Braised Short Ribs

Serving Suggestion: Braised Short Ribs with Sweet Potato Puree, and Sauteed Vegetables

This is one of my favorite dishes to prepare in the wintertime. There is something so comforting about a pot of braised short ribs. Proper braising transforms tough, fatty meat into tender, succulent elegance. Make this recipe on a cold, snowy night and your family will think you are a kitchen hero!

Braised Short Ribs
Serves 6

• 6 beef short ribs, tied with kitchen twine
• 2 medium Spanish onions, roughly chopped
• 2 large carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 12 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 whole cloves
• 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup port
• 1 bottle cabernet sauvignon or Bordeaux
• kosher salt and pepper to taste
• 4 to 6 cups veal or beef stock

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Season to ribs with salt and pepper. Heat the butter or oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high flame until hot. Working in batches, brown the short ribs well on all sides. This will take some time, probably 5 to 10 minutes per side. The time invested in the browning will pay off in the end. The better the browning, the better the final product. Once brown, remove the ribs and set aside.

Pour off the fat, lower the heat to medium, and add the vegetables and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for for 3 minutes more. Add the flour, and stir to combine. Add the wines, herbs, and cloves. Increase heat to high, and reduce the liquid by half, stirring from time to time. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the ribs to the pot and enough stock to cover the ribs by 1 inch. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring pot to a gentle simmer, cover, and place in preheated oven. Gently cook the ribs for about 3 hours. After 3 hours, test for doneness by piercing the meat with a small knife. It should be very soft, "like butta", and practically falling off the bone. If the ribs are not quite tender, cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Once done, transfer the ribs to a large platter and remove the strings. Skim fat from the surface of the sauce, and strain into a medium saucepan. Discard the vegetables, they have given everything that they had to the sauce. Reduce the sauce over medium-low heat by about half. This should take 30 to 45 minutes.

Return ribs to the pot, simmer for about 10 minutes, and serve.

Poached Fig, Rapberry, and Quince Galette

Sorry that I have been away for a while. The month of December begins my busiest season of the year. The family that I work for does Christmas in a big way, and there are many things to prepare for weeks in advance. Also, I do some parties on the side for a little extra holiday cash!

I must also admit that I have had a touch of writer's block. There are many things that I want to write about, and I think that they all got backed up in my head. So I think that I am finally over the hump, and shall begin to share more recipes with you.

This recipe is for another original, my Poached Fig, Raspberry, and Quince Galette. It was inspired by my fascination with the cooking of Southwestern France. This galette is both rustic in appearance, and sophisticated in flavor. The poached figs, raspberries, and quince preserves marry beautifully, all being nestled in an almond frangipane. This galette is great by itself, or topped with a dollop of armagnac scented whipped cream.


Poached Fig, Raspberry, and Quince Galette
Serves 8 to 10

• Flaky pie dough, chilled
• 1/2 cup frangipane
• 1/2 cup quince jam
• 8 poached figs, quartered
• 1 1/2 cups IQF raspberries
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup sanding sugar

Move oven rack to the center position. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll pie dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to an 11 inch circle. Remove top layer of paper and gently press an 8 inch cake pan into the center of the dough. This will help you to center the filling. Spread frangipane on dough within the demarcated circle. Spread quince jam over the frangipane, gently swirling the two together. Arrange fig quarters over the jam, cut sides up. Finally, evenly arrange the IQF raspberries amongst the figs.

Gently fold marginal dough towards the center of the galette, overlapping the dough as you go around the galette (see picture). Brush the outside of the dough with the beaten egg, being careful not to get egg in the filling, or filling onto the brush. Finally, sprinkle sanding sugar over the whole galette, being sure that crust is generously covered.

Slide the galette with the parchment paper onto a flat baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly in the center. Remove from the oven and slide the galette, using the parchment paper, onto a cooling rack. Cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Back To Basics: Frangipane Cream

Frangipane is that wonderful almond flavored cream that is the base for many fruit tarts. It is also used as a filling in breads, croissants, and the classic Gateau Pithivier. It has a rich bitter almond scent that brings Old World charm to any pastry.

The face of frangipane has changed a bit since Escoffier codified the ancient recipe in his magnum opus, The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery. In Escoffier's time, the rich pastry filling was made using crushed (almond) macaroon crumbs. Today, ground almonds or almond flour are more generally used in the recipe, since most of us don't have access to macaroon crumbs. The modern recipe is very good, but it lacks the sophistication of the original. Also, the original recipe clearly demonstrates the number one rule of the French Kitchen, WASTE NOTHING! If you have broken, not so nice, (or fresh) macaroons that you can't sell anymore, grind them up and turn them into something else!

Below I give two recipes for frangipane cream, a modern recipe and the classic recipe as it appears in Escoffier. Try them both if you feel like comparing them for yourself. If you do not feel like baking your own macaroons just to grind them up, you can probably find a bakery that will sell you old, broken cookies cheaply. Older cookies are easier to grind, anyway.

Creme Frangipane (Modern)

• 4 ounces almond flour*
• 4 ounces granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon almond extract

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, and mix until smooth and fluffy. Add almond flour, flour, and almond extract, and mix until well blended. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

* If you can't find almond flour, grind 4 ounces of blanched almonds with the flour in a food processor until fine, but not pasty.

Creme Frangipane (Escoffier)

• 9 ounces granulated sugar
• 9 ounces all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs
• 8 large egg yolks
• 6 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod
• small pinch of salt
• 2 ounces crushed macaroons
• 3 1/2 ounces unsalted butter

Bring milk to a boil and infuse with the vanilla pod. Place sugar, flour, eggs, yolks, and salt in a pan and mix together with a wooden spoon. Pour in the milk slowly, mixing well. Place on the stove and bring to a boil stirring all the time; allow to boil for 2 minutes then pour into a bowl. Add and mix in the butter and macaroons. Cover the surface with butter or plastic to prevent a skin from forming.

As you can see, this is a large recipe, so cut it in half if you want to. I just wanted to present it as it was written by the master. Happy Baking!

Back to Basics: Flaky Pie Dough

This is the basic pie dough recipe that I use for my pies and galettes. It is a very versatile dough that works well with both sweet and savory preparations. This recipe makes enough dough for 4 single-crust pies or galettes, or 2 double-crust pies. I usually try to have this dough in my freezer so that pie making is quick and easy.

Flaky Pie Dough

• 51/2 cups pastry flour
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 9 ounces non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup ice-cold water

Place the flour and sea salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Turn on lowest setting, just to blend. Add butter and mix until well incorporated, the mixture should look like large grains of couscous. Add the shortening, and mix just well enough to blend, but you should still see large pieces of shortening. This will give you a flaky crust. Finally, add the water all at once and mix just until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and wrap in plastic, flatten into a disk, and chill for at least 1 hour before using. Unused dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days, or frozen for 1 month.