Sunday dinner: braised short ribs

A few years ago Sharon and I went to a cooking class at the local LCBO (government-owned liquor store, for my American friends). The class was taught by Erik Peacock, from Niagara's Wellington Court Cafe. He showed us how to make Asian-inspired beef short ribs. We left the class and Sharon's been making those sweet, gingery short ribs ever since. It's taken me almost five years to attempt short ribs and I decided to try a more traditional recipe.

Braised in red wine and Port, short ribs can be started in the afternoon and left to cook over the next several hours. What wonderful comfort food for a cold Sunday night!

My Sunday Night Menu from Bonnie Stern's Friday Night Dinners

Hummus with cilantro pesto

Braised beef short ribs on red-skinned smashed potatoes
~I added roasted garlic and a couple of spoonfuls of caramelized onions for fun~

When I mentioned on Twitter that I was making comfort food for dinner, Meg from Maker's Table sent links to two of her favourite recipes: Beef Stew with Zinfandel and Mama Lorette's Rice Pudding. I will be sure to try both of these recipes soon!

Do you have a recipe that you'd like to share? What's your favourite, go-to, homemade comfort food?

la creuset...finally

During one of our recent visits to HomeSense, I put a La Creuset French Oven in our shopping cart. Hubby was stunned by the price tag. I was stunned too, because I knew we were saving a whack of money by purchasing a "second" (I think we saved about $100!).Well, this little French oven did not disappoint. Yesterday, I made a Bolegnese sauce and was thrilled to see how evenly everything was cooking. Nothing burned. Nothing got stuck to the bottom of the pot. Best of all, it made me happy to see the little red French Oven sitting on top of our stove!

pre-thanksgiving indian dinner menu

Terry the Firefighter and the MenuManiac

You may remember Terry the Firefighter from his guest post. Last night, we were lucky enough to have his expertise in our new professional kitchen. Luckily Terry the Firefighter, is a professional in more ways than one. Inspired by a recent trip to Vij's in Vancouver, this firefighter came up with the perfect Indian menu. He gives total and complete credit to Vikram Vij.

Ginger-Lemon Drink

Tomato, Coriander and Ginger Soup

Garam Masala-Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms in a Porcini Cream Curry
Marinated Lamb Popsicles with Fenugreek Cream Curry

Terry's tips when cooking from Elegant & Inspired Vij's Indian Cuisine:

• Even if the recipe instructions go against your instincts, follow Vij's direction. It will not disappoint
• Take advantage of the wine pairings that are included with each recipe

How groovy we got after this fantastic meal:

better bbq (guest post by terry)

I come from a long line of terrible cooks. My grandmother could make a soft boiled egg and one hell of a chocolate chip cookie but her savvy stopped there. Worse, her daughters weren’t even graced with the egg boiling gene.

As a kid, I chewed for days on breaded, grey leather, fried-in-the-pan-for-nine-hours pork chops. If it wasn’t for the Del Monte Apple Sauce, swallowing would have been an impossible task. Things occasionally got worse. There were the lamb chops. These were cooked exactly like the pork but all we had was Sheriff’s Mint Jelly to wash those suckers down.

I learned to cook in my twenties after getting hired at a first-rate restaurant. Somehow I hosed them into thinking I knew about food.

Another bullshitting waiter was born.

Anyway, here’s what we had last Sunday. I had the day off so I decided to pull out the Weber Kettle Grill and use real hardwood charcoal. My wife thinks it’s excessive but I think it’s wicked fun! Menu:

• Swiss Chard (from the Garden) and smooth-mashed Chickpea on Bruschetta
• Baked Goat Cheese Salad, homemade croutons
• Jerk Seasoned Pork Tenderloin and Rib-eye with Mango Salsa
• Last-of-the-Rhubarb, Strawberries and Crumble
• Way too much Wine

Bruschetta:

• Heat chickpeas in pan with olive oil and warm. Add some minced fresh hot red pepper and then push through a Ricer or mash anyway you want.
• Immerse the swiss chard in boiling water for a few minutes, drain, squeeze out water, then sauté in a pan for a couple of minutes with olive oil, a clove or two of minced fresh garlic and a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
• I cut some Ace Baguette lengthwise in half and in 5-6 inch long pieces, brush with good olive oil and throw it on the grill. If you walk away from the grill I promise you it will burn! (Sourdough and Calabrese bread also work well)
• When your toasted bread comes off the grill rub it lightly with a clove of raw garlic. This makes all the difference. I like to rub both sides.
• Spread some warm chickpea mash on the toasts. Then mound the swiss chard on top, a little salt and a drizzle of your best olive oil and another quick squeeze of lemon. EAT.

Goat Cheese Salad: (for 4 people)

• Cut goat cheese into rounds (two per person) about the thickness of your finger and 3 or 4 inches diameter. But it doesn’t really matter about the size.
• Marinate, covered, in the fridge for about 4 hours with good olive oil and 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme leaves stripped off their branch.
• Cut some baguette into ¼ inch slices, (4 per person maybe?). Paint them with melted butter then throw them into a 350F oven for about 5-7 minutes. WATCH THEM! Pull them out and rub lightly with clove of raw garlic.
• We used red leaf and new spinach and red oak leaf lettuce which was amazingly fresh from our farmer’s market but you can use any mixed greens you want. All I can say is that if you can get fresh greens from the your garden or a farmer’s market it’s way better then any bag of mixed greens from the supermarket…. organic or not.
• I mixed a dressing of this great Red Wine Vinegar and olive oil. About 4 tablespoons of vinegar and whisk in ½ cup olive oil. If you like more punch or your greens are crap, add more vinegar.
• Pull the goat cheese from the fridge and coat with bread crumbs.
• Then warm the goat cheese in a 400F preheated oven for about 6 minutes, give or take.
• Toss salad with vinaigrette, put the croutons around it and add two rounds of the warmed cheese to the middle of your salad.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Jerk Paste:
I modified Stephen Raichlen’s recipe for Jamaican Jerk Paste from The Barbecue Bible.
Note: 4 chiles are somewhat hot, 15 chiles are crazy hot. I think scotch bonnet are about the hottest fresh chiles out there. If you touch your eyes after handling these peppers, or for the guys, someplace worse, you will freak out. Wear a rubber glove if you have one.

Makes about 2 cups; enough to marinate 4 pounds meat, chicken or seafood. Use the jerk marinade to marinate pork for 6 hours, chicken breasts for 3 hours, and fish fillets or shrimp for 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• 4 to 15 scotch bonnet chiles, seeded (for a hotter marinade, leave the seeds in)
• 2 bunch scallion, both white and green parts, trimmed and coarsely chopped
• 1 onion, small, quartered
• 2 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 tbs ginger, fresh, grated
• 2 tsp thyme, fresh, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
• 2 tsp allspice, ground 3 tbs canola oil 3 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs lime juice, fresh, or more to taste
• 2 tbs brown sugar, dark, firmly packed
• 1 & 1/2 tbs salt, or more to taste
• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 cup water

Combine the chiles, scallions, shallots, onion, garlic, ginger, thyme, allspice, canola oil, soy sauce, 3 tablespoons lime juice, brown sugar, 1 ½ tablespoon salt, pepper, and water in a blender or better, a food processor. Blend until smooth. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and lime juice as necessary. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator, for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 2 cups; enough to marinate 4 pounds meat, chicken, or seafood

Pork Tenderloin and Rib-eye: I barbecued two pork tenderloins and a 2-inch thick rib-eye from our Mennonite butcher. There was more than enough jerk paste.

• Cut the pork tenderloin lengthwise from end to end but not all the way through. Leave about an inch uncut all the way across. Your pork tenderloin should look like an open book. Sandwich it between two pieces of cling wrap and hammer it down to about 1 inch thick. Use the flat side of a meat hammer or whatever you have handy. Remove cling wrap.
• I poke a bunch of ¼ inch holes all over the pork and the rib-eye and then rub the paste all over the meat with a spatula.
• Marinate pork for 6 hours or so, and the beef for considerably less time…maybe 2 hours?
• I put the rib-eye on the grill first, since it was a full inch thicker than the pork.
• The pork should cook to 137F and no more. It will climb another 3 degrees after you take it off the grill. It may look a little pink inside but it’s done, trust me.
• Cook your rib-eye to your liking. I like medium rare.

Try a Celeriac Salad with the jerk to cool things down. Enjoy.

Terry still remembers how good his Nana's cookies were. They almost made up for when she used to call him Kenny.

Terry is an adventurous cook who doesn't flinch at the thought of cleaning a squid or trying a new semi-freddo recipe. He's committed to eating from his garden and doing what he can to support local/seasonal eating. Terry is a professional firefighter. He's married to my one of my best friends and has a cat named Tusker-du. Best of all, he taught the MenuManiac how to cook.

grilled veal + buffala mozzarella brushchetta

Buffala mozzarella bruschetta

Grilled veal with swiss chard

Just finished a lovely dinner with Aunts Susan and Teri. We enjoyed a meal from the River Cafe Cookbook Easy. That's two nights in a row...what simple recipes! I had about 15 minutes before they arrived to get dinner ready. I marinated the veal with garlic, fresh sage, olive oil and lemon juice. While the veal was soaking up all those wonderful flavours, I grilled some Italian bread to make a buffala mozzarella bruschetta with arugula, basil, and some black olives. Unfortunately, our swiss chard side was not a hit. It look really pretty on the plate but no one finished it! Overall, a nice summer meal. I'm thinking that you should pick up this book.

sticky balsamic ribs summer menu

In celebration of a Sunday dinner, Jay picked clematis from our garden and set the table.

It's unexplainable but Sundays are the best cooking days. This week, I was planning to make Aunt Susan's Ribs but was missing a number of the ingredients so I started browsing through my favourite food sites. I decided on Gourmet's recipe for Sticky Balsamic Ribs. yum!

Thinking about what would pair well with this main course, I came up with a fabulous summer menu:

• Smoked Trout Spread with pita wedges seasoned with smoked paprika and fresh garlic (The spread was adapted from Bonnie Stern's Smoked Whitefish Spread in Essentials of Homecooking. You can find a similar recipe here.)
• Sticky Balsamic Ribs
• Mashed Potatoes with Corn and Garlic
• Tossed Salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes and fresh dill

The smoked trout spread was great for sharing on the patio with a glass of champagne. The only problem was that I should have doubled the recipe!

As for the ribs, let me first praise the glaze! This brown-sugar, balsamic combo made for a soft toffee-like coating. The only change that I would make to the recipe is that you should probably only grill the racks for a few minutes per side. Six minutes per side was a bit too long and some of the ribs were crunchy (not what you're looking for with baby backs!).

Do you have a summer menu that you think I should try?

Aunt Susan's Bar-B-Q Ribs

I haven't had a chance to try these yet but Aunt Susan swears by them! This will be a "must try" for me one day this summer. If you make them before I do, I look forward to a review. - JS

Aunt Susan's Bar-B-Q Ribs

4 slabs pork loin back ribs

First Stage Dry Rub:

• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika (I use hot Hungarian)
• 1/3 cup garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons onion powder
• 8 tablespoons chili powder (I use more and use different kinds of chili powder)
• 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white pepper
• 1 TBSP salt

Second Stage:

• 1/2 cup apple juice per slab
• 1/2 cup grape juice per slab

Third Stage:

• 3/4 cup First Stage rub
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Finishing Stage:

• 1 1/2 sauce

Raw Preparation: Place slab of ribs bone side down on table. Slide knife under the membrane and against the end bone to separate the 2. With a dry paper towel, grasp the edge of the thin membrane and pull. The entire membrane should separate from the rib.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Combine First Stage rub and mix well. Generously apply rub onto the front and back sides of ribs. Gently pat to ensure that rub will adhere. Place ribs meat-side up on a tin foil pan and bake for 2 1/4 hours. Remove ribs from oven. Place each rib meat-side down on its own doubled aluminum foil square. Foil should be large enough to completely wrap rib. Mix the Second Stage juices. Pour 1 cup of liquid over each rib. At the same time wrap and seal each rib tight. Return to the oven for 1 hour.

Remove wrapped ribs from oven. Remove from foil and apply a medium coat of the Third Stage rub to the meat-side of the ribs. Place uncovered in oven meat-side up for 40 plus minutes. Remove ribs from oven and increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Cut the ribs into two rib pieces and brush sauce on both sides of ribs. Place ribs in oven for 10 minutes (sometimes longer), or until sauce caramelizes.

Ribs reheat and freeze well.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutesCook Time: + / - 5 hours

grill chicken wings and baby back ribs

A spontaneous dinner with friends always makes for an entertaining evening. We ran into a couple of friends today at Windsor's Art In the Park and threw together a menu that was perfect for drinking Corona splits and wine!

Menu:

• Guacamole and salsa
• Zwiebacks with butter
• Jay's favourite chicken wings
• Aunt Shelley's baby back ribs
• Tossed salad with shredded mozzarella

Zwiebacks are a crispy, sweetened bread. Our friend picked up a dozen from the United Mennonite Educational Institute Community Festival in Leamington, Ontario. We popped them in the oven for a few minutes to warm them up, split them open and smothered them in butter. If something this good was available at the local grocery store, I would be in real trouble; they were that fabulous!
Jay's favourite chicken wings are typically made by placing split chicken wings on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle them with a garlic and roasted red pepper spice medley. Bake them at 375 degrees for 35 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, place the wings in a bowl and toss with Frank's Red Hot Sauce and a little celery salt. If you want to increase the authenticity of these Buffalo-inspired wings, include some melted butter when you toss. Tonight, the oven was full, so we barbecued the wings instead of baking.
Aunt Shelley used to make baby back ribs at least once a month for me. Her recipe is simple and foolproof. Put the ribs in a roasting pan, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours. Remove from the oven, brush with your favourite barbecue sauce and grill them on the barbecue for about 5 minutes per side. Surprisingly, they are really tender and always a hit!The nice thing about this meal is that it's really hard to screw up so it's good for relaxing with old friends on a summer night.

weeknight italian

It was a dreary day in Windsor and Detroit. I'm thinking that's why I felt like making tomato sauce. It started with a can of San Marzano tomatoes that I found in our cupboard. Most chefs deem the San Marzano tomato superior to other varieties. I now believe.

Seriously, the San Marzano tomotoes yielded a much sweeter and less seedy sauce than the typical Roma.

For our evening's appetizer, I painted sliced Calabrese bread with olive oil mixed with minced garlic and kosher salt. Next I topped it with crumbled feta and dried thyme. After 10 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees, we enjoyed garlic bread with a glass of Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon.For the main, it was breaded veal scallopine with brown rice spaghetti and tomato sauce. We've been stuck on brown rice pasta for the past year or two. It just digests better. There is never a feeling of cement in your stomach. In Martha's words, that's a good thing!

To make the tomato sauce: Saute a chopped clove of garlic and chopped basil stalks in olive oil. Add a can of San Marzano tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Add a hunk of Parmesan rind. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Throw in splash of your best extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. (recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver's Naked Chef)

To make the veal scallopine: Put a handful of flour on a plate. Lightly beat an egg in a bowl. Mix bread crumbs or panko with freshly chopped garlic, dried oregano, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Drudge the veal in the flour, next dip the veal in the egg and lastly in the bread crumbs. Fry in a non-stick frying pan. Probably 3-4 minutes per side on medium.

Buon appetito!