(no subject)
Jan. 29th, 2006 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaI made dinner tonight -- late Sunday dinner of braised beef ribs and a really beautiful salad. (I love California produce.) It seemed to go over well with those I was feeding, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jmpava and donaithnen. And jmpava is most kindly washing the dishes as we speak. Then there'll be red wine and bittersweet chocolate.
I made the salad out of a bag of 'mixed baby field greens with carrots,' four smallish tomatoes (two yellow, two orange, bought for the whimsy of yellow and orange tomatoes), and half a red bell pepper. I cut cup the tomatoes, julienned the bell peppers, and tossed them together. Had with an herb vinegarette. Very nice.
The beef ribs took some time but came out as I hoped. I bought 2 beef ribs (about 5 lbs total). First I brined them in a mixture of:
* 2 bottles of dark beer
* 2 cups of brown sugar (actually, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of cane sugar)
* 1 cup of salt
for an hour. (It would have been immeasurably better to have brined them for 12-24 hours, but I wasn't thinking that far in advance.) While they brined, I diced:
* 1 1/2 medium onion
* 3 medium carrots
* 2 stalks of celery
* 2 garlic cloves
and sauteed them in a pan with a little vegetable oil and 2 bay leaves over medium-high heat until well browned.
I got out my only baking pan long enough to hold the ribs and dumped in the vegetables, then deglazed the pan with a swig of wine (er... maybe 1/2 cup?). I pulled the beef ribs out of the brine and put them on the vegetables. Discarded the brine. Poured the wine/onion over the meat. Poured on a mixture of water and wine (about 2 parts water to 1 part wine) up to about 3/4 the sides of the roasting pan. Added a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Sealed the pan up with foil and popped it in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours.
When the bell dinged, I turned off the oven but left the pan in there to thermally 'coast' to completion for 30 minutes. This was when I made and served the salad. I pulled the roasting pan out, levied the meat out, and wrapped it in foil to keep it hot. I strained the liquid and discarded the vegetables, which had given up pretty much all their flavor. Then I put the liquid over medium-high heat to reduce, and turned my attention to the meat.
I cut the meat from the bone, and trimmed off the fatty and gristle-y bits (mostly on the parts that had been closest to the bone). THen I sliced the meat thinly, poured over the reduced jus, and served.
jmpava and donaithnen. And jmpava is most kindly washing the dishes as we speak. Then there'll be red wine and bittersweet chocolate.I made the salad out of a bag of 'mixed baby field greens with carrots,' four smallish tomatoes (two yellow, two orange, bought for the whimsy of yellow and orange tomatoes), and half a red bell pepper. I cut cup the tomatoes, julienned the bell peppers, and tossed them together. Had with an herb vinegarette. Very nice.
The beef ribs took some time but came out as I hoped. I bought 2 beef ribs (about 5 lbs total). First I brined them in a mixture of:
* 2 bottles of dark beer
* 2 cups of brown sugar (actually, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of cane sugar)
* 1 cup of salt
for an hour. (It would have been immeasurably better to have brined them for 12-24 hours, but I wasn't thinking that far in advance.) While they brined, I diced:
* 1 1/2 medium onion
* 3 medium carrots
* 2 stalks of celery
* 2 garlic cloves
and sauteed them in a pan with a little vegetable oil and 2 bay leaves over medium-high heat until well browned.
I got out my only baking pan long enough to hold the ribs and dumped in the vegetables, then deglazed the pan with a swig of wine (er... maybe 1/2 cup?). I pulled the beef ribs out of the brine and put them on the vegetables. Discarded the brine. Poured the wine/onion over the meat. Poured on a mixture of water and wine (about 2 parts water to 1 part wine) up to about 3/4 the sides of the roasting pan. Added a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce. Sealed the pan up with foil and popped it in a 300 degree oven for 1 1/4 hours.
When the bell dinged, I turned off the oven but left the pan in there to thermally 'coast' to completion for 30 minutes. This was when I made and served the salad. I pulled the roasting pan out, levied the meat out, and wrapped it in foil to keep it hot. I strained the liquid and discarded the vegetables, which had given up pretty much all their flavor. Then I put the liquid over medium-high heat to reduce, and turned my attention to the meat.
I cut the meat from the bone, and trimmed off the fatty and gristle-y bits (mostly on the parts that had been closest to the bone). THen I sliced the meat thinly, poured over the reduced jus, and served.
