Red Wine Braised
Short Ribs
Looking to impress someone
with a delectable dinner? I use this recipe as my base for preparing the most
succulent short ribs:
4
English cut beef short ribs, trimmed (roughly 8 ounces each)
Kosher
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
3
tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1
bottle full bodied red wine, such as Cabernet
2
cups low-sodium chicken stock (original
recipe calls for 4 cups of veggie broth)
4
cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Notice that there
are only five main ingredients, so it makes your shopping list as well as the
cooking very easy. Short ribs can be
expensive, but in Seattle, Fred Meyer, QFC and Safeway all sell them for half
the cost of a butcher or fancy grocery store; you just might need to budget for
two ribs per person. (Five, 5 oz
short ribs at Fred Meyer was $9; Five, 8oz short ribs at Central Market was
$22.75.)
My spin on the
recipe is that after one hour in the oven, I add chopped carrots (figure one
carrot per person) and any leftover wine and give it all a big stir. It’s also important to use good red wine in
this recipe if you want the meat to develop full flavor. I serve the ribs with mashed potatoes,
polenta or rice. Add a green vegetable if you want more than carrots
(asparagus, Swiss chard or broccoli are good choices.)
Hoisin Glazed Shrimp
I bought a pound of
fresh, medium shrimp and wanted to make a tasty, easy dish, so I turned to my
trusted Real Simple magazine.
1 lb shrimp
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds
Instead of threading
the shrimp on skewers and broiling them, I simply put them in a pan for three
minutes on one side, flipped them and then added the hoisin sauce to the pan
for another four minutes of cooking.
My spin on this recipe
is the hoisin glaze. I added a
tablespoon of orange marmalade and a splash of orange juice to the sauce,
stirred it and then poured it on the shrimp. I served the shrimp over brown
rice with a cucumber salad on the side. (See recipe for more details.)
