Monday, November 9, 2009

Raising Foodies: And Finally, Some Success

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh--you would not believe how good my house smells right now.

I did so much wrong on this recipe and it's still one of the best things I've made in a while.

Today was finally the day for the braised short ribs. After I bought them at Trader Joe's I realized the recipe was really for bone-in, not boneless. The sell-by date came and went before I got my act together. The "fine chopping" was more than I could bear so I all but pureed the mirepoix before it went in. I didn't leave enough time for the ribs to brown properly and I'm scared of that much spattering in any container on my stove. And I was despairing as the time for preparation ticked on through a lovely, surprise 70-degree November day when clearly this is a sub-40 meal.

And it is glorious. I mean, it's not even done and this is SO GOOD I can't help raving about it. I was excited to use some of my herbes de Provence, which are taking space on my shelf and are not a favorite. I was hoping for two nights of meals from this. I am in an eternal search for layered flavors from my own kitchen. And wow, does this ever deliver. This is a serve-over-mashed-potatoes-AND-with-crusty-bread situation.

All that time I spent pulling it together, thinking to myself, accept it: you are not like those moms in the blogs who can just whip this stuff up: I don't know whether it doesn't take them as long or not. But I do know this is worth hunting down the short ribs for. It is a delight. Even with all the mistakes. It lasted us three days; the boys ate the meat and one ate the carrots (FTW!) and my husband, who is unfailingly polite and kind to my efforts, truly, truly raved. We have a new family favorite, all.

DO make the braised short ribs recipe. The mashed potatoes were fine, and I liked the creme fraiche version better this time in this combination. I won't lie: this is not a quick dish, and there is oil-spatter a-go-go to clean up. And it is all 100% worth it.

2 comments:

Mom24 said...

Thanks for the tip. I've always wanted to make short ribs. I'll have to give these a try.

Shelley said...

You are making me SO hungry over here, and although my mom used to make short ribs every now & then, I've never tried them and am now thinking I should.

Thanks for learning out loud over here!