Antibiotics in meat: What you need to know

Should I be concerned about antibiotics in the meat I serve my baby?

Well, most experts say it's unlikely that you or your baby will be harmed in the immediate future by the practice of giving antibiotics to livestock. But it is something that you should be concerned about because of its potential threat to public health.

Many farmers who raise cows, chickens, and other livestock use antibiotics to treat animals that are sick or at a high risk of becoming sick. In addition to using antibiotics for treatment, though, some critics believe that the industry relies too heavily on antibiotics to fatten livestock and to compensate for unsanitary and crowded conditions in industrial-size farms — despite guidelines for antibiotic use, which specify that they be used judiciously

How can people be affected by the antibiotics that farmers use for animals?

The main concern isn't that the antibiotics will be transferred to you or your baby, but that they will increase the antibiotic resistance of bacteria that we all contend with. Experts warn that there are already many strains of bacteria that no longer respond to antibiotics.

Just as a child's taking antibiotics unnecessarily contributes to increased resistance in some strains of bacteria, overusing antibiotics in agriculture is contributing to the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to common antibiotics. The more an antibiotic is used, the more the bacteria will become resistant to it.

Also, if too little antibiotic is used (as is often the case when antibiotics are used on healthy animals), it won't kill all the bacteria — and the survivors can grow and multiply into resistant strains.

Some of these bacteria can spread to humans when proper handling and cooking procedures aren't followed. Bacteria can be consumed in meat that hasn't been heated to the proper temperature before serving, for example. And campylobacter (a bacteria found in the intestines of chickens) can be spread by handling raw chicken and not washing up afterward.

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Millet and Lemon Chicken

Dinner in under 30 minutes? Check. Inexpensive? Check. Delicious? Check. A healthy grain? Check. Family friendly? Absolutely. All you need is a green vegetable and dinner is on the table. You know that show called "5 Ingredient Fix?" This dish beats it. Four basic ingredients: chicken, lemons, crème fraiche and millet. 

This recipe for Lemon Chicken has already made the blog rounds,  so please be patient with me. It's the idea of serving it over millet that intrigued me; I've heard of millet, but never tried it. I'm sold. It's brilliant. And here you thought it was bird seed. Well, actually it IS bird seed...but you're going to love it anyway. Better than couscous, I promise. You may know all about it, but if you don't or want to learn more, check here.

As far as this recipe is concerned, Lemon Chicken served on TOP of millet is on my favorite dinner hit list right now. Thank you Amanda Hesser for the fabulously simple and elegant Lemon Chicken recipe. Thank you Luisa for suggesting millet, albeit for an entirely different chicken recipe, but still.... I just combined Amanda Hesser's Lemon Chicken with Luisa's millet idea and came up with this. There's a lovely gravy and I should have put more on the chicken before I took the photo. Oh well. If you're one of the four people who hasn't made this chicken yet :)...you should, or make it again and serve it over millet, my dears.

Bench notes: When cooking millet, keep a couple things in mind: The flavor of millet is enhanced by lightly roasting the grains in a dry pan before cooking; stir constantly for approximately three minutes or until a mild, nutty aroma is detected and then add your cooking liquid. I used chicken stock. The grain has a fluffier texture when less water is used and is very moist and dense when cooked with extra water. I liked the fluffy version.


Amanda Hesser's Lemon Chicken 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole chicken legs (thighs attached)
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup crème fraiche

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. After 3 minutes, add the butter and oil. Season the chicken generously with salt and very generously with pepper. Place the chicken, skin side down, in the skillet and brown well on both sides, turning once. 

Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife. (Yes, I know 15 minutes doesn't sound like enough time, but if you browned it well, it's perfect. At least mine was. Use your instant-read thermometer. It should read 165. Check for clear juices just in case though.)

Return the skillet to the stovetop. Transfer the chicken to a platter and keep warm. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet. Place over medium heat, add the lemon juice, and stir to scrape up any pan drippings. Simmer for 1 minute, then add the crème fraiche and stir until melted and bubbling. If the sauce is too thick, add a few tablespoons of water. Pour the sauce over the chicken and sprinkle with lemon zest and additional pepper. Serve hot. 
Serves 4.


Spiced and Herbed Millet
From The New York Times, March 1, 2006

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
2½ cups millet
½ teaspoon ground cumin (omit for this particular recipe)
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
Juice of half a lemon
¼ cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. 

Method:
Place olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add millet and stir until glossy. Add cumin and broth and stir.
Raise heat and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer gently just until millet has absorbed all the broth, about 25 minutes.
Remove from heat and add lemon juice, parsley and extra virgin olive oil. Work them into the millet using a fork, fluffing mixture. Transfer to a warmed bowl and serve.
6 servings.

Cold Weather Dinner: Lamb Shanks in Red Wine

My family loves lamb. Lamb chops, rack of lamb, lamb kabobs, leg of lamb, lamb shanks and even lamb kidneys. (I must post my recipe for the kidneys soon...my kids used to love them over toast for breakfast.) And my herbed leg of lamb made it into our Junior League Cookbook, Savor the Moment.

But our favorite winter lamb dish has always been Lamb Shanks in Red Wine. I found the recipe years ago in one of the 1959 Gourmet cookbooks...there are two volumes. My mother gave them to me as a gift and I use recipes from each frequently, still. Sadly, Volume II doesn't seem to be available on Amazon any longer. I remember one of the volumes had the first recipe for quiche Lorraine I ever saw....and made. And their photo of croquembouche was so gorgeous that I made it immediately and haven't made one since. Have you noticed how few of the really old cookbooks have photos? We are so into photos and presentation these days.

Anyway, we had some really cold weather in Florida over the holidays (well, cold for us) so one night my kids asked me to make the lamb shank dish. I'd forgotten the marvelous fragrance while cooking and my mouth was watering by the time it was done. I added some fennel to the dish and left the carrots and celery in bigger chunks so I didn't have to make a separate veggie. Then served some noodles with it. It's a lovely rich and filling dish and the meat just falls off the bone. And be sure to use a good red wine...one that you would be happy drinking with your dinner. 

Lamb Shanks in Red Wine
Adapted From The Gourmet Cookbook

Ingredients:

6 lamb shanks
flour
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, split
2 Tablespoons warm brandy
3 cups red wine
3 cups water
1/2 cup diced carrots ( I cut the carrots in 3 inch pieces)
1 fennel bulb, quartered
1/2 cup diced celery  (I cut the celery in 3 inch chunks)
1 cup chopped onion
1 bay leaf
pinch thyme

Method:

Roll the shanks in flour and sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano. Melt the butter in the olive oil and brown the garlic along with the shanks in a large oven proof casserole. Remove from stove and add the warm brandy. Ignite. Be careful! When flame is out add the other ingredients and bake in a 350 oven for 2 hours. Correct seasonings. You can make a little gravy if you like....just mix flour and butter together and add to the sauce to thicken, then top off with a squeeze of lemon juice.

P.S. I have a guest post up over at Lazaro Cooks! Be sure to check it out.

Roast Beef Hash, Ornaments and a Christmas Meme!

I've been making this rather unusual hash for years. Any time we have leftover steak or roast beef, my family loves this dish. Simple to put together, comforting and you can use that tender beef in a casserole instead of sandwiches, or when everyone gets tired of sandwiches. We love the red wine in it and while it bakes, it gets a little crunchy on top. Give it a good stir and all that lovely gravy in the bottom will coat everything.

Haven't a clue where this recipe came from....could have been a friend or even in a magazine back in the 70's. If anyone knows, let me know. I wish I had been more thorough when I entered this kind of recipe in my MasterCook program years ago.

Roast Beef Hash

Ingredients:
4 cups diced roast beef
1/2 cup red wine
4 cups diced, cooked potatoes
4 tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons chopped onions
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon savory
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
Paprika

Method:
Mix onion and garlic with herbs and saute in butter.  Add potatoes and brown slighty. Add all other ingredients and pour into casserole. Bake 350 for 30 minutes.
 

Thought it might be fun to show you my newest ornaments and some decorations. I never can resist.....I am such a sucker for ornaments!

And lastly, earlier this week I came across a Christmas meme that Maggie at Normandy Life had joined.  I thought it would be fun to join in. My answers are in red.

1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
Apple cider
2. Turkey or Ham?
Turkey
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
Real
4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
Yes
5. Snowball fights or sleddin’?
No snow in Florida, but in  the old Michigan days, sledding
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
Not much
7. Favorite Christmas song?
Baby It's Cold Outside; the Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart version
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
Love the old classics
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
Before December 1st
10. Stockings before or after presents?
Before
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
They come here
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
Christmas Eve
13. What do you do after presents and dinner?
We have presents, brunch and then eat dinner at 6 PM
14. What is your favorite holiday smell?
Pine from fresh trees and wreaths
15. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
Ice skating (if we had ice)
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
Christmas morning
17. Favorite Christmas memory?
I remember that my parents put the tree up, decorated it AND put the presents out all AFTER we went to bed Christmas Eve. Just think about all that work! They probably never went to bed.
18. Favorite Part about winter?
Sitting around a fire in the fireplace....while the snow is blowing outside.
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?
Absolutely!
 
 

 
 
Want to play along? Simply cut and paste the questions below.


1. Hot Chocolate or apple cider?
2. Turkey or Ham?
3. Do you get a fake or real-you-cut-it-yourself Christmas tree?
4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
5. Snowball fights or sleddin’?
6. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
7. Favorite Christmas song?
8. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
9. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
10. Stockings before or after presents?
11. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
12. Do you read the Christmas Story? If so when?
13. What do you do after presents and dinner?
14. What is your favorite holiday smell?
15. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
16. Do you open a present or presents on Christmas Eve, or wait until Christmas day?
17. Favorite Christmas memory?
18. Favorite Part about winter?
19. Ever been kissed under mistletoe?

Standing Rib Roast with Morel Sauce

My FIL loved roast beef. (When the kids were little, they used to tease him: "What are we having for dinner, Buck?" And he'd say: "Roast Barf." *screams and laughter all around* )

My father was no slouch in the roast beef department either. Mother served it every Christmas Eve and one of his favorite restaurants, Dante's in Ft. Lauderdale (now defunct), served it as a special every Saturday night. You can imagine where the two of them (and sometimes the rest of us) had dinner every single Saturday, can't you?

Now it's never been something I made regularly. But when I made it for Dad, I made that old never-fail recipe from the Make It Now, Bake It Later cookbooks, where it sat in an oven for hours after a bit of high heat. And now that both those lovely men are gone, I haven't made it once. I'm going to rectify that right now. Vegetarians, you may want to shut your eyes, say hello and pass on by my blog today. Because there's a big slab of rare BEEF coming up.

This is yet another recipe I found in Fine Cooking magazine. A salt/herb encrusted roast. I'd never done it before. Sound complicated? It wasn't and the results were as tender as can be. My only suggestion: I wish I had browned it a little more before I put the salted dough on. So if you decide to try this, sear your roast nicely on all three sides. And once you take the crust off (yes, it actually comes off in one piece) wipe some of the salt off the roast.

As for this divine sauce, I know morels are really expensive, so use any wild mushrooms you have available; it's a lovely accompaniment for the beef. I happened to have some dried morels in the pantry so I used them. I used to make a horseradish sauce with roast beef, but this mushroom sauce beats it hands down. And if you have any leftover, make an omelet with it. Oh My. So good. 

Herb and Salt-crusted Standing Rib Roast with Morel Sauce
From Fine Cooking Magazine,  Make-ahead Holidays

 

Ingredients:
2 cups kosher or sea salt
1 large egg white
3 T. freshly ground black pepper
3 T. chopped fresh thyme, stems included
2 T. chopped juniper berries
2 T. chopped garlic
1 T. chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
2 to 3 cups flour plus more for rolling
1 standing beef rib roast, about 7 lbs., or 3 ribs, cut from loin end, chine bone and fat cap removed
1 T. vegetable oil
Morel sauce, go HERE 

Method:
In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix 1 cup water with the salt, egg white, pepper, thyme, juniper, garlic and parsley. Mix on medium speed until blended. On medium low speed, mix in 2 cups of the flour, adding more as needed, until dough is firm and feels slightly dry and stiff, like Play Doh. Continue to mix for 2 minutes. The dough should be smooth and firm but not sticky. Add more flour if needed. Flatten dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.

An hour before you’re ready to roast, put beef on counter and let sit at room temperature.

Position rack in center of oven and heat oven to 350.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Pour in oil and put the roast, meat side down, in skillet; sear until deeply browned, about 5 minutes. Remove roast from pan and set it, bone side down on rack in roasting pan.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Drape the dough over meat, tucking in on all sides.

Roast until an instant read thermometer in middle of roast registers 125 for rare or 135 for medium rare, 1 and 3/4 to 2 and 1/4 hours. Let rest for 20 minutes, then remove and discard crust. 

After removing crust, roast can rest for up to another 30 minutes. Carve and serve with Morel Sauce.

Bill Blass's Meatloaf

I've had this recipe for decades! It's so old probably many of you haven't even heard of it. (But I DO hope everyone knows about designer extraordinaire Bill Blass.) And yes, it really is Bill Blass's recipe! Everywhere we went for dinner in the 70's people were serving it. After all, if Bill Blass served it at HIS dinner parties, why not us?

It was even on the menu at Mortimer's in NYC, owner Glenn Bernbaum's public outpost for the rich and famous that closed in 1998.

"Virtually from the day Mortimer's opened its doors in 1976, the restaurant has been ubiquitous in the social columns, attracting an eclectic crowd ranging from Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger to Mick Jagger and Boy George to Jackie O., Fergie, and Brooke Astor, and even Cal Ripken Jr. Oh, and the parties -- using set designers, Bernbaum could transform his humble saloon, re-creating the Paris Opéra, the Plaza's Palm Court in 1907, or an overgrown wild jungle in the fairly mundane shell of the restaurant."

And when Mortimer's segued into Swifty's, the meatloaf went along; they still serve it, surrounded by mashed potatoes and gravy. Here's their menu:

Have you ever been to Swifty's in NYC? I LOVE going there for lunch. Very European in ambiance. It's small (only 60 covers) and so very intimate and cozy on a cold winter's day. Oh...and the food is dee-vine.

Do you know where the name came from? Swifty was the name of Mortimer owner Bernbaum's dog...and the dog was named after Irving "Swifty" Lazar, the Hollywood deal maker.

Sorry, I DO tend to get sidetracked.
Bill Blass's meatloaf is the subject of this post!
Do you think meatloaf is not grand enough to serve to company? Blass disagreed. He served it often to his guests.

"The man who once wrote that blue jeans were 'the most significant contribution America has made to fashion' had no such pretensions about serving meatloaf. Although the provenance of his recipe is unclear, friends suspect he brought it from hometown Fort Wayne, Ind. He felt that simplicity was real elegance."

In Bare Blass, which was finished just weeks before his death in 2002 and published soon after, he said that, after all, this recipe may be the way people most remember him.

And this recipe is the real McCoy, my dears. I always made it free form in a baking dish...which is what the original recipe suggested, although you certainly could make it in a loaf pan if you are a perfectionist.

BTW: Rumor had it that his banana cream pie was divine, but I've never seen a recipe for it.

Bill Blass's Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 pounds ground sirloin
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 12-ounce bottle Heinz Chili Sauce
4-5 strips uncooked bacon

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, beat egg, stir in Worcestershire sauce and reserve.
In a large pan over low heat, melt butter and sauté celery and onions, stirring occasionally, until onions become translucent.
In a large bowl, combine onion-celery mixture with sirloin, pork, veal, parsley, bread crumbs, beaten egg mixture, salt and pepper, thyme, and marjoram.

On a baking sheet, form mixture into an oval loaf shape. Top with chili sauce and bacon strips.
 
Bake 75 minutes.

Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6-8.

I served it with roasted sweet potatoes the first night (because I had some left over):

and then, last night, the way meatloaf should be served...with mashed potatoes, peas and yes, gravy on the side.

Here's kind of an interesting article about Mortimer's and Glenn Bernbaum:
http://nymag.com/nymetro/food/industry/features/3157/

Mother's Beef Tongue

There's an old joke: 
A guy went into a restaurant and asked 'What's the special of the day?'
'Beef tongue,' the waiter replied.
'Ugh!', the guy said, 'That's disgusting!  I won't eat anything that comes out of a cow's mouth.  Fry me up a couple of eggs!'

Believe me, I understand it's rather daunting if you've never cooked beef tongue or seen one being made. It's certainly not the most enticing thing before cooking. Or even after cooking. But when it's done, sliced and served? Fantastic. So tender you don't need a knife. 
Keep this in mind: it's only another cut of beef like beef ribs, shank, loin or brisket. My mother made it for us all the time.....we were served a lot of unusual things. She and her mother really knew what they were doing in the kitchen! They were wonderful, innovative, fearless cooks. I made it for my children as well; they loved beef tongue. But I'm willing to bet not one of them has made it since they left home. They have the recipe too. This post will tweak their memories and they'll remember how good it was, how frugal this cut of meat is and what fabulous sandwiches it makes for leftovers.

The tongue muscle is quite lean and tough and requires a long braising or boiling. Then, things change. The tip of the tongue is made up of long muscle strand like brisket, only it's softer and more tender than any brisket ever could be.  The back of the tongue is denser and more solid, but still has a melt-in-your-mouth texture that is difficult to describe.

And there are so many ways to serve it. I am showcasing how my mother made it; sliced and served with a sauce...in her case, usually some homemade chili sauce, but in my case, a lovely mustard horseradish sauce I found online. Just about every cuisine in the world serves tongue, but I have tasted only a few: the British love it sliced thinly in a tea sandwich (I saw The Two Fat Ladies-do you remember that show?-- layer it with chicken salad in one episode!); in France they serve it with mushrooms and a Madeira sauce; in Mexico, they call it lengua and shred it for tacos and burritos (However, you have to cook it longer than my recipe, but it's so much better than ground beef.); I've had it fried and I've even had it pickled.

So brace yourselves everyone. I'm going to show you the entire process from beginning to glorious end.  I don't have any problems finding beef tongue in South Florida, but you may have to ask your butcher to order one for you. The tongue will probably be bigger than you expect, it's likely to weigh more than 2 pounds and mine came rolled up. It's a rather fatty piece of meat and is covered in a thin layer of skin; the fat cooks off and the skin easily slides off with the help of a knife after the meat has cooked.

Do you trust me? Then give this a chance....Mother knew best.

Beef Tongue

Ingredients:
1 whole beef tongue
1 lg. onion, quartered
2 carrots cut in half
2 stalks celery halved
1 bay leaf
6 whole allspice
10 whole black peppercorn
1 teaspoon salt
a few fresh herbs you might have handy

Method:
Scrub tongue well.

Put in large pot and cover with water. Add all other ingredients and cover and bring to a boil. Boil on lowered heat for 2- 2 1/2 hours. Remove from pot.....

and peel the outer layer of skin away.  It comes off easily. I also trim any unwanted fat at this point as well.

Slice and serve hot with chili sauce, a homemade tomato sauce or my horseradish sauce. You can find the recipe HERE.  

Figs, Pigs and Fat Cats

My daughter went back to New York City yesterday. It will be lonely around here without her as she is my best friend but she has her own life to lead…. including the fall re-opening of her gallery next week. This first show brings with it hopes for a better year in the contemporary art world. I’m crossing my fingers.

And with her went Prince, her chubby cat, who was visiting for a while. I am not terribly sorry to see HIM go as not only did we have to clear all side tables (and a mantel) of bric a brac (which he was way too curious about considering he is male) but he also had the nerve to bite me twice, the little stinker. And drew blood.

Prince, who either was preventing my daughter from packing because he wanted to stay or planted himself in the suitcase because he wanted to leave; your choice.

Well scars aside, my daughter and I made lots of new recipes during her visit; she’s an excellent cook considering she has so little time to spend in the kitchen. Because she is not much of a dessert-eater her choices tend to be veggies, fish or chicken. She came to me one day with a Gourmet magazine open to a page featuring a Cornish game hen dish with figs and bacon. As far as I was concerned, those ingredients sounded delish…and luckily I had the figs, some bacon was in the freezer so we were left to purchase game hens and some fresh thyme.

I didn’t see how we could go wrong and I was right. It was fabulous. Although next time I would add more figs as I could have eaten many more- can anything be quite as good as a roasted, caramelized fig? And it was just as good the next night. By the way, don’t you love Gourmet’s name for the recipe?

Figgy, Piggy Cornish Hens
(Adapted from Gourmet Magazine, September 2009)

Ingredients:

½ pound bacon, halved
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise
4 Cornish hens, about 1 ½ pounds, halved lengthwise (ours were a little bigger)
12 fresh sprigs of thyme
12 fresh black figs, halved or quartered if large
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 500°. Place rack in upper third of your oven.
Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crisp and then drain on paper towels. Add garlic to the pan and cook until golden. Transfer garlic to the paper towels.
Dry the hens and season with salt and pepper. Reheat the fat in the skillet until it starts to smoke and then add the hens, skin side down. Cook about 6 minutes. Transfer hens to a 4-sided baking sheet, skin side up. Reserve the skillet.
Scatter the thyme and figs all over and around the hens. Bake until done, about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, deglaze the pan with the lemon juice, scraping up the brown bits, for about 30 seconds.
Remove the hens to a serving platter, pour the lemon juice gravy over the hens and then scatter the bacon and garlic on top.

Short Ribs

Brrrrrr. It’s cold. And as a result, I’ve been thinking about making short ribs for dinner tomorrow night. That should warm things up. Rarely have I felt the urge to make a stew-type dish since I moved to Florida, but this is the perfect time to do it. We’re supposed to have really cold weather (well, for us) for several days.

My mother used to make short ribs all the time but never wrote the recipe down, nor did I ask her for it- odd, because I love all her other recipes and still make them often. So I called my sister to see if she had ever written it down; she said no- besides, it turns out she has her own recipe- sweet and sour- which does not tempt me at all.

So I searched my cookbooks, talked to friends, went online and narrowed it down to a few recipes. Have you noticed short ribs are on menus everywhere? Maybe that's where I got the idea. I found them in the glossy food magazines and they’re in just about every cookbook I looked at- even my newest ones. Now that I think about it, my son ordered them a couple weeks ago when we were out for dinner. They seem to have transcended the seasons- they're not just for cold weather any more.

At the end of the day yesterday I was mulling over my pile of short rib recipes, watching the Barefoot Contessa with half an eye when she announced she was making short ribs for 2 friends. Do you believe it? One of my favorite chefs making a dish I was just about to try myself. They looked really good, too. So I printed out the recipe and this morning I went out and bought all the ingredients.

Ina Garten (who is the Barefoot Contessa) baked the short ribs in a hot oven to caramelize them but all the other recipes I found browned them in a pan. I am going to try her way which looks to be easier and much less messy. Another recipe in my pile suggested making them one day, refrigerating them overnight, removing the fat that has solidified on top and reheating them, saying they are better the next day anyway. Which I can easily believe, because most stews are like that. ( I plan to freeze any leftovers tonight.) To avert the too-much-grease problem, Ina suggested trimming the fat off the short ribs before caramelizing them in the oven, then she skimmed the excess fat from the top of the dish at one point.

When they came out of her oven, I could almost smell them they looked so good. I think they would be super with mashed potatoes but Ina, clever girl, served them with a cheesy corn bread that I would have made if company were coming. But this experiment is just for me (and you) and I sure don’t need cornbread! I’d end up eating it all myself. If you want to try it, go online and download her cornbread recipe- it’s called Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread; however for this particular short rib dinner, she left out the jalapeno and the scallion. One thing the cornbread would do is add some color to your plate. I would be a little fussier about my presentation if I had company coming, so forgive me.

P.S. Did I forget to mention how they turned out? Fragrant, tender and full of flavor.

Short Ribs

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style

Ingredients:

6 beef short ribs, trimmed of fat

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup good olive oil

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

4 cups celery, large dice

2 carrots, peeled and large-diced

1 small fennel, trimmed, core removed, large-diced

1 leek, cleaned well and large-diced, white part only

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (750 ml) bottle burgundy (which I used) or other dry red wine

Fresh rosemary sprigs

Fresh thyme sprigs

6 cups beef stock

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400°.

Place the short ribs in a pan lined with foil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes. Remove and reset oven to 300°.

Heat the olive oil in a large oven proof pot and add the onion, celery, carrots, fennel and leek and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring once in a while. Add the minced garlic and cook for another couple minutes. Pour the wine over the vegetables and bringing to a boil, cook them until the liquid is reduced by half- about 10 minutes, although it was a little less when I did it. Add 1 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Tie the rosemary and thyme together and put it in the pot.

Take the roasted short ribs, place them on top of the vegetables. add the beef stock and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Cover and bake in the oven for 2-3 hours or until the meat is very tender. (It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes.)

Remove the ribs (be careful, they will easily fall apart) and put them on a plate. Remove the herbs and skim any excess fat from the top. Cook over medium heat about 20 more minutes to reduce the liquid. Put the ribs back in and reheat.

Serve with cornbread or the old fashioned way, with potatoes.

Serves 3.