Ancho Chocolate Short Ribs with Chile Rellenos
November 15, 2009
Ancho Chocolate Short Ribs
I made this for dinner last night. Quite labour intensive, but delicious!
1. First, put 5lbs of short ribs, 1 tablespoon of peppercorns, 1 tablespoon of salt, 1 bay leaf, 10 smashed garlic cloves, and 1 of the quartered onions into a large pot. Cover with water, and simmer for 2 hours.
2. Put 2 tomatoes and 1 quartered onion on a sheet pan, and drizzle with olive oil. Chop the top off a head of garlic, wrap it in tinfoil, and toss it on the sheet pan. Put it in the oven for 1 hour at 400 F.
3. Seed and de-stem 15 dried ancho chiles. Tear the chiles into pieces. Wear gloves. Seriously.
4. Once the tomatoes, onion and garlic done, toss the tomatoes, onion and garlic in the blender (squeeze the head of garlic, and all the goop will come out). Puree. You may need to add a splash of water to make it come together. Also, don’t bother to clean the blender after this step. You’ll use it again for the same sauce.
5. When the meat is done, remove it from the pot and put aside. Strain the cooking liquid and discard the rest of the stuff from the pot.
6. Add 3 cups of the cooking liquid to the chiles and let sit for 15 minutes.
7. Put the mixture in the blender and puree.
8. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large pot on medium heat. Add the chile puree and stir until heated through. Add the tomato puree and 3 cups of the cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer, then put the meat back to the pot. Simmer on low-medium heat for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender.
9. Add one 110 gram bar of Mexican chocolate, finely chopped, to the sauce at the very end. Stir until melted. Voila!
I served it with sweet potato mash. No recipe. Just boil chopped sweet potato until soft, mash, add butter, salt, pepper and milk to taste.
Chile Rellenos
Tyler Florence makes it look so easy. It was not.
1. Broil 6 poblano peppers in the oven (or roast over an open flame) until blistered.
2. Put peppers in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap for a couple of minutes. Rub the skins off very gently.
3. Make one long slit down the length of the peppers. Open up the peppers very carefully to de-seed and remove the ribs. This is really hard, so do it slowly. I even made extra peppers because I assumed that I would mess this up.
4. Fill the peppers with crumbled queso fresco. Stick a toothpick through the peppers to close the seam.
5. Dredge the peppers in flour.
6. Beat 6 egg whites until stiff peaks form, then dip the peppers into the mixture.
7. Heat a pan with 1/4 inch of oil at the bottom on medium/high heat (depending on your stove – mine is really hot). Fry the peppers until golden, then put on paper towels.
8. Put the peppers in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes to heat the cheese through.
Voila!
Tomato Sauce From Scratch
November 14, 2009
Mouth watering spaghetti
A good meat based tomato sauce is the staple of dozens of recipes. Until recently, I made my sauce from a mixture of crushed tomatoes and canned spaghetti sauce until I was introduced to this recipe. It’s relatively simple and the end product is awesomely tasty.
Yields ~8 cups.
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 3-5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 1 cup fresh basil, diced
- 1 cup red wine
- 2x 28 oz can of whole tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes, or chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 lb ground beef
Tomatoes
I suppose if you want to consider this a truly “from scratch” recipe, then you should start with some good fresh tomatoes. Blanch them in boiling water until the skins are loose and wrinkled. Throw them into cold water to cool. Remove the skins and dice. I have yet to try this so your millage may vary.
If you use canned tomatoes, splurge and buy the good stuff! Trust me, it makes all the difference in the world. The tomatoes I use I get from a local butcher, imported from Italy; “Solania – San Marzano” tomatoes. At $4 CAD per can, they aren’t cheap but well worth it.
The amount of sugar needed is relative to the acidity of your tomatoes. Better quality tomatoes will require less sugar. I like to start with 2 tbsp of sugar mixed with the spices and add more later if needed.
Preparation
- Crush fennel seeds, chili, and oregano into a powder in a mortal and pestle. Then add the sugar and grind until combined (spices courtesy of another drunkard).
- In a large pot sauté onions in the olive oil over low heat, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
- Add garlic and basil and re-cover for ~5 minutes.
- Add the wine and reduce by about half (uncovered).
- Add tomatoes, spices, and a teaspoon or two of salt.
- Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Turn down the heat to a low simmer. Periodically check the flavour. If it’s too sour, add more sugar.
- Continue cooking until the desired consistency is reached. The further you reduce the sauce, the more intensified the flavours become.
Just before the sauce is ready, fry the ground beef and add it to the sauce. I like to finely chop one shallot and 1-2 cloves of garlic and throw them into the frying pan before adding the beef. Give the beef a good mashing with side of a wooden spoon while frying to ensure there are no large chunks sticking together.
Tip: You know all that liquid you usually dump down the drain after frying beef? Well, if you buy good quality meet don’t drain it! Dump the whole lot into the sauce… that’s tasty stuff in there. Just don’t tell anyone you did that.
About leftover risotto
November 8, 2009
May I suggest stuffing leftover risotto in a hollowed-out tomato, topping it with a mixture of bread-crumbs and herbs, then baking in the oven for 30 minutes? No?
How about I suggest forming the risotto into balls, rolling in egg-wash, dredging in bread crumbs then frying until golden brown? No again? Well forget you. You can just throw your leftover risotto in the garbage then.
Risotto with squash and truffles, and Robiolo Fonduta
November 4, 2009
I saw this recipe in the Globe and Mail a couple of weeks ago, and the author was Massimo Capra from one of my favourite fancy restaurants, Mistura. Naturally, I had to try it, but first, I needed to make some stock as I had recently run out. Lucky for me, I had a turkey carcass leftover from the turkey we smoked over the summer. Check out this bad boy!
Homemade Smoked Turkey Broth
1 Turkey carcass, cut up in chunks
1 Onion, skin left on, quartered
2 Carrots and 2 ribs of Celery, cut up in chunks
Pour a little olive oil in a big pot (or two, if you, like me, don’t have a stock pot), and sweat the veggies for a couple of minutes. Add the turkey pieces, and brown a little. Toss in a splash of white wine, and let it evaporate. Then cover with water and simmer until your whole house and wardrobe smells like soup.
Risotto
Method
Sweat the onion in the oil until golden, using a heavy-bottom pot, add the squash and cook for a minute, add the rice and let toast a few minutes, then add the wine, let evaporate well and add enough stock to cover the rice by an inch.
Simmer gently, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add more stock as needed. I didn’t use the full 8 cups.
When the rice is cooked, turn the fire off and add some butter and the truffle paste.
For the fonduta
In a saucepan at medium heat melt the butter and then add the flour, stirring well to eliminate lumps. Add the milk and continue heating until it reaches the boiling point. Remove from heat and add the cheese. Whip it well to melt the cheese. Keep warm and do not overheat.
Place a scoop of fonduta on the bottom of a flat plate and spread to the edge of the bowl. Place the risotto in the middle on top and voila! You’re big pimpin’.
jiggak
ggellner
ngiguere
acerve
