Braised Short Ribs

Storkbite’s Papa paid me a very fine compliment last night.   After he finished his dinner, he told me he felt like he had just dined out a the Gramercy Tavern.  I’d say that back in the old days the GT was our place to go for a fine meal.  My affection for the place started back when I left my job in Chicago and my colleagues bid me farewell with a gift certificate.  I had never before eaten at real New York restaurant and on the night I cashed in that certificate I was bitten by the restaurant bug.   Fast forward to now, we don’t go out and if we do we have serious time constraints, bedtime protocols, baby-sitters to organize and it takes all the fun out of boozy fine dining.   So, I try to bring the fine dining home every so often.

Braised Short Ribs

You should learn how to  braise if you don’t already know.  It’s easy and rewarding.  My secret is a large Le Creuset pot.

You will need:

• Several short ribs (6-10)
• 3 carrots
• 5 celery stalks
• garlic cloves
• 1 large can of tomato paste
• 1 yellow onion

Let the short ribs warm up,  salt them, brown them in a mix of olive and vegetable oil,  remove and set aside.  Add the puree of one onion, five celery stalks, three carrots and several cloves of garlic combined in a food processor.  Cook it down in the same pan, add a large can of tomato paste and keep cooking it, scraping the bottom often.   Add about a 1/4 of a 750 ml bottle of Cabernet and a half a box of beef stock plus salt, pepper and a bay leaf.  Close lid and let it cook low and slow in a 300 degree oven for at least 4 hours.

When the ribs are done, meat will fall of the bone.   Remove bones, shred the meat and put the pot under a low broiler.  This reduces the sauce and keeps things warm.  I added some roasted boiler onions and mushrooms.

I served the meat and sauce over potato puree with lots of heavy cream and butter.

Not bad to come home to on a rainy night.

Something Sloppy

It’s been a hard year at Storkbite’s house.  We added another member to the family and now that small human will have his first birthday in three weeks time.  Getting dinner on the table is always difficult.  Someone usually moves a stool up to the stove to “help” while the other pulls everything out of my cabinets.

We’ve had two moves, one significant home renovation and well two kids under the age of three.  I have several obstacles and by the end of the day frivolous food blogging isn’t something I’ve got the patience for.  That explains the hiatus.  On the other hand, today turned out to be a good day.

Sloppy Joe’s

My Canadian mom friend was chatting me up this morning while the kids were playing in a church basement and she mentioned Sloppy Joe’s.   The hot topic was how to hide vegetables and make them unidentifiable.  My almost three year old will not eat it if it’s green.  Meals are a challenge for me, actually they are excruciating.  Meal time went from my favorite to least favorite time of day.  It’s so despised that I try to avoid it all together and make beans + rice, scrambled eggs or peanut butter + jelly.

Tonight I was inspired to make Sloppy Joe’s.  You’ll have to use your imagination on how to prepare it.  I’ll just disclose what I put in it:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 lb. ground venison
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 bunch Toscana kale, chopped
• 1 box Pomi crushed tomato
• 3 carrots, shredded
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tbsp. coarse mustard (Maille)
• 1 jigger of rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp. molasses
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 or 2 shakes of Tiger Sauce (hot pepper sauce)

If you must “hide” the vegetables, puree them with an immersion blender after they are cooked down a bit and before you add the browned meat. Serve with toasted potato rolls.

Outcome:  The toddler tried one bite and decided she wanted peanut butter + jelly on her potato roll.  The baby decided that it was great and ate one very large serving plus a roll on the side.   He likes anything though, really.

King Cake

It’s really hard to find activities to occupy Storkbite in the afternoon.  The hours between 4 and 6 are grueling.  I had a plan today – observe Mardi Gras!

King Cake

I suppose that our King Cake isn’t totally traditional, but it has the right colors.  I thought that baking the miniature baby inside might cause a toddler choking hazard so that was omitted from this cake too.

The frosting consumption of this toddler activity was certainly most entertaining.  I have many happy memories of licking the beater and I hope my little ones do too.

For my observance of Mardi Gras I intend to make two huge filet mignon steaks and crack a very nice bottle of wine I’ve been saving.  The kids can have the cake.