Red Wine Short Ribs

From Dish Gwen:

Can two wrongs make a right? I think so. Crappy red wine + a cheap, undesirable cut of meat can equal an amazing meal if put a little elbow grease into it. This recipe takes a few hours but it’s well worth the time. It’s a dish you can dress up for a fancy occasion or serve to the masses during the Super Bowl. Make it for your family on Sunday or for a big party and either way you’ll have folks licking their fingers and gnawing at the bones to get every last scrap of meat.

Ingredients:
– 2 lbs short ribs (one lb per person)
– 1 tbs garlic, minced
– 1 tbs salt
– 1 tbs olive oil
– ½ to a whole bottle of cheap or old red wine
– water
– 2 tbs brown sugar
– 1 tsp cardamom
– 1 tsp red pepper flake

Directions:
Saute the garlic and olive oil in a large pot (2-3 quarts) on medium/high heat. Once the garlic begins to brown, add the ribs and brown them on all sides. Add the salt, and toss the ribs and garlic for a couple of minutes to build up the amount of brown crispy caramelized goodness in the pot.

Pour in the wine so that the meat is completely covered with liquid (if there isn’t enough wine to cover the meat that’s fine – just add water until the meat is swimming). Bring the liquid to a boil then cover the pot and turn the heat down to low so that it continues to simmer but doesn’t boil over. Allow the brew to simmer like this for an hour and a half to two hours.

Using tongs, pull the ribs out of the pot and place them in a shallow dish in the oven at 250 degrees. This will dry them out and continue to cook and tenderize them. Leave the pot uncovered and continue simmering the wine mixture on the stove, and leave in any bones that come loose from the ribs. Bake the ribs for an hour, and while they bake, cook down the liquid on the stove top to make a thick barbecue sauce. Add the brown sugar, cardamom and red pepper, and stir the mixture with a whisk. Taste the sauce to make sure it’s salty enough (and if it’s not, add salt!).

Take out the ribs every 20 minutes or so to turn them with tongs and brush on the sauce. If you don’t have a food brush you can just spoon on the sauce. After an hour has passed, remove the ribs from the oven and brush them with sauce one last time.

Serve the ribs with greens and a grain, mashed potatoes, or just with some beers, chips and football. I served mine over a bed of couscous and arugula and it was magnificent.

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Miss Yewande’s Sweet Potato Casserole

From Dish Danielle:

I had the pleasure of being served this dish a few weeks back.

‘Ohmygoodness this is amazing. I NEED to make this…tell me how!’ I exclaimed to Yewande moments after I took my first bite. Although Yewande isn’t a contributor to this site, she is one Saucy. Little. Dish. She works for Saveur and Bon Appetit in recipe R&D, so it’s no wonder that her casserole was met with rave reviews.

Here is my rendition of Miss Yewande Komolafe’s recipe, told to me as I stood in the kitchen, gobbling up her delicious dish. She made hers in a round cast iron skillet, which I also recommend using if you have one.

Ingredients:
5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin (be brave and use a mandolin if you can)
2c heavy cream
1c whole milk
6oz grated gruyere
3-4 garlic cloves
1 bunch thyme, pruned
1-2 tsp grated nutmeg
S&P
6 oz grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish. Start by placing a layer of potato slices on the bottom of your dish.

In a small saucepan, place the cream, milk, most of the gruyere (reserve 1/3c for later), and most of the thyme (save 1-2 tbsp for later), over low heat. Whisk periodically to mix cheese & milk thoroughly. Using a micro-plane, grate the garlic into the liquid. Season with S&P. Taste. Adjust until you get the seasoning just right.

Once liquid is ready, pour a bit atop the potatoes in the dish. Sprinkle a layer of parm as well. Then arrange another layer of potatoes atop that and repeat until you’ve filled the dish. I recommend adding liquid in small increments until it reaches about halfway up the pan, even if that means not pouring liquid over the last layer or two of potatoes. Too much liquid results in a soggy casserole, which is exactly what I got the first time I cooked this. Once you’ve filled the dish, finish with the remaining parm, gruyere, and thyme and bake for 45min-1hr, or until the top layer has browned a bit. Let it rest for a good 20 minutes before serving to make sure it sets properly.



I served this on Thanksgiving day as one of my contributions to a wonderful Turkey Day potluck.

Archie & Emily of Neighbor Supperclub hosted us, and our entire meal was outstanding!

So much to be thankful for this year. Reflect, eat, enjoy, repeat. I hope you all had a lovely holiday.

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Braised Beef Tamales

From Dish Paige!:

One of the great things about living in my neighborhood is that if you want to make anything with a South or Central American flair, the ingredients are usually no further away than the nearest bodega. This weekend, I decided to take a lazy Sunday and turn it into Cooking Sunday!!!!

Ingredients

For the braised beef:
1 lb beef short ribs cut flanken-style
1 big hunk of beef chuck
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
tons of fresh ground black pepper
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 carton beef stock (or your own if you have)
olive oil

For the tamales
12 corn husks
1 1/2 cups masa harina aka “instant masa”
1 cup water
3/4 cup olive oil
salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour some olive oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven and heat over medium-high on the stove. Add in the short ribs, and sear on both sides until brown then remove and set aside. Combine the paprika, cumin, coriander, cayenne, flour, salt and pepper and dredge the big hunk of beef in it (be sure to wash and then dry the meat before dredging it in the flour).

Add to the Dutch oven and again sear on all sides until brown and remove. Add in the onions, carrots and garlic to the pot and stir, cooking until the onions are soft. Add in the can of tomatoes and the beef stock and then add back in all of your meat. Put the cover on, and place in the oven and cook for about 3 hours or until the meat is able to be pulled apart with a fork.

Right after you put the beef in the oven, put the corn husks in a bowl and cover with warm water and let sit for the 3 or so hours the beef is braising – you might want to put a plate on top of them so they stay submerged.

Eat a snack. Watch a movie. Tackle a small organization project. Crochet a scarf for your pet. Anything that will take your mind off of the amazing smell that will begin to waft out of your kitchen.

After about 3 hours, take the beef out of the oven. Remove the short ribs and the beef chuck and pull the meat apart with 2 forks. Before I put the meat back into the sauce, I whirred the sauce with my immersion blender because I’ll take any excuse to use it, but I don’t think that part is necessarily necessary. Anyway, put the meat back into the sauce and simmer on low heat.

Next you’re going to get ready to assemble the tamales. Combine the masa, water, olive oil and a bit of salt and mix with your hands until it forms a dough. Take 1 corn husk out of the water and pat dry on paper towels. tear off a thin strip on one side and reserve – you will use this to tie up the tamale when you’re done stuffing it. Place about 2 tablespoons of the masa mixture in the center of the corn husk…

and then put a nice big heaping teaspoon of the braised beef/sauce on top.

Fold the sides of the corn husk over each other so they overlap a little bit. Then take both ends and fold them up on top of each other, and tie with the piece you tore off in the beginning.

Repeat! Repeat!

Place the tamales in whatever contraption you use to steam things on the stove top, and steam them for about 45 minutes.

Open a cerveza, eat the tamales and enjoy!

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