Short Rib Bucatini

Anything after labor day is fall, right? I don't care that it was 82 degrees in Chicago today. I don't even care that the leaves are still bright green on the trees, and the beaches are still full of people. I've got the fall itch, and while you won't see me standing in line at Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte, you will catch me in the kitchen braising something.

Up until now, I have only made my short ribs one way. A very good way, mind you, but I was in a rut and it was time to branch out. I am sure I will find myself braising some short ribs in red wine and beef stock at some point this winter, but for now, this version suits this summer-ish fall season just fine. Plus, it let me use the last of my fresh basil from my teeny tiny herb 'garden' that I have somehow managed not to kill this summer. (By 'garden' I mean two window boxes hanging from my deck rail.)

Short Rib Bucatini
recipe adapted from Food & Wine

4 tbl olive oil
3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 large vidalia onion, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbl tomato paste
2 - 28 oz. cans whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 pound dried bucatini
fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat olive oil in a large enameled cast iron pot over medium high heat. Season all sides of the short ribs generously with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, brown all sides of each piece of short rib, about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove short ribs to a plate and set aside. Pour all but two tablespoons of fat our of the pot, and return to medium-low heat.

Add the onions, and cook, stirring occasionally until soft and gently browned, about 12-15 minutes. Add the tomato paste and garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes, string constantly. Add the tomatoes and gently mash as you are stirring them in. Add carrots, bay leaves, and a generous pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Place short ribs and all the juices that may have accumulated back into pot and turn heat to the lowest setting. Cover loosely and simmer gently for about 4 hours, until meat it tender and is falling off the bone. Stir occasionally to turn short ribs and to monitor any scorching that may occur in the bottom of the pan. When meat is cooked, remove to cutting board, and discard the bones and any excess fat and connective tissue. You can either chop the meat into small pieces or gently pull the chunks apart with two forks.

Remove the bay leaves from the tomato sauce and carefully transfer to a food processor and pulse until pureed. Alternatively, you can leave the sauce in the pot and use a immersion blender, or you can leave the sauce chunky as is. Return sauce to pan over low heat, and return short rib meat to sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper and hold over low heat.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the bucatini until just al dente, then drain, and add the pasta into the sauce. Simmer the pasta in the sauce for 2-3 minutes, adding some reserved pasta water if you find it is too thick.

Chiffonade a few leaves of fresh basil and grate some parmesan cheese to garnish.

A Nearly Perfect Christmas Eve Eve Dinner

For years, my immediate family has had a tradition of making an extravagant meal the night before Christmas Eve, also known as 'Christmas Eve Eve'. It's like a kickoff to the main event, though in recent years it has become my favorite part of the entire holiday. We have made blinis and beef cheeks, lamb shanks and crab cakes, gougeres, tarts, truffles, and about anything else you can think of. We have opened numerous bottles of Brunello and Porto and Champagne, and spent many many hours and days prepping and cooking and baking.

While every year has been memorable, this year topped them all. And it wasn't just the food that made this year outshine them all. Yes the revamped-retro inspired menu was incredibly aggressive, and we pulled it off swimmingly, savoring each and every bite, but it was the company, and the laughter, that will stay with me the most when I reflect back on this Christmas. We cooked and baked for two days, all four of us squeezed into the kitchen for one of them. There was laughing and heckling (in the most loving sense possible), lessons being taught, and skills being eagerly learned. Stories of our lives spent apart over the past month were told, encouragement and understanding were shared. Wine flowed freely into skillets and stomachs, and the food that we worked so hard on, was eaten around a beautifuly decorated table. Most importantly though, the meal that night was eaten together, the four of us, celebrating our health and happiness.

Okay that was pretty mushy, I may or may not be suffering post-Christmas home-sickness and cookie withdrawal. Onto the good stuff (the menu of course!). It all started with the idea to recreate a dish that my family had at a new restaurant in Minneapolis, who had the audacity to serve tater tot hot dish.  Now, this was not the tater tot hot dish of my youth. You know, the one with ground beef, a can of cream of mushroom soup, canned green beans, all covering a crispy layer of frozen tater tots. Nope this was tater tot hotdish, brought into the 21st century and put on steroids. We knew we had to make this at home, but what to serve with it? The menu quickly formed by thinking of slightly kitschy, old-school, retro food, that we could revamp and put a gourmet spin onto.

First up, pigs in blankets. Actually by the end of the appetizer course these became known as 'chicks in snuggies'. I blame the Champagne. Homemade sous-vide-d chicken sausages, were sauteed and wrapped up in buttery puff pastry. We baked them up and dipped them in a horseradish-sour cream sauce, and an oatmeal stout-mustard-shallot sauce. These exceeded all expectations. We knew they were going to be good. How good though? We were blown away.

Next up, soup and salad. We took the classic wedge salad and threw it on the grill along with some cherry tomatoes. We had homemade blue cheese dressing prepared by my smarter, prettier, older sister. Here's where the fun with the deep fryer came. Pops sous-vide-d some pork belly, breaded it, and deep fried it. It was crispy, fatty, pork heaven I tell you. Pork Heaven. Amen.

We added some roasted pureed cauliflower soup for good measure, you know, cause we didn't have enough to eat already.

Now, this may not be the prettiest dish you've ever seen on camera (plus, it was dark, and I really just wanted to dig in), but trust me, you can not go wrong with oatmeal stout braised short ribs, porcini mushroom béchamel sauce, deep fried potato croquettes, and steamed buttered french green beans. This may be the peak of the proverbial comfort food mountain. I dream about this dish.

The crowning moment, the cake.

Actually this was a disappointing moment, and the reason for the title of this post being a nearly perfect dinner. This recipe came from the cover of last month's Bon Appétit Magazine. The problem was that the cake just wasn't very good. I am not sure if I did something wrong, which is entirely possible, but the actual cake was dry and crumbly. If I ever made this again, which I may, it was stunning, and the frosting was insanely good, I would stick with the chocolate devils food cake I have made many times now. Poor thing sat on the table for three days after Christmas since no one could bring themselves to toss it.

Thankfully, there was cheese.  It just wouldn't be Christmas eve eve dinner without a cheese plate and a vintage Porto. And Trivial Pursuit.

Someday, my sister and I will beat my parents....someday. Until then, we will just have to keep practicing making amazing meals, and spending much needed quality time together as a family.

Cabernet Braised Short Ribs and Mushroom Risotto

There are some people that tie their memories to the weather, different smells, specific dates, or the time of year. I have been finding that recently I have been tying many of my great memories with friends and family to food. For example, I can't remember a specific christmas by the year, or by how much snow we got, or what my christmas presents were, but jog my memory of what we cooked for 'christmas eve-eve' dinner? Now I remember.

It works the other way too. Lobster crosses my mind? I immediately think about the many July 4th's throughout my childhood when the cousins in my family would draw a track on the driveway with chalk and "race" the lobsters before our parents murdered them (but for good cause) in the giant bubbling stock pot in the kitchen. Granted they usually only moved an inch or so, but it was still fun picking them up and being terrified that they were going to pinch us (even though their claws all had rubber bands on them).

I also think about last winter when some of my favorite people in the world got together at a cabin in northern Wisconsin and had a BYOL party (Bring Your Own Lobster). It unexpectedly took hours to bring the huge stock pots full of water and crab seasoning to boil and didn't end up eating until almost 11 pm, but we kept ourselves busy drinking wine, playing with the very lethargic lobsters, and catching up on lives being lived three states away from each other.

Short ribs and risotto will be one of those meals that is tied to so many great memories for me. It was one of the first 'extravagant' meals I cooked for my boyfriend after we moved to chicago together. It was on the menu last winter when some of my best girlfriends from Purdue finally found a night we could all get together for the first time in months.

It was also the meal I made for eight hungry skiers this past weekend, at what is quickly becoming my favorite tradition: Valentines Day Cabin Weekend. In lieu of the Hallmark world of hearts and candy and forced romantic evenings, my Minnesota friends and I, along with our wonderful significant others, have turned v-day weekend into a weekend full of skiing, laughing, drinking, and eating. Rarely does the v -word even cross our lips, but when it does we aren't just celebrating love in our romantic relationships, we are toasting our friendships as well. The card I received from one of said Minnesota friends sums it up pretty well: "I hope we are still spending valentines day together when we are 80". Until I am 80, when I think of short ribs and risotto, I will be reminded of this very awesome valentines day, the giant red le creuset filled with braised meaty goodness, and the very best friends a girl could ask for.

Cabernet Braised Short Ribs

recipe adapted slightly from epicurious.com

Serves 8 with leftovers

These are great made a day early and chilled overnight. This allows you to to skim some of the hardened fat off the top to produce a less greasy pan sauce, but are just as good made the day of.

8-9 pounds meaty short ribs

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced

2 tablespoons fresk thyme, minced

1 tablespoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup (about) vegetable or olive oil

2 - 750 ml bottles of Cabernet Sauvingnon

2-4 cups beef stock (this will depend on the size and shape of the pot you use, you will need enough to just about cover the ribs with liquid)

2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

The day before cooking the ribs, season the ribs on all sides with the rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper and place in a large glass baking dish. Cover and chill overnight.

Let ribs stand at room temp before continuing. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large dutch oven, heat two tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add short ribs to pot in a single layer, turning about every 2 minutes to brown all sides. Place browned ribs in large bowl, and add more oil to pot as needed to brown all the ribs. Once all ribs have been seared, pour off drippings from pot and return to medium heat. Add the wine, scraping up and browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring wine to a simmer, then return the ribs and any accumulated juices to the pot. Add enough beef stock to almost cover the ribs. Bring to a boil, then cover and transfer pot to oven.

If making these the day of consumption, cook for about 3-3.5 hours, until meat is incredibly tender and falling off the bone.

If making the day before, cook for about 2.5 hours, then let cool, cover, and chill overnight. The following day, skim some of the congealed fat off the top and return to 375 degree oven for another hour to and hour and a half, until the meat is tender and falling off the bone.

When ribs are done, remove meat and bones from pot, place in a tightly covered bowl and keep warm. Skim any fat from the top of the liquid, and bring to simmer over medium high heat on the stovetop. Boil until reduced to about 2 cups, about 20 minutes. Mix together butter and flour in a bowl until well combined, and whisk into simmering braising liquid. Continue whisking over medium-high heat until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.

Plate ribs next to, or on top of the risotto, topped with sauce and the mixed herb gremolata.

Meyer Lemon Herb Gremolata

adapted slightly from epicurious.com

Please don't skip this topping. It lends an amazingly bright citrus note to the earthy meatiness of the short ribs.

1/4 cup chopped italian parsley

3 tablespoons finely grated lemon peel, meyer lemon if it is in season

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons finely minced rosemary

2 tablespoons finely minced thyme

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Can be made one day in advance, but I would recommend making it the day of so the citrus is at its freshest.

Mushroom Risotto

serves 8 plus plenty of leftovers

12-16 cups canned low sodium chicken broth

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided (one stick)

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

5-6 shallots, minced

1 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms, chopped (I used a mix of white and baby bellas)

3 cups arborio rice

1 1/3 cup white wine

1 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/3 cup italian parsley, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring the broth to a simmer in a large saucepan or small stockpot. Add the dried porcini mushrooms, reduce heat, and keep the broth warm over very low heat while you cook the risotto. The mushrooms will flavor the broth as they steep.

In a large heavy pot, melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallots and saute until tender, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute for another 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the rice, and let cook until the rice toasts a bit and becomes slightly translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it has absorbed, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low, and add 1 cup of hot broth, stirring rice very frequently until broth is absorbed. Continue adding broth 1 cup at a time and stirring, until rice is just al dente. This should take about 30-40 minutes, and you may not need all the broth.

While rice is cooking, remove the porcini mushrooms from broth with slotted spoon, chop, and set aside. Heat two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of live oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fresh mushrooms and porcini mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are slightly browned, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover to keep warm and set aside.

When rice reaches the al dente stage, remove from heat and stir in remaining 1/2 stick of butter, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, and parsley.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add some roasted carrots for good measure and you have yourself a meal.

Make this, and make it often. I can only hope that this wonderful meal may be attached to some amazing memories for you as well.