Sweet & Savory Asian Short Ribs

Nothing says fall, like comfort food and short ribs are one of my favorite dishes to cook and eat. I wanted to get away from the standard tomato and red wine base. After researching various recipes, I decided to go with ingredients that suggest an Asian flavor. Loosely based on a recipe from Country Living, this is what I came up with and boy was it a hit! Once again, to my surprise, Beep shared that he may like this version better than the original. I also loved the cut of the ribs I used for this recipe, I had never seen them this way. The ribs were cut across the bone, so they were about 1 inch thick and three bones in length, rather than one bone that is usually 4 inches in length. I found them at my local Sams Club and they seemed to have less fat and more meat when sliced this way.
Next time, I plan to have a few additional ingredients on hand to add to the final dish, water chestnuts, baby bok choy and pea pods would make for a more well rounded meal.

INGREDIENTS:
3 1/2 - 4 pounds short ribs
2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. adobo seasoning
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
Use these measurements as a ratio, sometimes you may need to prepare additional seasonings to coat all the meat.
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
1/2 C red wine, I use my standard cooking red, 12 Gauge Cabernet
1/2 C soy sauce
1 C stock, beef if you have it, but chicken will work too
2 C water
6 oz. apricot jam
4-5 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-3 inch sections
cooked rice, I have found a new favorite brand: Della, a two pound bag found at Central Market for around $5.
Siracha chili sauce
baby bok choy, quartered
1 can sliced water chestnuts
pea pods

PREPARATION:
Season the short ribs and brown in a large skillet in batches until well caramelized on all sides, place in a roasting pan as you brown each rib.


In the skillet, after all ribs are browned, saute the diced onion until translucent, just a couple of minutes. Deglaze the pan adding the wine and stock, lightly scraping all browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to simmer and add the soy, water and jam, stirring until all ingredients are incorporated.
Meanwhile prepare the carrots and add them to the roasting pan. Pour the onions and sauce mixture over the meat and carrots in the roasting pan, cover and roast in the oven for 2 hours. Depending on the size of your ribs, cooking time may vary,the meat should be tender and falling off the bone. I like to prepare this part of the dish ahead, even the day before in some instances.
Remove the meat and carrots from the pan and set aside. Pour the sauce into a separate container and "degrease" the sauce.(if you prepare the day before, the grease will collect and solidify on top and can be easily removed.) If not, skim grease from the top with a spoon, to get the last remnants, use the heel from a loaf of bread, placed flat on the top of the sauce and discard the bread.
Depending on serving time, either refrigerate and follow heating instructions or proceed with these instructions.


Prepare 2 Cups of uncooked rice, following cooking instructions. I use basmati rice.
Meanwhile, in a deep skillet over medium to medium low heat, begin heating the sauce, allowing it to reduce slightly. Taste the sauce and adjust any seasonings, you can add more jam at this point if you would like your sauce to be a little sweeter or pepper flakes for more heat. Add the ribs and carrots to the pan. I pull some of the remaining fat off the ribs, if there is an excessive amount. If any of the rib bones fall off at this point simply discard them. Next time, I will add the water chestnuts, bok choy and pea pods at this point and allow them to simmer and cook through.
To serve, spoon rice into bowls, top with meat, veggies and sauce. I think this makes for a perfect bowl, but Beep likes to top his with Siracha sauce for some extra heat. He also enjoyed the entire mixture stuffed in tortillas, believe it or not!

Homemade Pasta Lasagna

One of our favorite places for authentic brick oven pizza makes a wonderful single serving of lasagna that Beep and I always order along side our metro Regina Margarita. I decide to attempt this lighter version of the layered dish at home. The recipe has four basic components: bolognese, pasta, cheese, and sauce. It turned out great! I made a full pan. The homemade pasta, makes all the difference. I completed each step over a period of days, so it wasn't an overwhelming amount of preparation. I started with the meat filling two days ahead, mixed, rolled and cooked the pasta one day in advance then mixed the cheese filling, assembled the morning of the third day, then relied on my completely competent sister-in-law and husband to finish the cooking.

 

INGREDIENTS:

MEAT FILLING:
A slightly shorter version of my traditional bolognese, which can be found on this blog.
2 T. olive oil
1-2 carrots, minced
1-2 celery ribs, minced
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1-2 garlic cloves minced or crushed
1/2 Pound Veal, ground
1/2 Pound Beef, ground
1/2 cup tomato puree or sauce
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp. Italian seasoning, I use Penzey's
Salt & Pepper to taste
Pinch of Sugar, opptional

HOMEMADE PASTA SHEETS:
See blog recipe, roll to seven setting and cut into strips to fit your baking dish. Boil until Al dente and store in refrigerator until ready to assemble. If you mix the entire pasta recipe you will have enough to do more than one lasagna or cut extra pasta to cook as regular noodles. I rolled my sheets first and once I knew I had enough for 3 layers to fit my baking dish, I rolled and cut the remaining pasta into angel hair for the kids.

CHEESE FILLING:
8 oz. Whole milk Ricotta cheese
1/4 C cream
1 Large whole egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
a few grates of fresh nutmeg

SAUCE:
I use Alessi smooth jarred sauce, it is one of the best!

Freshly grated Parmesan for the top.

PREPARATION:

Prepare your meat filling a day or two in advance. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, saute the veggies in olive oil until translucent and slightly caramelized. Season with Italian seasoning. Add both meats to the pan and cook until completely browned. The final product you want is a meat sauce that melts together, break up the meat as it cooks, so all of the veggies and meat become incorporated. Stir in tomato sauce, allow to cook 2 minutes. Pour in cream and simmer until almost all the liquid is absorbed, mixing and pressing down on the contents of the pan to "marry" all the ingredients of the sauce. Taste and add additional seasonings or tomato sauce and sugar if needed. Cool, refrigerate airtight until ready to assemble.

See pasta blog entry to prepare the pasta. Can be prepared and boiled the day before.

Final Assembly, should occur the day you plan to cook the dish. Coat baking dish with non-stick spray, place a layer of pasta sheets to cover the bottom of the baking dish. Next, spread all of the meat filling over the pasta to create an even layer. Top with a second layer of pasta sheets. In a large bowl, mix together ingredients for the cheese layer and spread it over the second pasta layer. Top with a third layer of pasta.

At this stage, I covered with foil and placed the baking dish in the refrigerator. We had a volleyball tournament and I knew it would be a long day. If you are going directly into the oven at this stage, preheat to 350 degrees and pour jarred sauce over the top of the lasagna, cover with foil and bake 30-45 minutes, until bubbly. Remove foil for the final 10 minutes of baking and sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.
Allow to rest 5 minutes, cut and serve.

If you are baking later in the day, hold off on the sauce. Refrigerate until ready to bake, remove from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature while the oven is preheating. Top with jarred sauce, recover with foil and bake as instructed above.

Ropa Vieja

Cuban food is something we dearly miss no longer being in South Florida. I have tried a number of recipes for this dish, one of Beep's favorites and mine with little success. This recipe is a hit! I decided Friday would be a great chance to try it, Beep was on his way home again from a week of working somewhere else and it was the perfect answer for a do ahead meal. I got the recipe while visiting my girlfriend in Tennessee, she had a book with basic homestyle dishes from various countries. I was so pleasantly surprised to find Ropa Veja was one of them! As with all new recipes, I made some slight changes. I always try to give the original as well as my changes. A few small ingredient changes and cooking time, I also served it with Quinoa instead of the traditional rice. We love Quinoa as a substitute, it is a yummy grain with added protien.

INGREDIENTS:
2 T Corn oil
2-3# Flank steak, split in two length wise. I used a 2# rump roast
Salt & Pepper
2 Bay leaves
1 Yellow onion, halved & un-peeled each half studded with a clove
2 Qts. Water, I used water plus 2 cups of beef broth to make a total of 2 Qts.
5 Garlic cloves
1/4 C Olive oil
1 T Cumin seeds
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 Red bell pepper, small dice
5 Plum tomatoes or 8 oz. can drained
3 T Capers, soak if they are salted, drain
Lime wedges and hot sauce for serving
Cooked Rice, I used Quinoa

PREP:
Pat the beef dry and season with salt and pepper. In a large, deep skillet or stock pot, heat the corn oil and brown the beef well on all sides. Drain any fat and cover with water/broth, 1 bay leaf, the studded onion halves and two cloves of unpeeled garlic. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and partially cover, simmer for 2 hours and meat is tender.
Remove the meat from the pan to a dish and allow to cool, collecting any of it's juices. Strain the broth and reserve for later.
Peel and smash the other three garlic cloves. In the same pan, heat the olive oil until it shimmers, then add the garlic cloves, cinnamon stick and cumin seeds. Be careful not to over brown the garlic, reduce heat if needed. Heat approximately one minute, then add the onion and brown slowly over medium/low heat. Once the onions are browned add the second bay leaf and the red pepper. Cook until the peppers begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the tomatoes. I used fresh tomatoes, quartered and seeded them(I don't like the seeds they can make a sauce bitter). I also cooked the tomatoes long enough to remove the skin, it will peel easily after a few minutes in the hot pan. Then I added 1 cup of the broth as directed and allowed it to reduce over low heat for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, shred the beef. I added an additional 1/2 cup of the broth and mashed up the veggies with tongs to create more of a unified sauce. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaf, add the shredded meat and capers. It says to serve garnished with the capers, lime and hot sauce. I added the capers to the pan and allowed it to cook an additional 30 minutes so the meat could absorb the juices.
The Ropa Veja we used to get at our favorite cuban restaurants in South Florida was more of a sauce with the meat, that is why I deviated slightly from this recipe's directions, I wanted to create more of a sauce that didn't have identifiable veggies.
I am usually not a big hot sauce fan, but it was perfect with this dish, we prefer Crystal.

Pappardelle with Bolognese

Beep was barely home 12 hours from our trip to Colorado when he had to leave for New Orleans, so I promised to make some homemade pasta when he returned home on Friday. I decided to do a different cut on the pasta as well as our regular thin spaghetti(the kids would want the thin) because I knew the pappardelle would hold up to the bolognese sauce better. I have learned my lesson and always cook something that will hold when Beep is on his way home, thank goodness I did last night. It was stormy in Dallas and he was delayed until 10, needless to say we had a very late dinner. Completely worth the wait!! I think that the sauce is better after it sits though, so it was perfect! I loved cutting the pasta into the wide pappardelle, it is quick and cooked beautifully.


INGREDIENTS:
3 Carrots, peeled
3 Celery stalks
1/2 Large yellow onion
4 Cloves garlic, peeled
1# Ground beef
1# Ground veal
1/2 # Ground pork, very lean
2 T Olive oil
1 T Butter
1/2 C 1% Milk & 1/2 C Cream, or 1 C Whole milk, I didn't have whole milk, so I use what I have.
1/2 C Red wine, plus a splash more
1/2 C Beef broth
1 C Crushed tomatoes
1 T Tomato paste, optional
1 T Sugar, optional, I use it to balance the tomatoes if they are to bitter
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan Cheese

Roughly chop the carrot, celery and onion and place in the food processor. Pulse a few times until the veggies are finely chopped. In a deep skillet, saute the veggies in 2 T Olive oil. Take your time and cook these long and over medium heat so you get really good caramelization. If the pan becomes too dry, add a tablespoon or so of butter. Cook about 20-30 minutes. Add ground meats and cook until brown, about 5-8 minutes. Add the milk and stir occasionally until the milk is completely absorbed, about 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan over medium high heat with red wine and beef stock. I add a good amount of wine and stock because I like my sauce to be a little wet, some people prefer a bolognese sauce to be on the dry side. Do what you like.
Add the tomatoes, along with the paste if desired and season with salt, pepper and sugar if needed. Allow sauce to cool, store in the refrigerator until ready to re-heat. I prefer making the sauce ahead even the day before, the flavor develops as the sauce sits. This is perfect for guests, you will have nothing to do but bring your sauce to temperature, which will allow you to enjoy their company as you prepare the rest of the meal.

Fresh Pasta

So, my mothers day present from Beep was pasta attachments for my KitchenAid. Camille had gone shopping with Beep prior to mothers day and purchased some Tory Burch sandals, which I have yet to return, her heart was in the right place. The pasta attachments have already gone to good use. I am not sure what that says about my style, but I know I will get more out of making fresh pasta for the family than wearing those shoes. I sort of over did it on the first batch, I made one and a half times the recipe listed in the KitchenAid booklet and it has lasted all weekend. I am including the recipe from the book as well as a Duck Egg version that Carole an I have been making. My friend Carole gets duck eggs at our local farmers market, I haven't noticed a dramatic difference in taste, but the color of the duck egg pasta is a vibrant yellow. Fresh pasta is terrific, tender and light. I remember as a child my great grandmother coming over on Saturdays to make fresh noodles, she was German, we called them noodles, not pasta. It is a tradition we have slowly retreated from in this day of instant gratification. The older my children become, the more I realize the importance of putting a little more time and a little bit more of myself into the everyday things I do for my family. Creating something with your hands and heart that gives the people you love so much happiness is a feeling with which nothing can compare. I highly recommend it! There are so many variations, types of flour, look up your own recipe, try an old family favorite, just do it, find your favorite, make it a tradition for your family.
INGREDIENTS:
4 Large eggs
1 T Water
3 1/2 C Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt

Prep:
Place eggs, water, flour, and salt in mixing bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater, trun to speed 2 and mix 30 seconds. Change to dough hook and turn to speed 2 and knead 2 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 1-2 minutes. Let the dough rest covered by a bowl for 20 minutes. Divide dough into 4 pieces before processing with Pasta sheet roller. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until desired doneness. I mixed the pasta by hand in a bowl, making a well with the dry ingredients and pulling the wet ingredients in with a fork. When recreating the recipe one and a half times I did need to add an extra egg and a little bit more water to reach the desired consistency. Allowing the dough to rest under a bowl makes all the difference, don't skimp on time.

DUCK EGG PASTA
This recipe from Bravo TV, Top Chef Masters, Season 1
2 cups all purpose flour
4 duck egg yolks
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Knead everything together till smooth and elastic. Allow to rest 1/2 hour, make fettuccine in the usual fashion. Cook pasta till al dente. Then while still hot toss with sauce and plate.

BEST way to cook a whole Filet Mignon

The Filet is such a wonderful cut of beef. If cut into a single portion steak, I prefer to have it grilled, but this recipe from Ina Garten is by far the best way to prepare a whole filet. I do have a wonderful seared, oven prepared version for pork or beef loins served with a creamy peppercorn sauce, that I learned in a class hosted by Chef Jean Pierre, but I will post that at a later date.
A whole tenderloin is an entirely different story and following is the EASIEST way I have found to prepare one. Years ago I was watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa and Ina Garten gave a simple and delicious method for cooking a whole filet of beef.
Ina's Tenderloin
4-5 pound whole tenderloin
2 T butter room temperature
1 T salt
1 T fresh cracked black pepper
I also use equal amounts garlic powder and steak seasoning from Morton's Steak House. (Mix all your seasonings together in a small bowl to season evenly.)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees, line a half sheet pan with foil. Allow meat to come to room temperature, remove from the refrigerator about 20 minutes prior to preparation. Tie meat to even thickness, to ensure even cooking. I just tuck under the "tail" if it is much smaller than the rest of the loin. If you have someone who likes their meat well done(a sin against nature for this piece of meat), leave it untied or unfolded to suit their taste.
Pat loin dry with a piece of paper towel, rub with softened butter and coat with seasonings. Place loin on foil lined baking sheet and roast in the oven 22 minutes (for rare), 25 minutes(medium rare). Remove from oven, transfer to a warm platter and cover tightly with foil for 20 minutes.
I have successfully roasted smaller and bigger tenderloins and simply adjusted the cooking time accordingly. Slice and enjoy! You won't even need a steak knife . . . the meat is that tender.

Short Rib Recipe

4 lbs Short Ribs
3 T olive oil
1/2 head of garlic
1/4 bunch of Thyme
2 C beef stock
1 onion
2 carrots
1 lg. tomato
3 ribs of celery
1 1/2 C red wine
4 T parsley

Season ribs and heat oil in dutch oven. Sear ribs in hot oil on all sides. Remove ribs to a platter. Add veggies to food processor and pulse. In dutch oven, add more oil if needed, add thyme and saute 1 minute, add processed veggies and cook 10 minutes. Pour in wine and stock, bring to a boil. Place seared ribs into sauce, they should be covered and cook 2 1/2 - 3 hours on simmer.
I placed a lid on my pot and put them in the oven to cook about 2 1/2 hours rather than simmer on the stove top. I also placed my quartered veggies on top of the ribs at this point. (pictured above)