Cabernet Braised Short Ribs

Cooking Light strikes gold again! I found this recipe as I was leafing through some old issues of the magazine trying to figure out what I wanted to tear out and save and what I could toss when I stumbled onto this absolute feast of deliciousness!  I would recommend making these on the weekend since they are quite time consuming, but they are so tasty they're worth it.  I recommend serving these with smashed Yukon gold potatoes.

Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 pounds beef short ribs, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1 cup cabernet sauvignon or other dry red wine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups (1-inch) slices celery (about 2 stalks)
1 cup (1-inch) slices carrot (about 2 medium)
6 garlic cloves, sliced
2 (6-inch) rosemary sprigs
1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Chopped parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 300°.  Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Add ribs to pan; cook for 8 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Add beef broth to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.  Combine broth, wine, and tomato paste in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk. Place ribs, celery, carrot, garlic, rosemary, and onion in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour broth mixture over rib mixture. Cover with foil; bake at 300° for 3 1/2 hours or until ribs are very tender.Uncover dish; strain broth mixture through a sieve over a bowl, reserving liquid. Reserve ribs; discard remaining solids. Place a zip-top plastic bag inside a 2-cup glass measure. Pour reserved liquid into bag. Seal bag; carefully snip off 1 bottom corner of bag. Drain liquid into a small saucepan, stopping before fat layer reaches opening; discard fat. Add flour to pan, stirring well with a whisk. Place pan over medium heat; bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Serve sauce with ribs and potatoes. Garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.

Makes 6 servings (serving size: 2 short ribs and about 2 1/2 tablespoons sauce)

CALORIES 499 (includes 2/3 cups noodles from the original recipe that I did not serve with this)
FAT 22.8g (sat 9.2g,mono 9.7g,poly 1.2g); 
FIBER 1.7g 

"Feed me, Seymour!"

In keeping with the inexpensive theater options in DC about which I just raved, Nicole, Melissa and I scored $12 tickets to Little Shop of Horrors on Tuesday, March 16th.  Perhaps the best part of this, however, is that the show plays at Ford's Theater, the historic site where President Lincoln was shot.  A DC landmark, I've never had the opportunity to attend anything at this venue, so I couldn't be more excited. Adding to my excitement is the show itself.  While I've seen the movie version of this very popular, if not a bit bizarre, rock musical, I've never seen it on stage!  Review forthcoming!!

Cocoa Brownies

Somehow we ended up with 3, count 'em, 3, containers of unsweetened dutch processed cocoa in our cupboards.  In the interest of clearing some space, not wasting food and fueled by a brownie-filled episode of Bobby Flay's Throw Down on the Food Network, I decided to give Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies recipe a shot.  So glad I did.  Served hot out of the oven with an ice cold glass of milk - so tasty!!

Ingredients:

Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
1 and 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.  Line the bottom only with parchment paper.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into the greased, floured and parchment paper lined 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, allow to cool in the pan for 1 minute.  Invert a plate on top of the brownie pan, flip the pan-plate combo so that the brownies slide out of the pan and onto the plate.  Serve warm with cold milk!

Roundhouse Theater's "Permanent Collection" earns my praise

One of the things I love most about DC is the amount of affordable theater readily available.  Part of what makes it so affordable is the wide-spread participation in the "30-and-under program."  As participants in this program, theaters select performances to offer cut rate tickets.  The seats are seldom the best in the house, but since many of the venues are more intimate settings, having a seat slightly to the left or right or in the balcony doesn't detract from the viewing experience.

Taking advantage of the $10 tickets, Nicole and I hit The Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda tonight to see Permanent Collection, an intense production about race, influence and art.  Set against the backdrop of an Arts Foundation with an expansive and impressive impressionist collection, the show explores the racial themes that emerge when the new-on-the-block Director of the foundation, appointed at the behest of the foundation's eccentric and recently deceased founder, challenges the founder's willed vision that the foundation's permanent collection remain static in favor of adding 8 additional pieces of African Art.  Bucked by a long-time staffer, the proposed addition quickly becomes a divisive force that, in the end, nearly destroys the foundation both the Director and staffer seek to preserve, each in their own way.

Built on the back of a small but powerful cast, the show spectacularly highlights the tensions that bubble just under the surface in today's society and the mutual destruction that often ensues when tensions bubble over.  Particularly poignant in this production was the actress who played Kanika, the new Director's African-American assistant who inadvertently becomes the arbiter of the conflict.  Her ability to lure in the audience with her warmth and exuberance and to keep them with her ferocity will, I hope, make her a staple in the Roundhouse Theater's casting repertoire.

A win with this production makes the Roundhouse Theater two for two this season.  Nicole and I also checked out their production of The Picture of Dorian Gray, the stage adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel.  Here as well the Theater succeeded, this time bringing to life Gray's depravity in ways that actually made my skin crawl.  Next up, My Name is Asher Lev, assuming the $10 dollar ticket option is available for the next performance of course!

Big bubbles taste, small time operation

As I've mentioned time and again in previous posts, Ben and I have what can only be described as an addiction to the Vienna Vintner, a small, locally-owned wine shop on Maple Avenue in Vienna.  The guys that own this place, Kirby and Vic, really know their stuff, buy phenomenal wines at often more phenomenal prices, and really make the regulars feel like royalty as we duck in every Saturday to try the five or more wines they have on the tasting block and to spend plenty of our hard earned dollars on what is always an unintended half case or more of wine.

For Thanksgiving they put together a spectacular spread complete with all the homemade fixings - turkey, cornbread, you name it - AND thirteen different wines to taste.  Among those wines was Charles Orban "Le Carte Noire" Brut Champagne.

Now anyone who knows me well knows I love the bubbles!  And this bottle did not disappoint.  We tasted it first on it's own and then with turkey and were absolutely blown away.  This champagne, in addition to having great crispness, has a refreshing figgy flavor that is the perfect balance of sweet and dry.    

Additionally, this champagne is what is referred to as a "Grower Champagne."  Essentially what this means is that the same vineyard that grew the grapes produced the champagne.  There's a bit more to it that that, but you get the point.  These champagnes, because they are often produced in small quantities and much of wine pricing can be based on commodity, can be quite expensive.  This bottle, however, our fantastic hosts had managed to snag for such a good price, it retailed for only $45 dollars!  Knowing we couldn't pass up the incredible flavor and freshness of this champagne, especially at that price, we snatched it up.  It's been staying cool at our house ever since.  And tonight, in honor of the Hallmark Holiday du jour, we cracked into it with a meal of seared scallops, whipped potatoes and asparagus. We're just as happy with this fabulous bottle of bubbly now as we were when we first tasted it!!

Denver delivers dear friends and deliciousness!

The week of February 1st brought a barrage of travel and more time spent on planes and in airports than I care to recall. But knowing that my job often lends itself to this type of travel craziness, I just buckled in for the long week ahead.  First stop, one night in Indianapolis and three hours of training delivery on Wednesday, lather, rinse, repeat in Dallas on Thursday and finally on to Orange County, CA for double time training delivery with the staff there.  So far so good, right? All my planes were on time, no one asked me a question I couldn't answer and I only had to get snippy with one snotty curmudgeon who thinks because he's a fossil he's allowed to push me around verbally.  Those of you who know me know just how far he got with that line of thought.

But there is always a travel catch.  This one came in the form of the SNOWIEST winter DC has ever seen.  I was originally scheduled to fly back United Airlines through Denver on Saturday morning. I made it to Denver and that was where I stopped.  But that was fantastic! Because two of Ben's and my most favorite people in the world just moved back to Denver from DC in August - Michelle and Gustavo (hereafter referred to as Muchtavo).

On arriving in Denver, Michelle picked me up in her happy little blue Civic and drove us straight up into the mountains to the cute little town of Idaho Springs for lunch.  Idaho Springs, and Beau Jo's in particular, I'm told, is where skiers and boarders in the know stop to grab some grub before heading to the higher elevations of Breckenridge, Loveland, etc.   We cruised into Beau Jo's, got a table right in front of an old model-T and proceeded to order the BEST, again, the BEST, pizza I've ever had in my life!!!!  Beau Jo's serves "Colorado Style" pizza that you order by pound, rather than small, medium or large.  Michelle and I chose a 2-lb mountain pie with whole milk mozzarella, pepperoni, green and red peppers and Italian seasoning.  According to the Beau Jo's menu, a 2-lb pie is suitable for 2-3 people or a half-dozen mongeese.  We ordered it thinking that we'd have plenty left over for Gustavo.  And then we put away all but two small slices.  Oh, and did I mention the best part of the mountain pie?  They hand roll the crust, so when you're done with the pie you can spread honey on the delicious puffy crust.  AMAZING!

This was only the beginning of a fabulous Denver visit with great friends.  On the way back down to just a mile above sea level, Michelle and I stopped to look around Red Rocks.  While this is an amphitheater and the venue in which many concerts are played in the Denver area, it's the fact that it is an entirely natural formation that provides gorgeous views, beautiful hiking trails and amazing acoustics that really sets it apart.  Sadly, I didn't have my camera with me.  But check out the website for some great pics of the splendor that is this national park and concert venue.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking into my hotel, chatting, checking out Muchtavo's place and more chatting.  Gustavo met up with us for dinner just in time to visit Torres, their favorite family Mexican establishment in Denver, a restaurant I've been hearing about since Muchtavo's DC dwelling days.  Inexpensive and family friendly, I got to enjoy a chicken and bean burrito smothered with green chili!  Tastiness.

Since I had a hotel downtown, Muchtavo opted to stay with me that night.  That let us hit one of their favorite downtown brunch locations, The Delectable Egg, on Sunday morning.  Potatoes, good.  Eggs, good.  Cheese, good.  The Idaho scrambler was a tasty breakfast selection.  And again we passed an enjoyable meal chatting and catching up.  I love these people and miss them so much, it was so nice to get "stuck" in Denver with them.

By now my flight had been re-scheduled, canceled, re-scheduled again, and then re-scheduled a third time for a better, direct flight on Monday when everyone in the DC area was hopeful the airports would finally be open.  But all the time I spent on the phone with the travel agent aside, we spent the rest of the afternoon in another haze of chatter and laughter, with Muchtavo teaching me all about the neighborhoods and things to do in the Denver area (for when Ben and I come back in the summer!).  By mid-afternoon we somehow decided we were hungry again.  Really, I don't know how, but we were.  So before heading over to Michelle's parents house to watch a great Super Bowl game, we stopped off at the Spicy Pickle for a tasty sandwich selection.  While this is a chain, it's a yummy, healthy one that doesn't exist in my area, so I was happy to try it out!  For the fourth time in two days, Muchtavo didn't steer me wrong.  The Santa Cruz sandwich was great and left me happy and full to meet Michelle's family.

Fast forward a few hours and everyone is cheering for a Saints victory, Michelle's brother's crazy dog keeps making me laugh, Michelle is doing the end-zone victory dance every time the Saints score and I am totally comfortable and enjoying Michelle's great family.  We took off on the early side since it had begun to snow and I had an early flight the next morning, but even with an early departure the night was fantastic and I'm thankful to have been included in it!

Overall, I could not have asked for a better trip to Denver.  With the weather as it was, we didn't get to enjoy all the beautiful scenery Denver offers, but as I told our wonderful friends, I was much more interested in the company and I couldn't have asked for better!

Bacon Mac

Extra kudos to Cooking Light for this one.  I have never found a relatively healthy mac and cheese recipe that tastes this good!  And for 399 calories per very filling serving, you just can't beat it (yes, I know Weight Watchers, among others offer lower calorie mac and cheese recipes, but all my experiences with these have made me believe that if you don't use real, full fat cheese, it has very little taste).

Ingredients

3 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
12 ounces strozzapreti or penne pasta
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups skim milk, divided
2 cups finely shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup sliced green onions
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 slices center-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
Cooking spray
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Drizzle of olive oil

Preheat broiler. Bring 6 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add pasta; cook 8 minutes or until al dente; drain. Combine flour and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Gradually add 1 cup milk; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until it cools to 155°. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cheese. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, onions, hot sauce, pepper, and bacon; stir. Add pasta; toss. Spoon into a 2-quart broiler-safe dish coated with cooking spray; top with 1/2 cup cheese mixed with panko and olive oil. Broil 2 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!!

Lamb Shanks Braised with Tomato

Ingredients:

4 (12-ounce) lamb shanks, trimmed
4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup dry red wine
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle lamb with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Add lamb to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan. Depending on this size of the lamb shanks and the dutch oven, you may have to brown them in batches. Add garlic to pan; sauté 15 seconds. Add wine; cook 2 minutes, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Stir in tomatoes; cook 2 minutes. Return lamb to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Turn lamb over; simmer 1 hour or until meat is done and very tender. Place lamb on a plate; cover loosely with foil. Skim fat from surface of the sauce. Bring to a boil; cook 10 minutes or until thickened. Return lamb to pan; cook 4 minutes or until lamb is thoroughly heated. Stir in parsley.

Serve this totally easy and tasty dish with whipped potatoes and blanched green beans.  Yum!

And I'm Back...

After a month long hiatus, I'm back with a new, fancy computer to back me up.  Why, you ask, did I need a new computer to be back in the blogosphere?  Because I am a klutz.  While carrying my now old laptop from our office/laundry space back to the living room, I caught my foot on a box and fell spectacularly.  As I went careening forward, my computer shot out of my hands landing open with a flop on the floor, completely destroying the screen.  So...new computer, here I am.  Several tasty recipes will be coming soon as I catch up on the blog!