Short Rib and Bok Choy Soup

I've seen the words 'lazy day' and 'Cozy Sunday' a lot in blogs and magazine articles lately. It is fall afterall, and I can honestly say I'm in desperate need of a lazy cozy weekend!  I feel like there's always something that has to be done, people to see, events to attend. Since weekends are our only time to spend together as a family, I'm feeling the pinch, along with my family, because I'm taking a 13 week Pro Chef Series which meets every Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am-12:30 but usually I don't get home until after 1pm. I get home and I'm hot, tired, and smelling of each week's culinary ingredient. Last Sunday, was pork class. I got home and my oldest son said, "What sinks like horrible food?" 

Yes...he's been a real shit lately. He not happy that I'm gone every weekend until the afternoon. I get it. And it is true, I do smell like chicken, beef, garlic, onions, grilling, oil, pork...you name it! Just wait until Fish and Shellfish class. But seriously after 4 hours of cooking, my clothes, my hair, skin, and even my bra stinks like food and dare I admit, a hint of sweat. It's a ton of work and A LOT of fun and most importantly, I LOVE IT! I'm learning so much and the food has been out-of-this-world delicious! Don't worry, I'll blog some of Chef Teri's amazing recipes and share some cool techniques I've learned along the way. :)

But that brings me back to Lazy. Cozy. Sunday. I need one and my family needs one. I have no class the weekend after Thanksgiving so I'm scheduling my Lazy Cozy Weekend with my family. Just me, my husband and my boys. Nothing to do. Nowhere to be. 

I'll turn off my phone, wear PJ's all day, make a big pot of soup, watch old movies, nerf guns, and play twister with the kids. Hey...who knows, maybe we'll go for a long walk or a bike ride...or maybe not...we're supposed to be LAZY right? Of course, the cozy part is completely dependent on SoCal weather. :)

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a delicious soup for your next lazy weekend!

Short Rib and Bok Choy Soup

Recipe slightly adapted from Three Beans on a String

Serves 8

2 pound short ribs, with or without bones

6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 medium yellow onion, sliced
1 Roma tomato, quartered
1 t. Chinese Five Spice
1 Habanero chile, halved and seeded
1/2 cup rice wine or sherry
1/2 cup soy sauce
12 cups chicken broth
1 lb. baby bok choy, sliced in 1-inch strips
10 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup green onions, chopped

In a large stockpot, cover the short ribs with water and bring to a boil. Immediately turn off the heat and remove the beef and set aside. Discard water and wash the stock pot. This helps make a clearer broth. Return the par-boiled short ribs to the clean stockpot and add garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, five spice, Habanero chile, rice wine, soy sauce and chicken broth. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 3 hours or until meat is tender. Remove from heat and allow the soup to sit for an additional hour. Next, remove the beef from the pot and pour the broth through a sieve to strain out the vegetables while collecting the broth in another clean stock pot. Add beef back to the strained broth.
Skim any fat from the surface of the broth. (I refrigerated the soup overnight and removed the hardened fat from the surface)

Bring the soup back up to a boil and then add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the Bok Choy and blanch for another 2 minutes.
Ladle into bowls and top soup with bean sprouts, green onions and cilantro.

Other Soup recipes to try:
   Rustic Minestrone                  Chicken Pot Pie Soup              Spicy Beef Stew

Braised Short Ribs

The best part of cool weather outside, is the great things you can slow cook inside, like Braised Short Ribs. Here's a recipe I found many years ago from my favorite cooking magazine, Cuisine at Home. I've blogged a few recipes from this awesome magazine before, like Greek Meatballs, Garden Fresh Gazpacho, Rice Vera Cruz and Tofu Bruschetta. Cuisine at Home is great because it gives simple, important tips and techniques and of course it uses easy to find ingredients. In this recipe, Cuisine at Home goes over Braising basics which I'll summarize for those who may have never braised before. When I first started to cook, I learned the most from my mistakes, but when it comes to expensive cuts of beef, (because beef is expensive on my budget, no matter what the cut it) it's nice to get a heads up and avoid some common errors. Braising is the technique of slow cooking meats in liquid. There are a few steps that are important so the meat is brown and not gray and that the gravy is complex and delicious and not burnt tasting. So here are some tips from Cuisine at Home that has helped me make this wonderful dish perfect every time.
  
The first step is Browning the meat. This step adds color to the meat and renders some of the fat from the meat. The oven temperature alone won't brown the meat to a dark brown, so don't skip this step. Once you finish browning all the meat and set aside, it is best to pour off all the rendered fat and any burnt flour from the pan. The burnt bits will make the sauce taste scorched. You will have some bits of meat stuck to the bottom of your dutch oven, this is perfectly okay and necessary to add wonderful flavor when you braise.

Step two is Deglazing the pan. After browning the meat and setting aside, you will saute your vegetables with various ingredients in the same dutch oven and then you'll add flour to the cooked vegetables. The flour will coat the vegetables. Next, you will add your flavored liquids and deglaze the pan. The brown bits on the bottom of the pan will be dissolved and incorporated into the sauce and the added flour will act to thicken the sauce.

Step three is Braising. Add the browned meat, in a single layer, bone-side up in the braising liquid. Cover pot with a tight fitting lid and cook in the oven for 2-3 hours. The tight fitting lid helps keep the moisture and heat in the pot which breaks down the fat and connective tissues in the short ribs and makes it fall off the bone, delicious!

There you have it! Easy as can be and incredibly delicious! Happy Braising.

Braised Short Ribs 

(recipe from Cuisine at Home, Oct 2005)

Prepare:
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 T. garlic, minced
1 bay leaf

Combine; Dredge and brown in 1T of olive oil;Remove
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 t. kosher salt
1 t. black pepper
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
2 lb bone-in short ribs

Saute:
1 T. olive oil
Prepared vegetables
1 T. tomato paste
2 T. reserved dredging flour

Deglaze with; Stir in and Braise:
1-14 oz can beef broth
3/4 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup Marsala
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, halved (not packed in oil)
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
Browned Short Ribs

Add:
2 cups crimini Mushrooms, quartered
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare onion, carrot, celery and garlic; set aside.

Combine flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a resealable plastic bag. Add short ribs, one at a time and shake to coat evenly (reserve unused flour). Heat 1 T olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat.  Add dredged short ribs, bone side up, and brown slowly, about 8 minutes. Turn ribs and brown other side for 8 minutes. Remove from the pan; pour off all the fat.

Saute vegetables, garlic and bay leaf with the tomato paste in oil until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add flour; stir until vegetables are coated.

Deglaze with broth, wine and Marsala; stir in tomatoes and Worcestershire, and bring to a simmer. Arrange ribs in sauce, bone side up, cover and braise in the oven for 2-3 hours. 

Add mushrooms and return pot to the oven; braise another 15 minutes. 

Serve with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a roasted vegetable if your choice. I made some Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli with Garlic. I love garlic. Enjoy!