If someone can tell me what might be a bit amiss with this recipe from Food & Wine magazine then I will call you my main lamb for life. Comment away lambs and I will update you on what I did with this decadant little beaut shortly after…there will be pork belly, oh yes, there will be pork belly.
I’m also helping my Mom cook this year and offering up two dishes of my own for the Christmas smorgasbord, so if anything tickles mine and my families tastebuds I’ll let you know. For Christmas, my gentle bestie The Boo got me the Momofuku and The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern cookbooks. My reviews to come as soon as next week. YAY and thank you Boo!I wish all of you and yours a warm, relaxing, gentle, snuggly, cuddly, family-and-friend filled holidays and a safe and very happy new year. Thank you for reading my little blog and cheers to a wonderful 2010.
I recall the time, waaaay back in the days of this past June, that I first tried to make mussels at home. Gosh, it seems just like yesterday doesn’t it?
Mussels with Chorizo and Spicy Charmoula Broth
Bon Appetit, December 2009
1 cup of fresh cilantro sprigs
1/4 cup paprika
3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons harissa paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups of vegetable broth
3 ounces fresh Spanish chorizo. casing reomved, broken into pieces
3 pounds of mussels, scrubbed, debearded
Chopped fresh Italian parsley
Crusty bread
Puree first 8 ingredients in processor until smooth paste forms. Transfer to a large saucepan. Whisk in vegetable broth. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer about 20 minutes to blend flavors. Season charmoula broth to taste with salt and pepper. Cool broth slightly; cover and chill overnight to develop flavor.
Heat large pot over medium heat. Add chorizo and cook until browned, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 3 minutes. Add mussels; stir to coat. Add 1 1/2 cups of charmoula broth. Cover pot; cook until mussels open, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes (discard any mussels that do not open).
Transfer cooked mussels to large bowl. Season charmoula broth to taste with salt and pepper. Pour broth over mussels. Sprinkle with parsley and serve dish with crusty bread.
Yes my little lambies….Root Beer Short Ribs. You can pinch yourself as hard as I did when I came across this recipe and then maybe smack yourself for not thinking of this combo sooner. I mean really right?
This is from Everyday Food reader Shawn Darling (congrats!) and I have to say I wish she would have shared this much sooner because this will be a staple for the fall months for many, many years to come. I actually made this last night up until step three and then completed it tonight. I served the short ribs with their perfect sweet, but not too much, glaze/sauce on top of mashed sweet potatoes as the magazine suggests. For once, and this is rare, I am speechless. I have one last question, “do you have any good sarsaparilla?” Well give me some short ribs their stranger and I’ll show you in about four hours.
Everyday Food, December 2009
Root Beer Short Ribs
Serves 6
Prep time: 25 minutes
Total time: 4 hours4-inch pieces
coarse salt and ground pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more as needed
2 medium yellow onions, cut into 1-inch wedges
3 large celery stalks, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 small carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 head garlic, sliced half crosswise
10 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 sprig rosemary
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 whole star anise
3 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
2 cups good-quality root beer
4 1/2 pounds short ribs, cut into
1. Preheat over to 275 degrees. Season ribs generously with salt and pepper. In an 8-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil on high. In batches, brown ribs on all sides, about 20 minutes total. If oil gets too dark during browning, pour off and add more oil (do not wipe pot clean). Transfer ribs to a plate and pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from pot.
2. Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, cumin, and star anise. Cook , scraping up any browned bits, until onions soften, 5 minutes. Return ribs to a rapid simmer, cover, and place pot in oven.
3. Cook until meat can be easily pierced with the tip of a pairing knife, about 3 hours. (To store, refrigerate, up to 4 days.) With a slotted spoon, transfer ribs to a large straight-sided skillet. Skim off and discard any fat from cooking liquid. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into skillet; discard solids. Boil over medium-high until liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Continue to cook, spooning liquid over meat occasionally, until ribs are glazed and sauce is thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Behold a recipe discussion between Apron Adventures and I the weekend after we had both read the new Bon Appetit.
Me: “Yes, I think I marked half the magazine. I love this time of year!”
AA: “Yeah, but did you see that Beef Short Rib recipe on the cover?” Cue AA’s look of pure love when she has a new recipe in sight that’s something like this…
Me: “Yes I might try that soon along with the other recipes.”
Sigh, that I couldn’t really test this recipe to its full potential but I wanted to post here because it was amazing. The flavors of the short ribs were delicious and even without going through food mill land, the sauce was great. I served this over the suggested sauteed chard and also made mashed sweet potatoes that had been mixed with a little bit of maple syrup and some cinnamon. How fall-ish and wonderful this meal was!
A Fellow Foodie Blogger Recipe Tour wouldn’t be complete without trying a dish from my fellow food team member/blogger/bestie Lindsay from Apron Adventures. For those of you who don’t have the pleasure of knowing Lindsay she is a walking ray of sunshine. No seriously. Ivette and I joke that Lindsay wakes up in the morning like a Disney princess with birds and mice and bunnies helping her get ready for work while she hums and whistles about – I know Lindsay is lauging right about now.
The other thing that I love about Lindsay is her true passion for food and cooking. The two of us can sit and talk about recipes for ages and never get bored. She is truly a creative, talented cook and of course I love reading her blog to see what she will come up with next.
Lindsay loves goat cheese and pesto, I know this for a fact, so I was dying to try something that combined her two favorites. Enter Lindsay’s Chicken Pesto Panini. Now I tried this recipe as she suggested, no freebies just because we are besties, and Lindsay this was totally awesome. I loved the flavors together and I ate this in about three minutes. I mean really this rocked.
Thanks for the continued inspiration and can’t wait to talk about this recipe tomorrow!
Emily: So, this Fellow Foodie Blogger Recipe Tour is going quite well. I love trying delicious recipes straight from my favorite blogs!
Emily: Yes, especially after that amazing Chunky Vegetable Chili recipe you tried last night from Coconut & Lime.
Emily: Yes, especially after that.
Emily: But it has eggplant in it. You hate eggplant remember?
Emily: Well, umm, yes but I really liked it in this chili and am slowly embracing the lovely fruit. Can you believe it?
Emily: You realize I can never trust anything you say again right? Next you will be saying you love ricotta.
Emily: Oh shut it and go eat your delicious chili leftovers, that recipe rocked!
Emily’s Cat: You realize you are saying all of this out loud? My mom is crazy.
Anyhoodles, I got a little reflective today on what this past seven days has shown me (sniffle) so let me share with you.
First, I learned what I guess you could call mindful eating. I paid attention to every food item I consumed and if you do this on a regular basis, well then good for you. Me, I was kind of robotic in my motions at times. I would come into the office, get settled and then go to the kitchen to have my first cup of coffee and then my second about an hour or two later. Just like that. The first day of my trial week, I walked straight to the coffee machine without even thinking and had to stop myself. These little moments occurred the rest of the week, and I hope to take that mindfulness with me even when not being so extremely focused like I was this past week.
Yippity skippity, day six! As the trend has been the past six days, I started my morning with a frozen peach smoothie and slices of fresh mango.
As I mentioned, I’m unofficially starting my Fellow Foodie Blogger Recipe Tour and for lunch let’s travel to our gentle neighbors to the north, Canada! I love the blog Sea Salt With Food based in Vancouver. Her photography is gorgeous and I love the cultural variety of her recipes. Just looking at her blog today she goes from a Tom Kha Gai Soup to Carrot Spice Muffins to Sausage Rolls. I have been dying to try something of hers and to stay with my diet plan I tried this Roasted Tomato Soup recipe. This mix of roasted garlic, thyme, yellow onion and roma tomatoes was fantastic. The real kicker to this? You add one diced chili in adobo to the soup and then blend the whole thing. I loved this spicy addition to the soup and think you will too.
For dinner, I went with one of my other favorite bloggers and Bon Appetit contributer, Molly Wizenberg aka Orangette. Once again trying to stay on my diet track (with a fried egg, cheese and bread…sure Emily whatever you like to tell yourself) I chose her Boiled Kale with Fried Egg and Toast. I have to say, this recipe name does not do this dish justice. The boiled kale – which is amazing – is ladled on top of a piece of toast and then you place a fried egg (fried in olive oil) over the whole thing and then top with Parmesan cheese. Goodness gracious, this was so simple and perfection in a bowl. I have a feeling this will be a good cold night staple I will turn to time and again.
Day 6 is in the books lambs! More blogger recipes for the rest of the week to come and thanks to Sea Salt with Food and Orangette for the beautiful recipes and continued inspiration.
Wow y’all, still no caffeine, sugar or processed foods but I do have to say since it is Saturday, I am enjoying a teeny glass of Pleiades wine after my awesomely, delicious dinner – more on that in a minute.
