Cook-Along

Accidental Locavore Recipe for Corn Soup

The Accidental Locavore can’t think of a cozier place to be on a snowy January day, then in the kitchen. Rather than shovel snow, or worse, get stuck watching football, the Locavore thought  it was time for corn soup. This recipe, adapted from Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain cookbook, has intrigued me since this summer, and because of it, there were a dozen corn cobs and a large bag of frozen kernels in my freezer. It would serve about 4 big bowls and took about 1 1/2 hours, mostly unattended.

For the stock:

• 12 ears of corn, shucked
• 1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 bay leaf

For the chowder:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2-3 slices, bacon (optional), sliced into 1/4″ strips
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
• Salt, pepper and sugar, to taste

Using a sharp knife, cut the kernels from the corn. Cut the cobs in half and put in a large stock pot. Put the kernels on a baking sheet. Add to the stockpot: the bay leaf, onion and 2 quarts water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cobs and cook until it’s reduced to about 5 cups of liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Toss the corn kernels, garlic and bacon on the baking sheet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven, stirring once or twice until slightly golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Remove the garlic from the corn and bacon mix. Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook while stirring, for 1 minute. Add the wine, bring to a boil, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the alcohol is evaporated. Add the corn kernels and bacon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the stock, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 30 minutes.

If you like your soup really smooth, purée it in a blender (and if you like it really smooth, strain it after blending it). If, like the Locavore, you prefer it a little chunky, remove about 1/4 cup of the kernels and some of the bacon and set aside. Purée the remaining soup in a blender, food processor, or use a stick blender until you reach the desired texture.

Stir in the creme fraiche or sour cream, the kernels and bacon you set aside. Taste and add salt, pepper and sugar as needed. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: this was really good, maybe not as good as the corn and potato chowder I usually make, but a good variation. Bobby Flay’s original recipe has you add sugar in before blending and that made it too sweet. The Locavore likes using the cobs to make stock and next summer, will just collect them and toss them in the freezer for future soups. Since I was using frozen cobs and kernels, everything took longer, but the end result was delicious! I also tossed in a little jalapeño Tabasco sauce to give it a little kick.

Frank’s verdict: really good. He would have liked a little more texture, which was easily remedied by adding in some more kernels.

 

Recipe for Mexican Style Fish With Potatoes and Salsa

So far, the Accidental Locavore has stuck to my once-a-week seafood goal. A piece of cod found in the freezer clean-out inspired this recipe, based on one of my favorites: Rick Bayliss’ Mexican Everyday. Below is his recipe, for 4 people. It’s easy and fast. I use half the potatoes and fish to serve 2 and keep the rest of the salsa for other uses. 

• 4 medium new or Yukon Gold potatoes (1lb) sliced 1/4″ thick
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
• Salt
• 1-15 ounce can diced tomatoes (fire roasted if you can find them)
• 1 large garlic clove, cut in half
• 1/3 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup sliced, pickled jalapeños ( use jarred nacho slices), plus 1 tablespoon of the liquid
• 4 4-6 ounce skinless fish fillets (mahi mahi, halibut, black cod, a firm white fish works best here)

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the potatoes in a microwave and oven-safe dish big enough to hold the potatoes in a single layer. Drizzle on the oil, sprinkle with salt, toss to combine and place the potatoes in a single layer. Cover and microwave until the potatoes are barely tender, about 4-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in the food processor combine the tomatoes with their juice, garlic, cilantro and jalapeños and their juice. Process until puréed with a little texture.

Layer the fish in a single layer over the potatoes. Top with the salsa.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the fish flakes and is just opaque in the thickest part. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict: this time I used my own tomatillo salsa (click here for the recipe) and the cod from the freezer. It was good but not great. The cod would have stood up to the regular tomatoes and jalapeños. With the tomatillo salsa I would have liked a sweeter white fish. Adding a good squirt of lime helped. If you do want to use your own, or a jarred salsa, just leave out the last four ingredients (keep the jalapeños if you like the heat).

 

Accidental Locavore: Recipe for Scallop, Potato and Beurre Blanc

Suddenly, the Accidental Locavore has been hearing a lot about finger limes. For something that wasn’t even on my radar, all of a sudden, they’re everywhere. When Fresh Direct had them as a President’s Pick recently, I decided to take them for a test drive.

If you live in a more citrus-friendly place (almost anywhere south of here), you’re probably thinking, finger limes, no big deal. Fine. For the rest of us, they’re kind of cool. Small and in various shades of red/burgundy/brown/green, finger limes have very distinct flesh, resembling grains of caviar (except prettier, being the palest pink). And treating the pulp like caviar is a great way to serve it.

The Locavore decided to use them as a garnish for seared sea scallops on sliced Yukon Gold Potatoes in a beurre blanc sauce. This, with some sautéed spinach, fed 2. Timing is a little tight, but you could do what I did and just keep all the components in a warm oven until you’re ready to assemble.

• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into ½” slices (peeling optional). You need 8 slices

•  1/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar (I used 2 tbsp white balsamic, 1 of sherry)
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut in tablespoon-sized pieces
• Salt & white pepper (if you have it, it’s just for looks, otherwise use black)

• 8 sea scallops
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or a mix of butter & oil)
• 5-6 finger limes, cut off the end and gently squeeze the pellets into a small dish

Boil the potatoes in a medium pan of water with salt added, over medium-high heat until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, pat dry and set aside.

Boil the vinegar, water and shallots in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add cream, reduce heat to low. Whisk in one piece of butter at a time, until they’re all melted and combined. Strain sauce, pressing on shallots, to get as much liquid out of them. Return to pan and place in a warm (as low as it goes) oven to keep warm.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over a medium-high heat. Add the potato slices and cook until golden brown on each side, about 5 minutes a side. Put on a plate and keep warm in the oven

Pat dry the scallops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dredge in the flour, shaking off excess. Add the scallops to the pan that the potatoes were in and cook until golden brown and just opaque in the center about 1 ½ minutes a side.

Pour the beurre blanc sauce on two plates. Place the potatoes on the sauce and top each with a scallop. Garnish with the finer lime “caviar”, serve and enjoy!

My verdict: The finger limes added a nice citrus crunch to the scallops. It was like the crunch you get from an inside-out sushi roll. I’m not a caviar fan, so this was a great way of getting that nice tiny crunch without the fishy taste (and not so budget-busting). The scallops were perfectly cooked and went well with the beurre blanc sauce. I thought about adding a little lime zest to the beurre blanc, but got lazy. Not sure the potatoes were essential and if I did it again, might use a more starchier potato. This was a very fancy looking dinner, (that tasted as good as it looked) without being too fussy or time-consuming.

Frank’s verdict: “Excellent!” He would have poured some of the sauce over the top of the scallops and spread out the lime a little more (he didn’t know how sticky it was!). Otherwise he was a happy eater!

Cook-Along Recipe for Shrimp With Feta Cheese

For 2012, The Accidental Locavore decided to make eating seafood at least once a week a priority. Part of the reason we don’t eat as much of it as we should is that upstate we’re really limited in our sources for good fish. Because we have such good relations with a couple of local purveyors, it’s easy to revert to meat. To make this resolution stick, the Locavore is going to pick a recipe each week and revisit the Cook-Along, this time with seafood. First up, an old Greek favorite:  shrimp with feta cheese. There are lots of recipes online for them. I started with one from The Olive and the Caper and quickly deviated. It’s really quick and this will serve 2:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ small onion, finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1-14 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted (if you can get really good tomatoes, use about 3 of them instead)
• 1 tablespoon ouzo, or brandy (optional)
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
• Pepper, to taste
• ¾ pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 ounces Greek feta cheese, crumbled in big chunks

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven is heating, heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until just soft, not browned, about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the brandy, dill and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have started to meld into the sauce. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the shrimp. Put in a gratin pan or shallow casserole (I used two small gratin pans) and top with the feta. Bake (uncovered) for about 6 minutes until the feta has just started to turn golden on the corners (it doesn’t melt, but will soften). Sprinkle some of the dill on top for garnish, serve and enjoy.

My verdict: 3.5 out of 5. I used a can of fire-roasted tomatoes with chiles. The chiles didn’t add anything and while not terribly spicy, it was enough heat to be noticeable (and not welcome). If I were cooking this for more people and/or wanted to stretch it, it would be tempting to braise a little fennel and add that plus some Greek olives and serve it over orzo. The shrimp were lovely and tender, and went nicely with the creaminess of the feta. I didn’t get much taste from the dill, it might just have traveled too far.

Sorry about the fuzzy photo, the Locavore must have been hungry…

 

Cook-Along Recipe: Blueberry Caramel Sauce

Blueberry caramel sauce recipe, easy and delicious, and in about five months local too! In the meantime, the Accidental Locavore had gotten a big container of blueberries, and decided to put them to use as a dessert for the corned beef and cabbage Charcutepalooza dinner. Come summer this recipe will be made with local blueberries and my own ice cream, but since it’s still March and the sugar for the caramel will never be local…

This recipe for blueberry caramel sauce is adapted from Gordon Hamersley’s Bistro Cooking at Home. It’s easy and quick and makes a lot (2 1/2 cups). He suggests serving it with a peach galette, but I went straight for vanilla ice cream. My friend took some home, and we were wondering how it would be over waffles or pancakes. What do you think?

• 3 cups sugar
• 2 cups blueberries, washed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup or more to taste, fresh lime juice
  
• optional: 2 tablespoons butter (I was fooling around and added the butter, figuring it couldn’t hurt)

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the sugar to a light amber color. Cook it slowly and stir it to keep it from cooking too fast and getting a burnt taste. The sugar might harden, just keep cooking and stirring it until it smooths out. Add the blueberries and water to the cooked sugar. Be careful! The caramel will bubble and steam, so don’t stand right over the pot. The sauce will harden up because you’re adding cold berries, but will remelt as it heats up. Cover the pan and reduce to low. Simmer until most of the blueberries have popped, about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and stir to dissolve any lumps of caramel. Remove from the heat and strain the sauce to remove the blueberry skins and any hardened bits of caramel. Return to a saucepan, add the lime juice, and butter if you’re using it. You may also want to add a little salt to balance the flavor. Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce has reduced and isn’t too runny. Serve at room temperature or slightly warm. Enjoy!

If your pan has hardened sugar on it the best way to clean it is to fill it with enough water to cover the hardened sugar. Heat it, stirring occasionally until the sugar is melted, then it will clean up easily.

Cook-Along Recipe for Meat Stuffed Grape Leaves With Egg Lemon Sauce

A recipe for stuffed grape leaves? Isn’t that a little labor intensive? Why would you ever want a recipe for stuffed grape leaves when you can buy them at Whole Foods or Fairway? While the cold ones may be fine, and the Accidental Locavore is partial to the grape leaves at Murray’s, you rarely come across the meat stuffed grape leaves, usually served hot with an egg-lemon sauce. While snacking on a cold one the other day, I had the idea to make a batch of the meat stuffed ones. I used two Greek cookbooks, Sofi’s Aegean Kitchen, and The Olive and Caper, the recipes are pretty similar, and actually pretty easy, it’s like making meatballs and wrapping them up. Between the rolling of the leaves, and making the sauce, it’s probably only 45 minutes of actual work, and it’s easy. Here’s my adaptation:

Meat Stuffed Grape Leaves

• 1 pound ground lamb (you can use a mix of lamb and beef, or just beef, but why?)
• 1 good sized onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 3 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped (didn’t have any so left it out)
• 3 tablespoons dill, finely chopped (I probably used a little more)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 16 ounce jar grape leaves in brine (you can make these yourself if you happen to have a grape vine…)

Rinse the grape leaves well in hot water and let drain. In a large bowl, mix all the other ingredients together. Line a large sauce pan (big enough to hold all the stuffed grape leaves in one layer) with grape leaves. This is a good time to use any that are small, or ripped. Place one grape leaf on your work space, shiny side down. Put a  tablespoon of the meat mixture at the bottom of the leaf (see photo). Fold the left side into the middle, then fold the right side in and roll up towards the tip. Place in the pot with the tip (seam) side down. Repeat until you’re out of filling. The stuffed grape leaves should be fairly crowded in the pan. Put a plate over them to weigh them down. Add hot water to cover, and simmer over low heat, covered, for about an hour until they are cooked through.

Egg Lemon Sauce

• 2 cups of liquid from the grape leaves
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat the 2 cups of liquid in a small sauce pan. In a measuring cup, mix the milk and cornstarch. Stir until smooth. Slowly add it to the broth, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat. Beat the eggs and lemon juice together until foamy. Slowly add it to the pan, stirring constantly. The sauce should be yellow and creamy. Taste it and add salt and/or more lemon juice to taste. Serve it over the warm grape leaves and enjoy.

My rating: 3 1/2 stars: Didn’t have enough lemons for the sauce, so it was a little bland. Fixed that the next day. Next time, I would also add some lemon juice to the meat mixture. This recipe has milk and cornstarch in the sauce, I’m not sure how traditional that is, and might just look for a simpler version in the future.

If you end up with more leaves than stuffing, try wrapping a slice from a log of goat cheese in a leaf, and grilling it, delicious! Also, salmon with a little olive oil, dill, and lemon, wrapped in a couple of leaves and baked, grilled or steamed is lovely.

 

Cook-Along Recipe for Pad Thai From Marcus Samuelsson

This week’s Accidental Locavore Cook-Along recipe continues the Marcus Samuelsson theme, and is taken from his cookbook New American Table that we were given at the Red Rooster Harlem event. Of course I picked the recipe least likely to be considered American…Pad Thai. My excuse? I’ve always wanted to try my hand at Thai food, and this recipe was a convenient excuse. This is a great dish to make when you feel like wielding a knife in the kitchen, and the bonus? It’s a super easy and quick recipe once you’ve gotten everything prepped. The chopping and prep work took about a half an hour at a leisurely pace. The downside? Lots of pans to clean, so you make the Pad Thai and con someone else into the clean-up. Serves 4-6 according to the book, seems like 4 good sized portions to me.

Pad Thai adapted from New American Table

• One 8 ounce package rice noodles (lacking an 8 ounce package, use half a 16 ounce pack)
• 1 cup unsalted, roasted, skinless peanuts, roughly chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 birds eye chiles, seeds and ribs removed (unless you like it really hot), chopped (these are the skinny red or green Thai chiles)
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (substitute pork or shrimp if you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon dried shrimp paste (the Thai grocery on Bayard St in Chinatown had all the ingredients)
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamarind paste (the man in the grocery said they don’t import this anymore, and sold me tamarind liquid, which worked fine, I used a bit more than 1 TBSP)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup firm tofu cut into 1/2″ cubes and patted dry with paper towels
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 2 tablespoons Chile Vinegar (see below)
• 1 lime cut into wedges

In a medium pot soak the rice noodles in 4 cups of hot water until softened, about 10 minutes. Strain and set aside.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the peanuts and toast until golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Whisk the eggs together. Heat a nonstick saute pan over medium heat (not having a small nonstick saute pan, I sprayed mine with Pam, next time will probably just use a little oil, or a bigger nonstick pan). Add the eggs and cook until done about 3 minutes (you’re making scrambled eggs here). Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and chiles and saute until fragrant 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken and peanuts and saute until the chicken is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and add the rice noodles, eggs, shrimp paste, fish sauce, tamarind paste, soy sauce, sugar, tofu, scallions and cilantro. Toss gently to combine. Drizzle the chile vinegar. Serve over the lettuce and with the lime wedges. Enjoy.

Chile Vinegar

• 2 Thai chiles, seeded and ribs removed, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (I used seasoned as that was all I had and it was fine)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes.

My rating: 3 stars. Mostly because the rice noodles were too stiff. They probably needed boiling water, and more than a 10 minute soak. This was spicier pad Thai than you usually get from a Thai restaurant which was fine by me. I would definitely make it again, but might substitute boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Getting the ingredients was a bit of a challenge, but I love this little grocery in Chinatown, and once you get all the stuff, you have it (the chiles can be frozen). Added bonus, there’s a Chinese bakery on Mott Street of Bayard that has amazing pork dumplings to take home.

Frank’s rating: 3 1/2 stars. Same issue with the noodles, and he thought there were too many peanuts, which is easy enough to fix.

What do you think?

Cook-Along? Recipe for Coq Au Vin, Chicken Stew With a French Attitude

This recipe for Coq au vin is one of  the Accidental Locavore’s husband’s favorite dishes. If you want to make it as part of the Cook-Along, check out either Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking or The Way to Cook. It’s basically a recipe for French chicken stew with bacon and red wine, and can be served over mashed potatoes or buttered noodles. It’s pretty easy to make, and the length of time it takes really depends on you. If you have the time and inclination, you can marinate the chicken overnight in the wine, and/or let it braise in a slow cooker. Or do it on the stove, only one pot to clean. You can easily make this for a crowd, just increase everything proportionately. This serves about 4 people. Cooking time 1 hour, plus optional marinating time.

• 1 chicken cut into 8 pieces
• flour, salt and pepper for dredging the chicken
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 slices bacon (or use an end), cut into 1/2″ strips (lardons)
• 1 bottle decent red wine (if you won’t drink it, don’t cook with it, we use a basic Cotes de Rhone)
• 1-2 cups chicken broth
• 1-2 tablespoons Cognac (optional, but use it)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (buy the tubes, then you don’t wonder what to do with the rest of the can)
• 8 ounces button or baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1 bag frozen pearl onions (trust me it’s easier than peeling fresh ones)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon herbs de Provence (optional)

If you want to marinate the chicken, put it and enough red wine to cover it, in covered dish, or Ziploc bag and refrigerate overnight. Don’t panic if it’s a weird shade of purple the next day, it’s just the wine. The next day, remove it from the marinade, toss the marinade, and pat the chicken dry.

If you’re not marinating the chicken,  pat it dry. Heat the olive oil in a big saute pan, or Dutch oven, over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until almost crispy about 5 minutes.  When the bacon is done, remove it from the pan, and put it on paper towels to drain. Raise the heat to medium high. While the bacon is cooking, pour enough flour to dredge the chicken into a shallow bowl, mix in salt and pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, and shake off the excess. Brown it in the olive oil/bacon fat on both sides (start skin side down), about 5 minutes a side. Depending on your pan, you may have to do this in batches.

When the chicken is browned, add the rest of the wine, the cognac, and about a cup of chicken broth. You want the wine and broth to come about 2/3 of the way up the chicken. Stir in the tomato paste until mixed in. Add the bacon, mushrooms, onions, bay leaf, herbs de Provence, salt and pepper. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook over low heat for about an hour until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.

If you’re using a slow cooker, when the chicken is browned, add it, the bacon, mushrooms, onions, spices, wine, cognac, and chicken broth to the slow cooker. Cover and cook over low heat.

This is optional, but it intensifies the sauce. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan, and put it on a platter tented with aluminum foil to keep it warm. Turn the heat up to high, and bring the sauce to a boil. The longer you boil it, the more it will reduce, and intensify the flavor. When it gets to a consistency and taste you like, add the chicken back in, serve and enjoy.

Cook-Along Recipe for Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Gratin to You)

Potato gratin to go with rack of lamb for Valentine’s Day, what’s a better combination? So the Accidental Locavore went straight to the source for this week’s cook-along recipe, Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I wanted a recipe for a classic French potato gratin and found it with the Gratin Dauphinois. The only major change I made with it was to omit the cooking on top of the stove as I’m sure the gratin pan I have wasn’t flameproof, so I just cooked it in oven a little longer. The book says for 6 people, maybe my guests were just hungry, it fed 4. Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

• 2 pounds potatoes (I used Yukon Golds)
• 1/2 clove garlic
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup (4 ounces) Swiss cheese, grated (I used a Gruyere from Murray’s Cheese)
• 1 cup boiling milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the potatoes and slice them 1/8″ thick. Place them in a bowl of cold water, and drain when ready to use.

Rub the baking dish with the cut garlic. Grease the dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter. Drain the potatoes and dry them with a towel. Spread half of them in the dish. Sprinkle half the salt, pepper,cheese and butter over them. Add the rest of the potatoes, and cover with the rest of the cheese, butter, salt and pepper. Pour the boiling milk over the potatoes.

Julia says to set the baking dish over heat and when simmering move to the upper third of the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, the milk is absorbed, and the top is browned. I just popped them in the oven and cooked them until they were browned, about 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

My rating: 3 stars. The potatoes were a little overcooked, and there was no sign of the cheese. Next time, I would use more cheese, and maybe substitute cream for the milk. A little fresh thyme and/or nutmeg might help. It may have been the potatoes I used, but the dish was kind of watery. However, potatoes with cheese, milk and butter, how bad can it be? I’ll definitely keep rubbing the cut garlic on the baking dish.

Frank’s rating: 5 stars

Robin’s rating: 4.5 stars…”the potatoes were PERFECT, and seasoned perfectly to let the flavor of the potato shine…the only reason it’s not higher for me is because I would have probably put a little more cheese in it, but I love cheese!”

Schecky’s rating: 4 stars,” and say it was simple and delicious – a perfect compliment for the rest of the meal.”

Cook-Along Recipe for Coconut-Curry Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs, don’t you love them? When the Accidental Locavore saw this recipe from Tasting Table, it was only a matter of time before this recipe for coconut curry short ribs made it onto my dining table. Like most short rib recipes, this one is pretty easy, but it’s a long 3-4 hour, cooking time, so plan accordingly. The recipe calls for doing them in a Dutch oven, and I did sear and finish them in mine, however so they didn’t have to be tended, they went in the slow cooker, and came out great. To go with, some baby bok choy, sliced horizontally, sauteed with a little minced garlic, and ginger, and finished with some soy sauce and hot sesame oil. Served 3 with not much left over.

• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste (I used some panang curry paste, it came in a red container and worked fine)
• 1 1/2″ piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch of scallions, white and green parts, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  
• 3 pounds beef short ribs (about 10 small ones)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock, or broth (I used beef broth as for some crazy reason there was no chicken broth)
• 1 4″ piece lemongrass, lightly crushed (use the handle of a knife and whack it)
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (I used light brown, but think dark might have been better).
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or just serve with lime wedges)
• steamed white rice for serving (keeping with the Thai idea, I used jasmine rice)

Preheat the oven to 275. In a blender or food processor, combine the curry paste, ginger, scallions, garlic, and water, and process until smooth. In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Salt and pepper the short ribs. When the oil is hot, add the ribs and cook for about 4 minutes a side to brown them. When the ribs are browned, pour off the excess fat from the pan. Add the chicken stock, lemongrass, and the curry mixture from the blender. Bring to a simmer, cover, and transfer to the oven. Cook until they are fork tender, about 3-4 hours.

If you’re using a slow cooker, brown the short ribs in the Dutch oven, then transfer them with the above ingredients to the slow cooker. I started mine on high, and turned them down after an hour, if you don’t want to tend them, just put them on low.

Transfer the short ribs to a cutting board and shred the meat into large pieces. Skim the excess fat from the cooking liquid. Add the meat back to the cooking liquid, and add the coconut milk, brown sugar, jalapeno, cilantro and the lime juice. Cover and cook until the stew is hot but not boiling about 5 minutes. Serve over rice, and enjoy.

My rating: 4 stars. Because they were in the freezer, I tossed some Thai kaffir lime leaves into the pot with the lemongrass. The recipe says to leave the lime juice out if you are saving some of the ribs and to serve them with lime wedges, so that’s what I did. I’m not sure if I would go to the trouble of shredding the meat the next time I make this. It’s nice to have the short ribs with the bones. At the end, I left the ribs in the Dutch oven on low heat, uncovered, for a while before serving them, and they were fine. When I make them again, if I use the slow cooker, I would just add everything to the slow cooker, cover it, and let it run on slow for a few minutes.

Frank’s rating: 4-41/2 stars. He didn’t give it 5 stars because he’s saving that rating for something spectacular. That being said, this was his favorite of the cook-along recipes so far.

My friend Will’s rating: 4 1/2 stars.”Thought the short ribs were tops!”

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