wine braised beef short ribs

every year we buy a side of beef, if not a whole beef. either from the fair or from some friends of ours that still have a small cattle operation. we're down to the very last of last year's meat and i found at the back of the freezer a package labeled "strips for bbq" that turned out to be short ribs. there are few things in life that can compare to correctly cooked osso bocco but, bold though it may be, i think short ribs, braised slowly, can do it. so, we've discussed dutch ovens and this is a job for the old dutch, placed over low heat. pre heat the oven to 300 degrees while you're at it. into said dutch goes 1/2 an apple (core and all) roughly chopped, 4 cloves of garlic smashed and cut in half (don't worry about taking the papers off), 1/2 an onion chopped, 1 table spoon dried rosemary, one teaspoon whole pepper corns, 1 and 1/2 cups pinot noir, one table spoon of Bragg liquid aminos or soy sauce, and the beef. add enough water to cover the beef completely, but not by much. make sure you nestle the beef down into the liquid so that the bits of veggies etc. are mostly over and around the meat. now, pop it into the oven for about 3 hours, turn the meat over and cook for another 2 or 3 hours until the fluid is reduced by about half. pull the ribs out of the pot and cover them with foil. strain the broth, pressing all the juice from the strained bits. personally i ran mine through a stock separator to remove most of the fat from the top, then put it in a sauce pan with another pinch of dried rosemary and simmer until it's again reduced by about half. stir in one table spoon of brown sugar, when it is completely dissolved add your chopped mushrooms. i used a crimini, but since i don't eat mushrooms you may be correct in thinking that some other sort would be best. i leave it to you. cook them until soft. remove from the heat and stir in a little pat of butter at the last minute, pour over the ribs and serve. if you try this out, please let me know what you think!

as an addendum: if you want sweeter meat add the brown sugar to the braising liquid at the beginning of the process, watch that it doesn't burn or scorch though. you may have to give it the occasional stir while it's in the oven.

easy alfredo with clams

alright, i admit the clams are optional. if you leave out the clams, cut down on the flour and you'll be set. there are probably a dozen ways to make alfredo sauce, and not being formally trained or even a little bit italian, i'm no authority. i know what goes over well here at the cottage, and i know some of the traditional elements though so i think i can safely call this 'alfredo' and get away with it. this recipe is like any of my others, largely it's appeal is that with minimal forethought you can slap it on the table at the end of a busy day in short order. providing you have a can of chopped clams handy. if you'd prefer you can use the minced clams, or the whole baby clams, personally i go for what's cheapest. hey, it's canned clams, alright? so, about 1 table spoon of butter goes into a tiny sauce pan over medium heat, one package of fettuccine goes into boiling water. once the butter is melted add two diced cloves of garlic. i'll say the magic word: please. please do not use a garlic press (aka garlic obliterater) just smash the cloves with the flat of your knife and dice them up. agreed? good. when the garlic is light brown add a sprinkle of flour and stir it in. we're not making an honest to goodness roux here, we're just making up for the fact that we're going to use whole milk instead of cream. not that we're on a diet, but the idea is that you can make this if you add one can of clams to your pantry list and we don't all keep cream lying around all the time. so, once the flour is incorporated add your clams, juice included, stirring until you see the juice thicken up. add a couple of grinds of black pepper. now add your milk. probably around 2/3s of a cup, but just look at it and add a bit at a time. don't worry it'll thicken up too. let this come to a simmer, then add oh, 3 table spoons of grated parmesan cheese. stir it in thoroughly so that there are no lumps. if you have dried parsley now is the time to throw it in, if you don't oh well. the pasta is probably done by now, drain it well and put it in a big serving bowl. having a pasta bowl is worth it, it should be wide and fairly shallow. you want to be able to toss pasta in it so make sure it's sizable. when your sauce looks about as thick as gravy pour it over the noodles. if it's a little thin, it's really okay. now if you have fresh parsley sprinkle it on, if you don't, again, oh well. sprinkle on a liberal amount of the grated cheese, some cracked black pepper, and a touch of nutmeg. you may also squeeze some fresh lemon juice on if you wish. it's a nice touch but not worth trying to fake it with concentrate, handy as concentrate may be. toss it all together, if the sauce is still on the thin side do the impossible: wait. just wait. maybe for 3 minutes. perhaps add some more cheese. toss again. the starch from the pasta will thicken it up. if you'll glance up you'll note i said nothing about rinsing your pasta. i'm not sure where this fad came from, but if it's a habit you have, kick it. the residual starch on your pasta helps the sauce stick. and in the case of alfredo or just clam sauce it actually finishes the sauce in the serving bowl. so, after the final toss you can get fancy with yourself and crack a little more pepper on it, or garnish however you wish, and enjoy!

dutch oven bliss

ah, my enameled dutch oven, how do i love thee? let me count the ways... i love thee for keeping my oil temperature stable while i fry things, i love thee for not letting the oil splatter the entire kitchen while i fry things, i love thee for browning meat beautifully then popping right into the oven to finish, i love thee for pot pies and shepard's pie! i could wax eloquent for hours on this subject, i really could. i feel i need to come to the defense of good, old fashioned, sturdy cookware. do i own a non stick skillet? heck yes, i wouldn't live with out it. do i also own, and use, a cast iron skillet? yep. both indispensable for what they are good at. when confronted with the sight of my $50.00 6 quart 15 pound dutch my sister in law, with raised eyebrows, quipped "i hope it's worth it." oh, it is, it is. for one thing there are so many meals that can be made in ONE POT in it, for real. am i the only one that has read those 'one pot' recipes with high hopes only to discover that, well you saute something in a skillet, and you boil something in a pasta pot, and you have to brown meat somehow, but THEN you pile everything in this 'one pot' for long enough to melt some cheese or something, so some how they feel okay about scamming you? ha, i say. pish. get a good dutch oven and your life will be forever changed. on to the finer points, to enamel or not to enamel? well, it depends on how you want to use it. if you intend to take it camping or go all frontier with it and stick it straight into coals to cook with it, i'd say go for un- enameled, and look for a nice long handle. if you intend to use it more in the home, and would like to roast chickens in it get a larger, coated one. it comes down to taste really, but if you go for raw cast iron be prepared to care for it. scrub it with salt, season it with grease and oil, store it correctly, and for pitys sake, don't stick it in the dish washer. be kind to it, and it will pay you back ten fold.

what is bok choy anyway?

so, what is that stuff hiding in your "chicken and assorted vegetables" that tastes a bit like radish and a bit like, well, water? it's bok choy my friend and you should become better acquainted. in the store it looks a bit like a rhubarb ran off with a swiss chard, bright white stalks and dark greens. in the wok i've learned to divide and conquer, slice it all up, separate the stalk from the leaves. add the stalks first with your other veggies that require a bit more cooking and the leaves at the end, when everything else is almost done. it's great with ginger, the radishy taste really likes fresh ginger for some reason, and it's good all by it's self or with a mixed stir fry. then there's our little buddy, baby bok choy. to tell the truth it's almost a completely different veggie, small bright spring green bundles of tender leaves. my favorite thing to do with a baby bok choy is cut it in half length wise and sear it on my griddle with a smidge of oil and a sprinkle of salt. fresh ginger would not go amiss here either, but i find it has plenty of flavor on it's own. just don't over cook it, big or baby, it becomes a somewhat slimy mess. this is not all that hard to avoid, keep an eye on the leaves, they should just start to wilt when it's done. so, steam some rice, pour some voinger, and enjoy!

chicken cordon... cottage

alrighty, this one is so easy it's almost silly to blog it. so it turns out i'm brewing thing three right now, and being 6 weeks pregnant is not fun for me. my precious food tends to turn on me in a serious way for the first 4 months or so. my solution? a dinner i hardly have to touch in it's raw elements so that i will still want to eat it by the time it hits the table. the basic staple here: IQF chicken breasts. literally Individually Quickly Frozen. i can grab as many as i need, throw them in a pan and cook from frozen if i need to. these were partially thawed, for the record. preheat the oven to 375, place the chicken in a baking pan (glass is favorite) in a single layer, brush a little dijon mustard on each breast, top with sliced ham, then finish with a slice of swiss cheese. cover with foil and bake for about 35-40 minutes, depending on if they're still on the frozen side or not. et vio la, chicken that any decent french chef would be ashamed of: and yet, quite tasty.

vegetable modesty and nutrition

you may have noticed that i rarely write "peeled" carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, etc. there is a reason for this. it is largely agreed that the bulk of the nutrients that make veggies so good for you are in the skins. also they add texture and flavor to what you're cooking, besides which by the time you're done dicing, cooking, and otherwise obliterating your ingredients, a littel carrot skin doesn't stand out. so, go a head let your veggies keep their clothes on, it'll serve you well. personally i like my mashed potatoes better when i leave the skin on about half of the potatoes during the cooking process, and so does my husband. for tougher items like tomato skin, dice the raw fruit smaller so the pieces that survive will be easier to deal with. go ahead and scrub your carrots, just be sure to leave the skin on, there's alot of good stuff in there. if you want to serve an extra pretty side dish of glazed carrots, go ahead and peel away, but remember you can save those peelings along with the tops and tips to make broth for soup. and by the way "baby" carrots are just chunks of big carrots that have been tumbled to remove the skin and soften the cut edges. it's a scam and a misnomer, don't let them fool you.

soup bar

we love having people over for dinner here at the cottage, and since we have a large family, it tends to be a crowd. the most affordable way i've found to feed everybody is: soup. it helps that we love soup anyway but it's also easy to make, and pretty darn tasty. plus you can make something fairly simple and easily dress it up. recently we had a card night and i made leek and potato soup, served up next to toppings. fried bacon bits, shredded cheddar, parmesan, green onions, and a pepper grinder and we were set to go. everyone got to make their own combinations and everyone got full, a win win for card night at the cottage. i also like to make squash soup which is good with everything from olive oil to nutmeg on top. another fun thing to try is an old fashioned soup tureen, i have two that both came from local thrift stores for less than $15 each. try it out, you could start a tradition!