Merry Christmas to You and Yours

Wishing you a peaceful, joyous holiday...

Pizza with a Twist

Smoked Salmon is so delicious and festive around this time of year. But we eat it all year long because it can be the makings of a quick dinner and it is somewhat healthy. Well, not when you first slather the toast with creme fraiche. This night we used a pizza crust for the base of our smoked salmon dinner. I think it was Wolfgang Puck, the famous California chef, who introduced nouveau pizza back in the '80s. It's been around for a long time but it still nice to have pizza with a twist. Dear husband, the purist, prefers toast points but this was fun, especially when we referred to it as "fish pizza." Yeah, that didn't exactly enhance the boys' desire to taste it. Those are capers and chives sprinkled over the top.

Borrowed Salad

Recently at Metropolis, I picked up a Frisee Salad with cranberries, candied walnuts and manchego cheese. It was accompanied by a little cup of shallot vinaigrette. I didn't know, when I opened that clam shell box, that I'd be getting the best packaged salad of my life (so far.) Sure the ingredients appealed to me that's why I bought it to begin with. But it was better than that. That little container held an tangy dressing that stood up to the slightly bitter frisee and accentuated those cranberries and walnuts. The dry manchego balanced it all. After devouring the salad I went back to look at the label. It had come from the Southport Grocery and Cafe'. They sell their products wholesale to companies that apparently care about quality, like Metropolis. I wrote Southport Grocery to comment on the deliciousness of their salad and then I promptly set out to make a similar vinaigrette.

So far the closest thing I've found to mimic that flavor is a very simple minced shallot, white balsamic vinegar and vegetable oil mixture. Olive oil is definitely wrong here, unless maybe it is just my peppery extra virgin. Still I think I'm missing something, maybe a squeeze of lemon, but I'm close to what I remember. This salad is done with spinach, dried cherries, non-candied walnuts and manchego. Dear husband enjoyed it quite a bit and that's good because he will continue to see it until I get that vinaigrette perfect.

Hearty Fare

I have never been much of a meat sauce lover but I cannot get enough of this short rib ragu especially on papardelle.

Short Rib Ragu

ingredients

3 to 4 lb. meaty bone-in beef short ribs, preferably

English style Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

3 oz. thickly sliced pancetta (about 3 1/4-inch-thick slices) or 3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch squares

1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 heaping cup)

1 celery stalk, diced (about 1/2 cup)

1 carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup sliced white mushrooms

3 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 Tbs. tomato paste

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth

1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes

how to make

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 300°F.
Cook the ribs:
Trim away any excess fat from the top of each rib down to the first layer of meat, but don’t remove the silverskin or tough-looking tissue that hold the ribs together or onto the bone. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels, and season them with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven (or other heavy pot with a lid) over medium heat until hot. Add only as many ribs as will fit without touching, and brown them on all sides, turning with tongs until nicely browned, 3 to 4 min. per side. Transfer to a platter, and continue until all the ribs are browned.
Pour off and discard most of the fat from the pot. Return the pot to medium heat, and add the pancetta or bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta or bacon has rendered some of its fat but is not crisp, about 3 minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrot, mushrooms, and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 min. Add the tomato paste and red pepper flakes, and cook for 2 min., stirring. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium-high, stir to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot, and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes and their juices and bring to a simmer.
Transfer the ribs to the oven:
Return the short ribs (and any juices) to the pot in a single layer, nestling them into the sauce. Crumple a large sheet of parchment and smooth it out again. Arrange it over the pot, pressing it down so it nearly touches the ribs, allowing any overhang to extend up and over the edges of the pot. Set the lid in place, and transfer to the oven. Braise, turning the ribs with tongs every 45 min., until fork-tender and the meat is pulling away from the bone, about 2-1/2 hours.
Make the ragù:
Use tongs or a slotted spoon to carefully transfer the ribs to a shallow baking dish or wide bowl. Set aside until just cool enough to handle. Skim any visible surface fat from the braising liquid and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. If the tomatoes haven’t broken up, break them up with a wooden spoon. If the sauce seems watery, increase the heat to medium-high and simmer to thicken. If not, keep it warm. Taste for salt and pepper.
When the beef is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and the bands of connective tissue that encircled the bones. Chop the meat into bite-size chunks or pull into large strips. Return the meat to the sauce, and keep warm until ready to serve, or if making ahead, cool and refrigerate.
Make Ahead TipsThe finished ragù can be refrigerated, covered, for up to three days.

From Fine Cooking 77, pp. 45, Article by Molly Stevens

Obi-wan and young Anakin

About a girl and a recipe

I clipped this recipe for Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Soup out of a newspaper a long time ago. And while looking through my files, it struck me as something that sounded good at the moment. Instead of making a shopping list, I decided to bring the clipping with me to the grocery to purchase all the ingredients. So what do you know? Between the store and home, the small clipping somehow disappeared and I was left with ingredients but no direction. A quick google gave me nothing. Then I realized that you spell caramelized like this and not carmelized. And that realization gifted me with Marthdex, a site that indexes the recipes and articles of Martha Stewart Living magazine. I found that a recipe with that name could be found in the Dec. 2000 issue of MSL. And here's where is gets really amazing, I promptly went down to my basement and found Dec. 2000. Yes, me, of 2 trillion magazines, put my hand on a 7-yr old issue without cursing, sweating or ripping down stacks of magazines. It was a zen moment that I will savor and I took it as a sign that my luck had changed. The recipe ingredients, including the amounts, looked similar to the clipped recipe, but not exact. But surely the author of my clipped recipe had adapted it from the Martha recipe or vice versa. Anyway, I knew I could follow the bones of this recipe and make my soup. All turned out well. The soup has dried porcinis and fresh creminis, 3 onions caramelized for an hour until they are so so sweet, toasted orzo pasta and some chicken broth. It is savory delicious, expecially coming in from the cold in Chicago in December. Warms you right to the bone. A goat cheese crouton was served alongside to substantiate our dinner.

El Cubano

The Cuban Pork Sandwich is held in highest regard in this household. It is one of those foods that becomes more than the sum of its parts. Pork loin (sliced from a roast,) ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and garlicky spread or mojo sauce are all smashed between a crusty loaf and toasted until crispy outside and melty inside. It makes for some fine eating. Especially with a beer, dear husband wants to add. Our favorite recipe comes from Bruce Aidells Complete Meat Cookbook. But Fine Cooking has a version in their current issue so naturally we had to give it a go. It proved to be good, but not as good as Aidells'. The Aidells recipe includes thinly sliced tomatoes and onions and I think that is why I enjoy it more. I like his mojo sauce more too.

Speaking of Cuban Pork Sandwiches, check out Hungry Magazine's review of El Cubanito, located in Logan Square (2555 N. Pulaski,) and their Cubano.