A little boasting about braised short ribs

Ok, I'm going to be a bit boastful for a moment or two so bear with me. I decided it was finally time to experiment with cooking short ribs, a cut of red meat I've never worked with before. Short ribs seem to be popping up on restaurant menus everywhere these days...or maybe I've just recently noticed them and have joined the bandwagon. I'm not a huge red meat lover in all honesty, never really have been. I do however, love a great piece of meat that's so tender and succlent it falls apart on the bone or while cooking and then just melts in your mouth. I admit, short ribs aren't the leanest cut of beef you can buy, but if you get a nice boneless piece and trim any extra fat off, you've definitely got a pretty healthful cut there--at least as far as red meat goes. Short ribs that are "bone-in" tend to be much fattier, less meat. Anyhow, seeing how winter has officially made a come back and the frigid air is here in full force, I figured it was a perfect evening for braising up some short ribs...a nice comforting, warm meal on a cold night. Braising is a fantastic, healthy way of cooking tough, leaner cuts of meat and heartier vegetables. Slow-cooked at lower temperatures in liquid produces an incredibly moist dish. I perused a few classic recipes for braised short ribs with red wine and then adapted/concocted my own version of deliciousness. Not to brag, but these are damn good and will certainly go down in my personal recipe collection. I paired the dish with a lovely, lite Brussels sprouts salad with lemon vinaigrette, walnuts and pecorino and some baby fingerling potatoes dusted with a touch of truffle salt. By the way, if you're a fan of truffles/truffle flavor, truffle salt is a relatively inexpensive way to give a side dish some serious pop...without needing to go into sodium-shock, just a touch does the job and keeps your blood pressure where it should be. So...drumroll...here's last night's menu, dish by dish. And a quick disclaimer, I realize the photo's not the greatest. We're working on investing in a higher-quality camera, my poor digital just isn't cutting it anymore!

Braised Short Ribs with Dried Cherries and Red Wine
Makes 4-6 servings
2 pounds boneless short ribs, trim extra fat off
¼ cup flour for dredging
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 carrots, roughly chopped
5 cremini or button mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1-2 cippolini onions (or 1 small yellow onion), roughly chopped
½ shallot, diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed gently with a knife
1/3 cup dried cherries
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ bottle dry red wine *I use one with cherry overtones
2 cups beef stock

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350.
Heat olive oil in heavy oven-proof saucepan over medium-high heat. Season short ribs with salt and pepper. Dip in flour to cover each side. Brown short ribs, about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer ribs to a plate and place all vegetables and herbs in saucepan, sauté for about 5-7 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and dried cherries, cook for another minute. Place short ribs back into pan, add wine and beef stock. Bring to a boil and transfer pan to the oven and cook 2 ½ hours until meat is tender, stirring occassionally. Remove from oven, place meat on a separate platter and boil down liquid about 20 minutes. Serve with roasted Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes dusted with truffle salt.

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Pecorino, Walnuts & Lemon Vinaigrette
Serves 4
12-16 Brussels sprouts, rinsed and outer leaves removed if needed
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup shaved pecorino romano cheese
juice of 1 fresh lemon
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 - 1/2 small garlic clove, minced (literally just a few teeny pieces to flavor the vinaigrette, but not overwhelm it)

Using a mandolin slicer on the thinnest setting, shave Brussels sprouts over a medium mixing/serving bowl--shave down to the stem and then discard stems. Watch your fingers on the slicer! Toss in walnuts and pecorino. Mix lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad, toss well and serve.

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Truffle Salt
Serves 4
*Yet, another reason I love living close to the farmer's market. Got these baby potatoes over the weekend and they were super fresh and flavorful.
Preheat oven to 425. Rinse and dry about 12-14 medium-sized fingerling potatoes, cut in half lengthwise. Place in mixing bowl and drizzle with 1.5 tablespoons olive oil, a tiny touch of regular salt and freshly ground black pepper. Evenly distribute on a baking sheet and roast for about 25 minutes, stirring midway through. Remove from oven and dust with truffle salt. Serve.

Happy eating!

Sweet treats in small packages...

Who doesn't love a little sweetness on Valentine's Day? Whatever your sugar-high seducer of choice is, you all know by now that I'm a big fan of indulging when it's worth it (read: pass right over that giant box of tasteless Russell Stover "chocolates", you could eat the whole box and still be left unsatisfied).

Every Valentine's Day I get asked "what's the best sweet or chocolate to dive into?" I could blab on about the stellar heart-health benefits of antioxidant-rich dark chocolate, but I've decided to deviate this year as I've got a few new favorites on my radar. Big surprise, they're teensy but insanely luscious. Lots of lovin' can come in any size.

Fine & Raw Chocolate - I discovered these little gems of raw cacoa sweetened with agave nectar at the Young Designer's Market in Nolita on Mulberry and Houston. Two ingredients, that's it. Pure 87% raw chocolate straight from Ecuador and blue agave nectar. The price is well worth it for the 2 little bonbons--absolute heaven in an adorable tiny printed box.

Nine Cakes - Mini Cupcakes - Betsy Thorleifson has struck gold with her mini cupcakes in every flavor combination possible. I love that a) they're MINI -- which means the perfect indulgent bite for the perfect amount of indulgent calories and that b) Betsy is huge on seasonality and plays up the flavors and fresh fruits of each season in her baked creations. The current Winter menu features flavors like Black Forest (dark chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and kirsch (cherry-liqueur) drizzled with dark chocolate and Little Turtle (dark chocolate with caramel buttercream with salted pecans).

BabyCakes NYC - Ok, so their baked goods aren't distinctively "mini", but they are gluten and wheat-free for all of you with gluten and wheat intolerances/allergies...they're also vegan and actually taste phenomenal. BabyCakes founder Erin McKenna knows how to impress your taste buds...so much so she's been featured in Gourmet magazine, and on Martha Stewart and the Food Network among other media mentions. Cupcakes, banana bread, killer chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon raisin cookies with vanilla filling to name just a few of the items on the mouthwatering menu. Check out Erin's new cookbook which is about to hit bookstores.

Eat your heart out...here's to a happy & *healthy* Valentine's Day!

photo credits: BabyCakes NYC, Nine Cakes, Fine & Raw

The Super Bowl...a world of dips and wings

As usual, my roommates and I hosted our annual Super Bowl party this past Sunday. I'm a proud Giants fan, but the Cardinals-Steelers match up was an incredible game to watch, such a great 4th quarter. Aside from the game itself and the much anticipated half-time show (loved watching Bruce Springstein ram into the camera and laugh it off), the other focus of Super Bowl festivities tends to be the food. Football eats aren't exactly known to have a winning healthful playbook. I'm however, of the mindset that you can find balance in every situation. I think my friends would first laugh and then walk right out the door if I presented them with a 'feast' of vegetables, hummus, fat-free potato chips and fat-free cheese and crackers. Actually, I would personally be leading the charge right out the door.
My friends and I typically do potluck for the Super Bowl, so the level of healthfulness is somewhat of a toss-up. We've generally got an array of random foods, snacks, and of course, a fridge full of every beer known to humankind. This year's theme ended up being chips n' dips completely by chance. As you can see from the pictures, I think we had every kind of dip possible, from salsa to lite onion and ranch dips, black bean and guac dip, feta-sundried tomato dip, buffalo chicken dip and finally a deliciously sinful, super spicy cheese dip made with lean ground turkey. That's a whole lot of dip...and chips. No worries, being the nutritionist I am, I made sure there were fresh cut veggies on the table as well. Funny, that they were the first thing to go. I can confidently say that every one of my friends who brought dip, made an effort to lighten it up or boost the nutritional value somehow - whether by using reduced-fat sour cream (fat-free scares me), lean turkey, or vegetarian refried black beans. Maybe I'm rubbing off them?
I rounded out the table with a coveted football standby, wings. I make them every year for the big game and they're actually an amazing, pretty darn healthful addition to the whole spread. The recipe's a family secret, so, apologies, no full disclosure here. Here's the recipe, adapted...I promise you'll have people indebted to you for life, begging for more.

Mahogany Chicken Wings

ingredients:

1 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce

1 1/8 cup hoisin sauce

3 scallions, minced

6 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup honey

6-7 lbs free-range/organic chicken wings

prep:
clean and rinse wings, pat dry.
combine all ingredients but wings in medium saucepan. bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. allow to cool 10-15 minutes.
place wings in tupperware or glass container, pour sauce over and marinate at least 4- 6 hours or overnight.
preheat oven to 375. line two baking sheets with aluminum foil or use 2 roasting pans. distribute wings on both pans, save excess marinade for basting. bake uncovered for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, baste every 20 minutes with remaining sauce. turn wings about halfway through to brown.
cool and serve.

makes about 12 servings, 4-5 wings each.