LimeCake

I don’t think I can stress enough how much I loathe winter. It’s plain miserable.

Silly me – trying to relish Spring when I was reluctantly forced back to the throes of Winter. It’s been raining all day. How drab. Nonetheless, if there’s one thing good about cold weather, it’s gotta be this braise.

I was first drawn to this recipe because of the short list of ingredients. It’s a braise, but perhaps not in the traditional sense because of the way the ingredients go into the pot, and the lack of carrots and/or celery that make up a ‘traditional’ braise. Could I have used “traditional’ any more in that sentence?

Confused much?

Tall and Handsome

This is the best braise slash stew I’ve made in a long time. Rich and incredibly hearty, this is undoubtedly a winter dish. The meat is braised until it’s melty and falls off the bone. I couldn’t have been more delighted.

I absolutely love this and it totally has crowd-pleasing potential. Serve with some mashed potato or polenta on a cold, bitter winter night. Mmm…

My only complaint was that I couldn’t take a decent photo of the dish, but seeing as I really loved this, I know the opportunity for greatness will come again.

Braised Short Ribs With Dijon Mustard (from Gourmet Today via Serious Eats)

scaled down to serve 2

½ (375ml) bottle dry red wine

2 pounds beef short ribs, cut into 2 1/2-inch lengths by the butcher

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoons olive oil

4 shallots, trimmed, leaving the root ends intact, and halved lengthwise

1½ tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard

2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise

Boil the wine in a heavy sauce pan, uncovered, until reduced to about ½ cup, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pat the ribs dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the ribs in 2 batches and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides. Transfer with tongs to a bowl.

Reduce heat to moderate, add the shallots to fat remaining in pot, and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to another bowl.

Stir reduced wine and mustard into the juices in the pot. Add the ribs, meat side down, cover tightly, and simmer, for 1 hour.

Gently stir shallots and tomatoes into the braised rib mixture and continue to simmer, covered, without stirring, until meat is very tender, about ½ hour more.

Carefully transfer the ribs, shallots, and tomatoes to a platter. Skim off fat from cooking liquid. Liquid should coat a spoon and measure about 1 cup; if necessary, boil to reduce.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper and pour over ribs.

Want more meat?

If this isn’t the mac daddy of steaks, I don’t know what (or who) is.

I don’t use a recipe when it comes to grilling meat. Simple is best i.e. sea salt suffices in a pinch (Bad pun, I know. Thank you! I’ll be here all night. Don’t forget to tip your waitress).

But with this rib eye on the bone, I thought I’d try something slightly different and so I used the the idea for pan roasting and the recipe for the red wine sauce from a favourite cookbook – Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

This probably goes against the premise of this blog, but here is how you prepare a (romantic) Steak-and-Potatoes dinner for two:

beautiful purple congo potatoes – taste test with sea salt

Can “beautiful” be used to describe potatoes? Well, these certainly are. Just look at that gorgeous shade.

They’ve got a cute name too. Purple Congo - makes me giggle.

Okay so I boiled these purple gems, and drizzled them with good olive oil, then sea salt and pepper. Simple is best. Have I said that already?

Don’t be afraid of the red meat.

Now get your beef on.

That is one sexy hunk of meat.

Flip, and admire that crust. Only sea salt can do magic like that.

Patience is a virtue I don’t have, so I only rested the meat for 2 minutes. So sue me.

While that was happening, I roughly followed the recipe for the sauce – shallots, red wine, butter.

Plate up.

Spoon the warm sauce over.

A beautiful hunk of meat – rare, just the way I like it.

p.s. in case you were wondering, that rib eye fed two. You didn’t think I ate all that on my own, did you?

Want more meat?