Hello. It’s been a long time since I last updated it, and I’ve genuinely missed my blog. I’m sorry for my
absence (in case any of you missed it!) But it has been an absolutely
insane few months.
To summarise I have:
- Got a new job
- Left the old job
- Gone on holiday to Berlin, eaten lots of pork and drank a lot of beer
- Lived in someone else’s house in London for three weeks (thanks Lisette!)
- Started a new job
- Moved back to Leeds
- Found a house, packed up a house and moved to Manchester all in the space of a week
You know, amongst other things. So my culinary
inspiration has been low. I have managed to make normal food and real
meals more often than not, but it hasn’t been new or interesting or
novel, it’s been something that I’ve made before and is probably
on this blog already. (or it has been a stir fry. I've had a lot of them)
So I had to ask for help for this one. When asked
what kind of meat I should buy for this weekend, my other half said
“It’s a while since we’ve had a chicken” and that wasn’t
what I was looking for. I wanted to cook something different and that
I don’t cook all the time. I asked a friend for inspiration for
what to do with beef, as I hardly ever cook beef and she suggested
Beef Short Ribs. (suggested reading, her blog
http://megabekatron.com/)
Finally I was getting inspired. I started to think about home-made
coleslaw with chilli and coriander. And corn on the cob, with butter.
And salads. And potato wedges? Or stuffed skins? Oh, the list is
endless. Brilliant.
You've got to have time for this, although there
isn't that much to do and it's not difficult it just takes absolutely
ages. Lazy rainy Saturday afternoon ought to do it.
Beef Ribs, with stuffed potato skins, corn and
coleslaw.
Cue lots of confused conversations with my butcher
(have found a new butcher now I've moved). Lots. Short ribs is an
American name for the cut, and we talked at cross purposes for much
of the week, and I'm still pretty sure I don't have short ribs, but
you know what? There's meat, there's bone and sod it I might as well
just give it a good go.
Some recipes advocate boiling them first to help
keep them tender. I thought this seemed like a good idea as surely
the by-product is basically stock? I could always use stock, and
lovely beef stock would make an amazing soup.
So I put the big hunks of rib into a pot with two
chopped onions, some celery and a few cloves of peeled garlic as well
as some bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. I then just covered with
water and simmered for about an hour, occasionally skimming scum off
the top.
I didn't take any photos of this, because it has
scum. That's not very photogenic.
In the mean time shove some potatoes in the oven
to bake. And you can probably make your coleslaw at this point too...
the recipes are below.
For the marinade:
Rub the cooled ribs with some cumin, coriander,
paprika, salt and pepper. Cover and put in the oven for an hour at
about 160 degrees.
 |
| Big hunks of meat rubbed with spices |
I mixed two tablespoons of tomato puree, one
tablespoon of soy sauce (ours is really good dark stuff from the
Chinese supermarket, use more if it's not), two tablespoons honey,
and three tablespoons of bourbon. Mix thoroughly with a good
pinch of salt, some chilli flakes and salt and pepper. And a splodge of ketchup. Thoroughly
coat the ribs in that, then put them back in the oven covered for
another hour.
Uncover them for the last half hour, then whack up the heat to 200 for the
last 15 minutes. Add a bit of water to the pan if they look like
they're getting dry.
Potato skins
Once your potatoes are
baked take them out of the oven and let them cool for a bit. Then cut
them in half, scoop out the insides and mix with spring onion and
cheese, and salt and pepper.
Put the mix back in the potato skins and put in
the oven for half an hour. You could pile more cheese on top, and
this is hardly a healthy meal, but I decided enough was enough. Serve
with a big dollop of sour cream.
NB. if you weren't having such a ridiculously meaty meal you could fry/grill some bacon and add to these.
Coleslaw
Mix two big
teaspoonfuls of good quality mayo with some lemon juice. You could
make your own mayonnaise, but I had enough to be getting on with. I
have done it in the past though, look!
Slice some white
cabbage, a carrot and a red onion as finely as you can. (I ended up
grating the carrot) A mandolin would be good for this, but I don't
own one. It's on the list of things I covet for my kitchen, but the
other half thinks I'm being ridiculous.
Mix it all together
with the mayo, a handful of finely chopped coriander, and some finely
chopped chilli. Season.
Boil your corn in
plenty of salted water, then toss it in some butter. And you're there.
This is not a healthy
meal. And it's not really the meal I was intending to make, and it
was the wrong cut of beef, but my word it was tasty and tender. As usual I made far too much, but I'm going to shred the rest of the meat and have it in sandwiches with leftover coleslaw with some leaves.
Whilst making this I was mostly listening to: Giles Peterson on 6music. Good stuff.
This week's soup: will be something involving beef stock. Suggestions welcome.
