was settled that Monday would be the day for our dinner party.  An easy menu was definitely in order, with items that can be made quickly with minimal preparation time.  Here is what I came up with:

- Warm Spiced Olives with Orange
- New York Strip Steaks with Cranberry Madiera Pan Sauce
- Roasted Potatos
- Mashed Carrots with Turnips
- Apple Crisp with Vanilla Icecream

First, take your steaks out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature.  This will help ensure the steaks are perfectly cooked.

I got things going by cleaning and cutting new red potatos into quarters.  Toss these with a couple of pads of butter, some oil, and a healthy dose of salt and pepper in a pyrex pan and thrown in a 400-degree oven. 

Put your carrots and turnips (peeled and cut into 2" chunks) into cold water on the stove.  Heat to boiling and cook until carrots and turnips are soft.   (You can also use parsnips, which we prefer, but were unavailable at my local grocery store.)  When they are soft, mash with a potato masher or fork, melt in some butter, and season with salt and pepper.  You can keep them warm on the stove or in a ceramic serving dish.

Meanwhile, peel 8 granny smith apples and dice.  Toss in an oven-safe ceramic pan with about 1T sugar, 2t cinnamon, and 1T vanilla.  For the topping, mix together 1/2c brown sugar, 1/4c white sugar, 1/2c flour, and 1/4c oats.  Cut in 1 stick of butter until it forms a crumbly mixture.  Place on top of apples.

To prep the olives, just toss them with red pepper flakes, orange zest, and a little balsamic vinegar (mine were already oily, so no oil added).  I bought a mixture of olives from the olive bar at my local grocery store, so there were some stuffed with feta and other wonderful varieties.  Wrap the olive mixture in a foil packet and place on an oven sheet.  About 10 minutes before your guests arrive, throw it in the oven (which is probably going at 400 degrees for your potatos) for about 10 minutes.  Serve warm.

To make the steaks, heat oil in a large saute pan and seasoned the steaks well on both sides.  Sear the steaks over high heat for about 2-3 minute on each side, or until a good crust develops.  One trick to know whether you've acheived a proper sear on meat is to test whether it will easily lift away from the pan.  If the meat is sticking, it is not ready to be turned.  Once the seared "crust" develops, it will easily lift off the pan.  (Note that this is contingent on having enough oil in the pan.)

Once the steaks are seared, put them (still in your saute pan) in the oven (at 400 degrees) for about 10 minutes, or until cooked to your desired doneness.  When they are done, put on a platter and tent with foil to rest.  In the pan, make your sauce by deglazing with about 1/2c madiera wine.  Reduce.  Add about 1/2c beef stock.  Reduce.  Add cranberry sauce (I made my own, but I'm sure canned would be fine for this).  I spiced the sauce up with grated red chili pepper too. 

Serve the steaks and sauce, potatoes, and carrots with turnips.  Reduce the heat of your oven to 350 degrees and put in your apple crisp.  Cook for about 45 minutes, which should be perfect timing for dessert.  Serve with icecream.

(Optional homemade cranberry sauce:  Combine 1 pint raw cranberries with 1/2c water and 1/2c madiera wine, or other red wine).  Cook over medium heat at a simmer until cranberries pop and a sauce forms, about 20 minutes.  Add juice from 1 orange and about 1/2c sugar to taste.)

Steak with Rosemary Madeira Pan Sauce

This is a quick but very flavorful dinner that is perfect for mid-week when you need something substantial.  The weather is oscillating between cold and damp and warm and sunny in D.C., and last night was a cold night perfect for steak and potatoes. 

Ingredients:
- Your favorite cut of steak, I used New York Strip
- Seasoning, I love the McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak
- Madeira wine
- Fresh rosemary, about 1t minced
- Chicken stock (can use beef or vegetable too)

You should take your steaks out of the fridge well before you're ready to start cooking dinner so that they can come to room temperature.  Once the chill is off of them, pat them dry and then season liberally and pat into the meat.  Depending on the thickness of your steak, adjust your seasoning.  For steaks over an inch thick, I put as much seasoning on each side of the steak as will stay on it, basically coating the meat.  Remember this seasoning has to flavor entire thickness of the meat.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Heat about 1/2T butter in a frying pan over medium high heat.  When the butter is melted, add the steak.  Cook about 5 mintues on each side.  Transfer to an oven-safe pan or plate and put into the oven.  Depending on the thickness of your steaks, you could choose to decrees the temperature of your oven.  For thin steaks, you could go as low as 200 degrees, just to keep your steak hot.

Deglaze your frying pan with about 1/2 cup madeira wine.  When this has reduced by about half, add about 1/2 cup stock and rosemary.  Cook at a simmer until this is reduced by at least half, and is a sauce consistency.

Remove your steak from the oven and pour any juices into the sauce.  Slice the steak on an angle.

I ran my sauce through a screen directly onto the sliced steak.  Enjoy!

I served the steak with roasted garlic mashed potatoes.  This is a great use of roasted garlic and can be made ahead of time before you start the steak. 

Ingredients:
- Red potatoes (I made about 2lbs, but we go through a lot of potatoes)
- Roasted garlic, about 1T
- 2-3T butter
- Salt and Pepper

Clean and quarter the potatoes.  I leave the skins on, I think it adds texture and flavor.  Submerge in cold water in a stock pot.  Heat over medium high heat to a boil, then reduce heat and keep at a low boil until potatoes are cooked, about 15 minutes.

Drain water out of the pot.  Coarsely mash the potatoes.  Mash in the butter and roasted garlic.  When the steak is done, transfer the potatoes to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Serve with the steak.

Healthy Tacos

I love tacos.  There is something so great about blending all of the flavors of tacos together and putting your whole meal into a tortilla that you can pick up and eat (although I usually overstuff mine and end up eating them with a fork anyways)!

This is our take on tacos.  I've amped up some of the healthy ingredients to really make this taco sing.  The mango is a great addition to the traditional taco fixings because it brings out the sweetness in the tomatos and avocados, and is a good counterpoint to the saltiness of the beef.  We usually don't put taco sauce on our tacos, but there's no reason why you couldn't add that or some salsa to your tacos. 

Ingredients:

- Soft taco shells

- 1lb ground beef

- 1 package taco seasoning

- 1 can vegetarian refried beans

- 1c brown rice

- 1c finely diced tomatos

- 1 mango, cut into slices

- 1 avocado, cut into slices

- 1c sprouts

- Sour cream

Cook the beef in a skillet, drain the fat, and then add the taco seasoning and water, according to the directions on the package.

Cook the brown rice.

Heat the refried beans.

Cut up the tomatos, avocado, and mango.

I usually put all of the ingredients out and let everyone build their own tacos.  The left overs are great as a taco salad for lunch the next day.

Bon appetite!

Grandma's Stew

This is perhaps the easiest homestyle comfort food recipe you will ever make.  It really couldn't be easier, and the result is so comforting and perfect for a crisp fall or cold winter day.  I love this time of year when we can start transitioning into all the fall food we had to abandon in the heat of the summer!  Last night I made this very simple stew, based on my grandmother's recipe.  We took the dogs on a walk while it was cooking and came home to a great smelling very homey home!  It made me nostalgic for those cold Minnesota winters when I'd get home from after-school activities and the house would be warm and cozy with the great smell of dinner cooking.

Ingredients:
-  1lb stew meet (either buy it pre-cut or buy a brisket and cut it yourself)
- About 6 large carrots
- About 2lbs potatos (you can use less, I live with an Irishman and so have to add more potatos to every recipe!)
- Medium yellow onion, cut into bite-sized chunks
- Oil
- Flour
- Salt & Pepper
- Beef boulion
- Bisquick
- Milk

Take the stew meat out of its package and make sure the pieces are about the same size.  Cut them down if needed.  I usually like my pieces to be between one- and two-inch cubes. 

Start heating about 3T vegetable/canola oil in the pan.  I like to use a heavy cast iron enamel pot for stew.  You can get the oil very hot at the beginning to sear your meat, and then reduce the flame to the lowest possible level and the pot will retain that heat and evenly cook the stew.  When the stew is done, you can leave the pot on the stove and it will retain its heat so that your second and third helpings are still hot!

Season generously with salt and pepper, and then toss in flour to coat.  You can save the left-over flour from this step to make your tickening agent for the gravy.

Add the meat to the hot oil, just searing on each side.  Do not cook the meat through at this point.  As soon as the meat is seared on each side, add enough water to almost cover the meat.

Once the water starts to bubble, reduce the heat to very low, cover, and let simmer ever so gently.  My recipe says to let simmer for 3 hours, but I rarely have this kind of time.  Try to let it cook at least one hour.  The longer it cooks, the more tender the meat will be.

When the meat is cooked and tender, add the vegetables.  You will need to add more water at this point.  You want the water to almost cover everything. 

At this point you are also going to add a flour/water thickening paste and your beef boulion to complete the gravy.  Mix water into your left-over flour from the first step to create a paste.  Add this to your stew pot.  You can start with a small amount and keep adding until it is thick enough.  Remember that the gravy will thicken quite a bit when it cools.  I usually add about a quarter cup of flour (mixed with about a half cup water) at this point. 

Next add your beef boulion.  I use the kind that comes in individual packets, and two packets is usually sufficient. 

Taste your gravy and season if necessary. 

Cover and let cook at a gentle simmer until your vegetables are nearly cooked through (probably 30 minutes). 

Mix together bisquick and milk according to the directions on the box for dumplings (I think it is 2 cups bisquick and 2/3 cup milk).  Drop the dumplings into the stew.

Cook uncovered 10 minutes and then covered 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!