Category Archives: Main Courses

TANGY GLAZED SHORT RIBS

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We had some weather excitement here in Houston last week.  It got cold.  Real cold, as in hard freeze cold.  We had snow (for the third time this winter!) and ice, and it stuck for 2 days.  The snow was really just a dusting — exciting for us, nevertheless — but the ice that formed on our highway overpasses forced our city to essentially shut down.

 

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a “snow day.”  Growing up in New York, we could expect a few snow days every winter, and they usually involved cooking and baking, which not only made the house smell great, but kept the kitchen warm and inviting.  I loved hanging out in the kitchen on those days.

It was a given, then, that I would spend my snow day cooking.  I made chili, Italian wedding soup, and short ribs.  This recipe for Tangy Glazed Short Ribs is one of our special occasion dishes — in fact, we had it for Christmas Eve dinner.  The recipe, which we make in the slow cooker, is adapted from a Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe that my husband ran across several years ago.  He handed me the recipe, saying “this looks good.”  And it is.  It’s a little involved, but not difficult, and worth every minute spent making it.  I like to make it at least a day in advance because like most soups and stews, it improves with age, and it also allows me to skim off the considerable amount of fat when it’s cool.  It’s best served over mashed potatoes, although no one will complain if you serve it over polenta or buttered noodles.

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TANGY GLAZED SHORT RIBS
Author: 
Recipe type: Beef, Main Course
 
Ingredients
  • 8 large short ribs
  • 4 star anise, finely ground
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, divided use
  • 1-1/2 cups ketchup
  • ½ cup pomegranate molasses
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
  • 3 tablespoons molasses
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
  • 1 ancho chile, seeded, lightly toasted, and finely chopped
  • 1 chipotle pepper from canned chile in adobo
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 quart water
  • 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
Instructions
  1. Place the ribs in a single layer on a platter. Sprinkle the ribs with star anise and 1 teaspoon salt, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
  2. In a blender, combine the ketchup, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, fish sauce, molasses, garlic powder, onion, ancho chile, chipotle, sesame oil, and ½ teaspoon salt. Blend on high speed until smooth. Add the water, and blend again until smooth.
  3. Preheat grill to high. Brush the ribs with grapeseed oil and place on the grill. Sear on all sides except the bony rib.
  4. Transfer ribs to slow cooker and cover with the sauce. Cook for approximately 6 hours on high, or until completely tender (they will fall off the bone). Transfer ribs to a baking dish. Strain the sauce and set aside.
  5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. To finish the ribs, add 1 to 1-1/2 cups of the strained sauce to the ribs and place them in the oven. Cook, basting frequently, until the sauce is thick, and the ribs are glazed, approximately 15 minutes. (Note: If you're pressed for time, you can omit this step and they will still be delicious, but do strain the sauce before serving.) Serve hot over mashed potatoes, polenta, or buttered noodles.

IMG_3173Season the ribs with star anise and salt and let them sit for an hour

My husband likes to sear them in a cast iron skillet on the grill

Ready for the slow cooker

In they go

006 (7)

Covered with sauce — see ya in 6 hours

Ready!

SPICY MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE

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I found this vintage mussel dish on ebay.

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It’s kinda ugly in an interesting sort of way.  I believe it was made in France in the 1950s by Vallauris.

Have you ever heard the saying “some days you’re the pigeon and other days you’re the statue?”  How about “some days you’re the dog and other days you’re the hydrant?”  Well, I’ve got another one for you — some days you’re the seagull and other days you’re the mussel.  Seagulls have a taste for mussels and other shellfish.  To get at the meat inside the shell, they carry the mussel high in the air, and then drop it on rocks below.  They do this over and over until the shell finally cracks open, and then they feast.  (A nice video of this, with some sea lions as an added bonus, can be seen here.)

After certain unpleasant and entirely fascinating recent events in American politics, I think we all might feel a little mussel-like, as if we’d been repeatedly dropped on sharp rocks until a seagull can come and pick our innards out.  This feeling, together with the mussel dish, is the inspiration for this recipe for Spicy Mussels in White Wine.

On Fridays and Saturdays, the Costco near me has a sort of pop-up seafood shop, and they almost always have 3-pound bags of beautiful Prince Edward Island (“PEI”) mussels   — rarely a broken shell in the whole bunch.  In researching mussels, I learned that the size of the mussel varies with the season — they are largest in October and smallest in March.  If a batch of mussels appears to be different colors, don’t worry — pale white meat indicates a male mussel, and a warmer, more orangey colour, a female.  (Yep, another step closer to being Cliff Clavin.)

This recipe is quick and easy, and is  a delicious light meal any time of year. Crusty bread is, of course, mandatory for sopping up the broth.  For times when you are perhaps feeling mussel-like, a soothing, steaming, savory bowl of mussels in white wine will help you feel like you are soaring with the seagulls in no time, at least momentarily.

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SPICY MUSSELS IN WHITE WINE
Author: 
Recipe type: Seafood, Main Courses
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ medium onion, chopped
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 2¼"-thick slices of lemon
  • 2 pounds fresh mussels, scrubbed and debearded (discard any broken shells or that won't close)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ cup chopped seeded tomatoes
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, crushed red pepper, and salt, and saute until onion is golden, approximately 4-5 minutes. Add wine and lemon and bring to a boil over high heat. Add mussels and cook, covered, until mussels open, stirring once to rearrange mussels, approximately 6 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open. Using a slotted spoon, transfer mussels to individual serving bowls. Boil liquid remaining in pot until reduced to 1 cup, approximately 3 minutes. Season broth to taste with salt and pepper. Pour broth over mussels. Sprinkle with parsley and tomatoes, and serve hot.
  2. (Note: Have lots of crusty bread on hand to sop up the broth.)

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