Beef Short Ribs and Community Supported Agriculture

When we lived in Italy, I had a great relationship with my local butchers.  I loved the individual attention, the sense of community in their shops and I always looked forward to visiting them for a chat. Their meats were tender and flavorful, yet I was continually curious about the origin of the meat I was buying. Despite my probing questions, it appeared impossible to get accurate information on how the meat was raised and butchered.  I imagined animals roaming the idyllic Umbrian countryside, but my fairytale still left me in the dark about the Italian meat industry.  My organic grocer sold "organically raised" meat, so I knew there was some difference between that and my butcher shop purchases.  Since no one could really answer my questions, I balanced my purchases between the butcher and the organic grocer and hoped I was avoiding hormones and antibiotics.

Back in the States I certainly miss the colorful interactions with merchants in Rome.  Although I try to engage people at my local grocery store, no one has warmed up to me the way the Italians did.  So recently I've been supporting local farmers at my local Green Market who are much more open to conversation.  This winter I also joined a collective of small family ranches that offers a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share called 8 O'Clock Ranch.  They provide organically raised beef and lamb, as well as pastured pork and chicken. It's delicious and convenient and has the added benefit of supporting local, sustainable family businesses.

Part of the fun of a CSA share is using cuts of meat I don't normally make at home, like these beef short ribs.  I prepared them for the first meal of 2012,  using a recipe reminiscent of the hearty wild boar or ox tail I used to make in Rome.  It takes time to build community, but I'm on my way-- one sustainable purchase at a time.

Slow-cook Beef Short Ribs with Polenta

Serves 4 

This makes a wonderful, hearty winter meal.  I made it a day before serving it, which was helpful because this cut of meat is rich in fat, and refrigerating it overnight made it easy to skim off 3/4 of the fat that separated, making for a less greasy sauce.  You can easily double the recipe.  If you have extra sauce once the meat has been eaten, simmer it down in a pot and serve with pasta. I have learned from experience to eat a rich meal like this for a weekend lunch instead of dinner, allowing more time for digestion. 

Olive oil

4 lbs beef short ribs (about 4 ribs)

1 onion

1 celery stalk

2 medium carrots

3 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup red wine

5 cups beef stock

leaves from a sprig of fresh thyme

a small handful of parsley

fresh chives 

Coat the bottom of a dutch oven or soup pot with olive oil and heat the pan to medium high heat.  Season the beef with salt and pepper.  Working in batches if needed, sear the meat for a few minutes on both sides until brown.  Remove the meat from the pot and set aside. 

Process the onion, celery, carrots and garlic in a food processor to a fine dice. 
Adding additional olive oil if necessary, sauté the vegetables in the dutch oven until transparent, about 5 minutes.  
Add the bay leaf, tomato paste, red wine, beef stock and thyme leaves.
Return the beef to the pot and cover. Simmer over medium or medium-low heat for 2 hours. 
**You can cool the dish and refrigerate overnight if you wish (skim most of the separated fat off once cooled) or serve immediately.  Remove the bay leaf and sprinkle with fresh parsley and chives before serving.  It's wonderful served with polenta.

Basic Polenta recipe
serves 4-6

6 cups water or broth
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups polenta (I like Bob's Red Mill)
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Boil the water and salt in a heavy bottomed pot.  Add the polenta gradually and stir often while the polenta boils (this may take 20-30 minutes).  When all the water has been absorbed, stir in some butter and parmesan cheese.  Serve hot.

Pignoli Cookies

A memorable Christmas, Roman's first, in Assisi, Italy

The closest I came to getting a tree this year was strolling through the Christmas tree market on Greenwich Street, deeply inhaling the wonderful pine scent.  Well, there was a batch of tree-shaped sugar cookies I made for our neighbors at the bar downstairs.  I saved half the batch for us.

We're going away for Christmas so it didn't feel right to leave a live tree alone for the holidays.  I figured I could pack some treats into the car easier than a whole tree.  So I made some pignoli cookies, a holiday cookie from Italy. Pine nuts. Yes, they come from pine trees and you actually get a hint of that wonderful pine scent when you bite into them.

I lived in Rome for two years and never ate pignoli cookies.  I was too busy devouring ricotta tarts from my favorite neighborhood pastry shop to make time for with these sweet almondy-gems.  They seem more popular in  Italian-American homes and pastry shops. That's probably where I first fell in love with them, years ago at Fortunato Brothers in Brooklyn.  But really, what cookie isn't better homemade?

The week before Christmas is notoriously hectic.  Last minute gifts to buy, cards to send, packing to do. I try to avoid the chaos and carve out some time to bake.  Here is a recipe that involves very little time and effort, and results in a cookie packed full of flavor, so it's a win-win.  That is, if you're not afraid to let things get a little sticky this close to Christmas.

Pignoli Cookies
From the Love'N Bake can
Makes two dozen

The addition of orange zest really brightens up these sweet, nutty cookies.  I love the way the almond and pine nut flavors mingle.  Great with a strong espresso or a cup of rooibos tea.

10 oz can of Almond Paste (ingredients: almonds, sugar, water, natural flavor)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one orange
3 egg whites *see note below
1 cup pignoli nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the almond paste, sugar, salt, orange zest with the egg whites using an electric mixer on low speed.  (*Note: it's best to use large eggs, not extra large, and to add the egg whites one at a time.  Do not let the mixture get too runny- it should be more like a paste.)  This will create a smooth paste.
Scoop out a heaping teaspoon full with your fingers, coat one side evenly with pignoli, then drop onto the baking sheet.  (This is the sticky part. Work quickly and try to minimize how many fingers you use to touch the batter.)
Bake at least 10-12 minutes (Mine took about 14 minutes, but depending on your oven, watch to make sure you don't over bake.)
Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet, then carefully peel them off the parchment paper.  Store in a covered container.

African-Inspired Peanut Soup

Above the African desert in a four seater plane, the world feels so different. Expansive, vast, a gentle place, where winds work hard to carve and shape the earth at their whim.

After 30 minutes of flight, the vista changed so dramatically. It was unnerving but also calming to witness.  What was going through my mind?  I remember.

Where am I from? Where am I going? 

How did we get here?

How does this exist? 

I'm as small as a grain of sand way down there. 

The water will wash it all away. 

My thoughts like to wander as much as my body.  Lately, I've been soaring over Namibia again, away from the quotidian workings of my mind: What's for lunch, what's for dinner, what fun toddler activities will I orchestrate today? 

But no, really, what is for dinner?  I can't daydream all day.  Back down to earth I come.  I remember the flavors of Namibia and recall a peanut soup.

If you can make it to Africa in this lifetime, I whole-heartedly recommend a fly-in safari in Namibia.  In the  event that such a trip is not possible in the next few decades, make this soup. It will tide you over, without all the existential searching. 

African Inspired Peanut Soup

4 servings

The beauty of this soup is threefold.  First, you have a surprising twist on a chicken soup (the peanut). Then you have extremely bright vegetables.  By steaming them briefly you will not overcook them. Lastly, the garnishes add bursts of tangy flavor.  And the chicken is so incredibly tender you can't help but love this dish.  Interestingly, neither the jalapeño nor the serrano peppers made this soup spicy, which was my intention.  I removed the seeds, because seeds would not be nice in a soup, and of course therein lies the spice.

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast

1/2 cup of flour (to make this gluten free, use 1/4 cup corn starch)

2 Tablespoons curry powder

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 serrano or 2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced

5 cups chicken broth

1/4 cup natural peanut butter (fine to use either chunky or smooth)

1 stalk of broccoli
1 red pepper

Garnish: 

4 green onions, chopped

Handful of cilantro, chopped

1 lime cut into wedges

Cut the chicken breast into bite size chunks, about 2 inches each.  Mix the flour (or cornstarch) with the curry powder, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.  Working in 2 or 3 batches, dredge the chicken pieces in the flour/curry mixture.  Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat.  Again working in batches, sauté the chicken (do not crowd it in the pot) for 2 minutes each side.  Remove and continue this until all the chicken has been sautéed.  Be careful not overcook it- really, just 2 minutes per side. Remove all the chicken from the pot and set aside for later.

In the same pot, over medium to low heat, cook the garlic and serrano pepper for about 1 minute.  Add the peanut butter and stir to melt, then add the broth.  Cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes.  

Meanwhile, as broth simmers, cut the broccoli into florets and the red pepper into chunks or strips.  Steam the vegetables until just tender, making sure they retain their vibrant color.  

Add the chicken pieces to the broth, again over a low simmer and cook for an additional 15 minutes.  (Set your timer, this will ensure extremely  tender chicken.)

The soup is ready to be served.  Just ladle the chicken and peanut broth into shallow bowl, top with broccoli and red pepper, and garnish with scallion, cilantro and lime wedges.