CFVMB:Braised Short Rib, Polenta, Shiitake & Pearl Onion, Gremolata, & Shallot Salad

[MasterVodo]

I think that this probably is the most complicated, technical, time consuming, and most delicious thing I've made to date. Srsly.


Alllllllll this goes into making this dish.

Braised Beef Short Rib:

• 4 (10-oz) short ribs
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 3 Tbl tomato paste
• 2 cups port
• 2 qt beef stock
• 4 sprig thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 peppercorns

Chevre Scented Polenta:

• 250ml chicken stock
• 250ml heavy cream
• 75oz polenta
• 2 oz goat cheese
• 2 Tbl butter, unsalted
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Sauce with Gremolata:

• 1 1/2 cups braising liquid
• 3 oz balsamic vinegar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ cup chopped parsley, chives, tarragon

Roasted Shitake Mushrooms and Pearl Onions:

• 1 cup pearl onions, peeled
• 3 cup shitake mushrooms, sliced
• 4 Tbl olive oil
• 2 Tbl butter
• 2 Tbl balsamic vinegar

Crispy Shallot Salad:

• ¼ cup whole parsley leaves
• ¼ cup chive batons
• 2 shallots, thinly shaved
• 2 Tbl rice flour
• Oil for frying

Started with taking the meat off the bone. Next time I'm using bigger pieces. I'm saving the bones for stock later.



Started my prep with cutting the root off of the pearl onions.



Cooked onions in boiling water for 1 minute.



Threw them in some ice water, and then pinched the tops. Viola... peeled pearl onions.



Mire-poix + 4 garlic cloves smashed, and 2 shallots.



Shitake Mushrooms sliced thin. (From DOLE! Only the best).



Gremolata



Very hot pan. I used veggie oil instead of olive oil, so it wouldn't burn the oil.



Nice sear all around.



Once beef was seared, I put it in the pressure cooker to sit while I made the braising liquid. I started by putting my veggies in the same pan, and started to roast them. I wanted them soft before I added the tomato paste.



3 tbs tomato paste. Cooked some more.



Nice smell coming from right about here... fond beginning to form on the bottom.



De-glazed with port.



Like so.



Rendered down to al sec.



Once it reached sec, I put the braising liquid and veggies on top of my beef, and then added beef stock.



Stock went in to right about 1/2 way up beef. Locked it up and cooked for 75 mins on low.






2 thinly sliced shallots with a little water on them, and about 2 tablespoons of rice flour.



Heated the oil to 350 and deep fried the shallots to golden brown. BTW - use a bigger pan. When I put my shallots in, it overflowed on me. Good thing I don't have a gas stove, or I would have had a HUGE fire. Live and learn. (I wanted to use my cute All-Clad butter warmer for something, dammit!)



I put the shallots in a little bowl with a paper towel in it, seasoned with a little salt, and set it aside for later.



I brought equal amounts of heavy cream and chicken stock to a boil, added some dried polenta, and stirred that puppy for 30 minutes.



After 30 minutes, it looked like this. I took some oiled parchment paper and put it on the top of it, and set it aside for later.



When my ribs were about out of the pressure cooker, I started my sauce. Hot pan, little oil, added my pearl onions and browned them a bit.



Added my mushrooms.



Added 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar, plus another 2 oz of vegetable oil. Fried away.



I grabbed my ribs out of the cooker and put in a small pan with about a cup of the braising liquid. I put the rest of the liquid through a strainer into a pot.



Using the back of a ladle, I squeezed every last bit of flavor I could out of the braise.



Top left: Polenta ready to re-heat. Top right: Ribs staying warm. Bottom left: Onions and Mushrooms ready to be made into sauce. Bottom right: Braising liquid being reduced by 1/2.



I added 2 oz of goat cheeze, a splash of heavy cream and a little chicken stock to my polenta and heated it up.



Whisked away to make it fluffy. At the very end, I added 2 tbs of cold butter.



I added about 1 1/2 cups of the reduced braising liquid to my mushrooms and onions, and reduced it even more.



Just as I was about to plate, I added my gremolata, plus a tbs of butter to finish my sauce.



I added my fried shallots, some more chives, and some fresh micro-parsley from my itty bitty herb garden, plus a few drops of olive oil, to make my Shallot Salad garnish.



Ready to plate!




DONE! The finished product! Oh my FSM, this dish was delicious! The polenta was nummy, the short ribs were sooooo tender, juicy and just FULL of flavor, and the shallot salad on the top added a little crispiness and saltiness. The balsamic vinegar added acid to the sauce, which was really, really tasty.



Now, I'm sure that none of you will try this at home - because really, this thing took like 2 hours at least to make. Maybe you'll get some ideas though. Or, maybe you'll try it for a special occasion or something. I would say that this dish was really worth the effort. Man, it was good.


Have a good weekend, all! Comments and questions welcome!

[bullmad]

i have buffalo wings.

[bullmad]

spicy.

[charliesheen]

Great Post.

Being able to cook like that makes one a discerning restaurant consumer too, hmmmm?

[beantown23]

Title reads like a Mideastern Cannibal Restaurant

[Who]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$

[MasterVodo]

Great Post.

Being able to cook like that makes one a discerning restaurant consumer too, hmmmm?

ABSOLUTELY! A buddy of mine (Mike) and I, when were were both making good money, used to go to every good restaurant we could (we changed it up) every Friday. We decided that the better you can cook, the classier restaurants you ate at. If you knew how to cook, and what went into your food, you wouldn't waste your money going out to eat to have overpriced shit shoveled in front of you, especially when you could make 10x better food at home at a fraction of the cost. I hardly ever eat out at restaurants here in town, because I know that I can do much better at home, with just a little thought and care. Unless I am in a hurry and need a fast food fix or something - didn't pack a lunch, etc...

When I was younger, I worked at and helped manage a restaurant called the Cattleman's Cut, in Sheridan Wyoming. It was a well-run, clean kitchen. Steak and seafood. Home-made soup. Some Cajun food on there too. Live maine lobsters. Lots of shrimp. I know what a good kitchen looks like, and if I get an opportunity to peek at a restaurant's kitchen, and it is dirty, I won't eat there again.

Also, when I go out to dinner, depending where I go, if there's something on the menu that I can make at home, I won't order it. I always want to try new things, or eat things that I haven't made before at home, so I can maybe try it at home later. I've only had 1 other braised short rib in my life, and that was at Bouchon at the Venetian in Las Vegas. While it was nothing like what I made tonight, it was really, really good. Now that I've tried this recipe, I am going to be making braised short ribs more often. Maybe not as complicated as tonight though.

One of the things that really disgusted me about my late father was that his whole life, all he did was eat at truck stops, diners, and dives. He thought $8.99 prime rib, country fried steak (the frozen and deep fried kind), and shit like that were the best. He could cook basic stuff at home, but never even once tried to expand his horizons when it came to food. He was a trailer trash gourmet. Never wanted to try something new. I really looked down on him for that.

[deadjake]

how much money you got into four short ribs?

[MasterVodo]

how much money you got into four short ribs?

I think they cost me like $8

[s.murph]

Do you have your own cooking show? You should, 'cause not only are you obviously a top shelf cook but you have great visual production skills as well. You bastard!

[deadjake]

I think they cost me like $8

I was thinking the total meal

[Mastermoose]

Cool hob.

[MagicalCat]

Wifey is a chef.
She's impressed with the Cuisinart Pressure Cooker.

[pete rose haircut]

You have an electric pressure cooker? Can you use it for canning?
We eat a lot of wild game, I'll bet that would be a great way to prepare venison.

[MasterVodo]

You have an electric pressure cooker? Can you use it for canning?
We eat a lot of wild game, I'll bet that would be a great way to prepare venison.

I actually bought the pressure cooker originally to caramelize some white chocolate. I'm trying to find more uses for it. I'm sure you can use it for canning if you like. It has a high and low pressure setting, and you can sautee in this one. Pretty solid. I think I paid $75 for it. Look on Amazon.


Magical cat - So, your wife was impressed with the pressure cooker and not the dish itself at all? Of course, I am not a chef myself. I usually just copy recipes, rather than invent them, and while my knowledge of food and how to cook it is growing, I am by no means an expert - just way ahead of the normal curve. I'd like to hear anything else she might have to say to critique.


And finally, for jake - I figure that I had 4 servings out of all of that. Had leftover stuff like the rice flour, balsamic vinegar, port, some spices, etc.... I would say that all told, I think I made that for about $15 a serving. I know the polenta cost me like .70 cents, veggies were fairly cheap - shallots were about $3.50 for what I used. Stocks were about $3 a box. Mushrooms were $5. Port was $5, and I have 1/2 of it left. I only used 4 sprigs of thyme, so I have a lot of that left, plus 1/2 the chives.

Anyway - I figure all told about $15 a serving. Maybe less.

[MagicalCat]

She says - good work in general. Most people wouldn't have the guts to try something like that at home, with all those steps (I know I wouldn't). Oh - she says you have a cheap copy of a Micro Plane zester.
Those pressure cookers are $189 here in Australia. But the one she's looking at is a Tefal Clypso (or something) @ about $389. Can get them for $299 online though.
She'll have a closer look into your method tomorrow. She's tired, It's late here and we need to have sex before we go to sleep.

Pressure cookers are the way to go. They keep all the nutrients and taste in the food.

[charliesheen]

I'm in the market for one now, after seeing that.

[s.murph]

We had an old steel pressure cooker growing up. It was scary looking. To this day I won,t entertain the thought of getting one 'cause I'm scared it'll blow-up & kill me.

[Treezum]

Bravo Vodo.. Ive worked at a restaurant the last 3 yrs, sort of high end( or trying to be). They do kind of a French/Italian thing and its good.. But you def put more care into your art... Cheers man.. Well done...

[MasterVodo]

Bravo Vodo.. Ive worked at a restaurant the last 3 yrs, sort of high end( or trying to be). They do kind of a French/Italian thing and its good.. But you def put more care into your art... Cheers man.. Well done...

Thank you. Appreciate it. What is the best thing on your menu?

We had an old steel pressure cooker growing up. It was scary looking. To this day I won,t entertain the thought of getting one 'cause I'm scared it'll blow-up & kill me.

Those old things are dangerous, and if you have kids that you allow in your kitchen - don't get one. (don't get a deep fryer either) But, this particular pressure cooker is really easy to use, and is really safe. I like it a lot.