Slow Cooker Short Ribs: Time to Drag Out the Wedding Gift You've Never Used

Last fall, by the grace of God, my company gave everyone laptops. This meant a faster more enjoyable work experience (if that's possible!) but also that we could start working from home once a week. Working from home is the greatest thing since gluten free sliced bread that doesn't crumble.  Every Wednesday, I roll out of bed, wash my face, make a cup of tea, and turn on my laptop.  Boom, I'm a work.  No more 45 minute commute or lengthy wait in the Starbucks line because the cashier is super chatty that day and is like a drug pusher trying to get everyone to buy their damned croissants.

Work From Home Wednesday has also allowed me to do much more cooking (and cleaning, organizing, bill paying too boot) because I have all day to prepare something.  My sister calls it my "Housewife Day" because by the time she rolls in the door at 6:00, the house is spotless, I'm in an apron with dinner on the stove, and I have a glass of wine waiting for her.  BEST SISTER EVER.

Conveniently, my work from home day is also perfect for slow cooked meals.  Oh, the slow cooker.  I think everyone has such high hopes for their slow cooker and in most cases it just sits on the top of your fridge collecting dust. Kind of like those Tae Bo tapes you ordered or The Magic Bullet.  A popular shower/wedding gift, a slow cooker is GREAT in theory.  Oh, look at me. I just chop a bunch of crap, put it in this pot, and I have a meal in 8 hours! I can leave it unattended! Look, I can make BROWNIES in the slow cooker.  So yes, a slow cooker is great but it takes some strategic planning and basic math skills.  "Okay, so this slow cooked whatever is going to take 8 hours. So I have to get up at 8, and put it in by 10 so it will be done at 6." Who has that kind of grasp on their schedule during the weekday mornings? Not this chick!

But since I'm literally attending conference calls in my pajamas on Wednesday, it has given me more room to prepare and think about using my slow cooker.  Lo and behold, I decided that my last Work From Home Wednesday called for Slow Cooked Short Ribs!

Fun fact about me and short ribs: THEY ARE MY CULINARY SOUL MATE. One upping fettuccine Alfredo as my death row meal, short ribs are the most delicious things on the planet. Fall off the bone tender and slightly fatty, short ribs not only taste like heaven on bone, but they present really well.   If you make these for anybody they will think you are the best chef ever even if your best culinary achievement to date is not burning your toaster strudel in the morning.

Le Creuset "French" Oven.  I want one of these so bad it stings!

Now, I've made short ribs before in a Dutch oven which is the traditional way to do things.  Unfortunately, I still haven't sprung for the holy grail of cooking crockery yet - the Le Creuset Dutch Oven. These things are like a bajillion dollars and since a future bridal shower is looking a little dicey and/or I haven't been able to pay my electric bill in full in three months, it's probably not in the cards for another few years.  Some day, man. Some day. So I have this crappy Dutch oven that I bought at Marshall's for $12.00. It's good, but it cracked the last time I used it and would only fit about 2 good sized short ribs.  And here's where the slow cooker came in.....

I've made a few things in my slow cooker and I've been mildly impressed by them. However, these short ribs impressed me the most and it really was quite easy. To concoct this recipe, I looked up a few different recipes and then coddled them all together to create this masterpiece of meat.  The one thing to remember about cooking short ribs in the slow cooker or short ribs at all, is that they are very fatty. With this fat comes delicious flavor, as it breaks down during the whole cooking process. However, it can make for some seriously greasy sauce.  What I did this time that I haven't done in previous short rib attempts was try to remove as much grease from the sauce as possible. It bubbles up to the top, so you have to painstakingly skim it off the top, but it is worth it.  I served these short ribs with bacon and Gorgonzola grits but they would also be tremendous over polenta or mashed potatoes.

The best part of this meal was that it had oodles of leftovers.  And since I can't stomach eating the same thing for dinner twice in a row (what is this prison!?), I made short rib pizza with arugula, mozzarella, and caramelized onions for dinner the next night. Hands down one of the best pizzas I've ever made.

So the lesson to be learned here is ......stop neglecting that slow cooker and make these delicious short ribs!

Slow Cooker Short Ribs with Bacon Gorgonzola Grits


Makes 6 short ribs.

2 packages of short ribs (usually a package has 2 large ones and 1 smaller one)
package of mushrooms (sliced thin)
1T butter
1 T olive oil
3/4 of an onion, diced
12 gloves of garlic (peeled, smashed, and chopped lightly)
2 bay leaves
1 can of tomato paste
14 oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
1-2 cups red wine

Salt and pepper short ribs on all sides.   Heat skillet over medium heat and add 1 T of butter and 1 T of olive oil.  Swirl pan to combine the two, and then add short ribs to skillet, about 3 at a time.  Brown on all sides and remove from skillet. Place in bottom of crock pot. Repeat with remaining short ribs.

Pour out all but 1 T of oil from skillet.  Add chopped onions and garlic and saute for 1 to 2 minutes till aromatic.  Add wine to de-glaze pan and cook for 1 more minute.  Add this mixture to top of short ribs in the slow cooker.

Throw the bay leaves, tomato paste, diced tomatoes and chopped mushrooms into the slow cooker. It should be filled to the brim at this point, but don't stress. Everything will start breaking down and combining once it starts to cook.  Turn heat to low and cover. Cook for 8 hours.*

After 8 hours is up, remove short ribs from slow cooker and place on plate. Cover with tin foil to keep warm.  Throw the remaining liquid from the slow cooker into a deep sauce pan.  Here comes the fun part.  Try to skim as much of the fat off the top of your sauce as possible.  Once you've done as much skimming as you can do, heat sauce to a roiling boil and reduce for 15 minutes.  This should thicken everything and bring some more grease to the top. Repeat skimming process if there is still a lot of grease in your sauce.  Add short ribs back into pan to reheat in the sauce. Serve 1 short rib and sauce over Bacon Gorgonzola grits.

Bacon Gorgonzola Grits

1 can of evaporated milk + water to equal 3 cups of liquid
1 cup of quick cooking grits
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Crisp bacon in small skillet and set aside on paper towel to cool.  Bring your 3 cups of liquid (evap milk + water) to a boil.  Slowly add grits and begin whisking immediately. Reduce heat to medium and continue whisking until grits starts to pull away from sides of the pan - about 2-3 minutes. Add bacon and crumbled cheese and stir.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Some people like thinner grits. If that's the case, you can thin with more milk or even water.  Just add and whisk away to your desired consistency.


*When I first made short ribs in the slow cooker, I didn't leave myself enough time. So I cooked it for less time on the higher heat setting. DON'T DO THIS. They came out horrible. Slow cooking takes patience so make sure you take the whole 8 hours.

Happy New Year + Blizzard Meals + Detox Days

See ya later 2013. It's be real!

I love January! Even though New England is usually buried in a few feet of snow and my weather.com likes to terrify me with scary phrases such as "Feel's like -14", I always really enjoy the first few days of the new year.  Not that 2013 was super dismal or anything, but I was glad to give it the old the heave ho. Like most people I like to make a bunch of New Year's resolutions that I don't intend to keep.  I've got a few pretty classic ones and some interesting smaller ones.  I'm hoping at least one of them sticks.  Here are a few ....

1. Learn how to load the dishwasher properly. 
2. Stop throwing lemons into the garbage disposal. 
3. Be nicer to my sister's cat. Too bad I just yelled at her with my "demon from hell" voice this morning.  
4. Get in biking shape for my biking tour of Provence in May.  I'm delaying signing up for the gym until all those other people who had the "work out" resolution fail miserably. More stationary bikes for me! 
5. Eat less pad thai.
6. Eat more kale.
7. Buy a dutch oven.
8. Buy a blender.
9. Buy some new sheets.
10. Get a laundry service.  

See? My New Year's Resolutions are ridiculously random and mostly filled with things that I need to buy to make my life better. But small steps, right? 

So as luck would have it, on January 2 Boston got a big, nasty snowstorm.  Normally, I would stock up on red wine and bad food and hibernate until some nice neighbor decided to shovel our sidewalk/deck for us. But I really wanted to start this year off right and cook something cozy yet really healthy.  I bopped on over to MindBodyGreen which is an excellent website to go to if you want to feel bad about yourself. Haha, just kidding.  It's a great website. Very healthy with tips on how to eat, love, shop, exercise, and breathe in a healthy and happy way.  When I feel like I need a healthy recipe, I always go here and so far I have not been disappointed.  I picked out a hearty Italian stew I saw a few weeks back that was tomato based and had lots of beans and spinach and superfoody flair. It also happened to be *gasp* VEGAN.  When I told my sister what we were having for dinner, she immediately freaked. Over here at Chez Dumas, we're about as far from vegan as you can get.  However, I'm a big believer in vegetables and am confident that they alone can carry a dish - especially cozy, comfy, soups.

What really won me over was the addition of tahini.  It's been awhile since I've used tahini. When I first moved to Boston and lived my with my older sister, she would make homemade hummus nearly once a week. Since then I don't think I've purchased the stuff once. It is so flippin' good.  Luckily, when I went to the grocery store prior to the nasty blizzard, there was an entire rack of tahini plunked right next to the eggs - a literal beacon of tahini. It was a sign! Anyways, what is cool about this recipe is you combine tahini with tomato sauce. At first I was like ew, that seems weird. But it actually thickened and added tremendous flavor to the soup. In that sense, it takes the place of cream or milk and is way better for you.  Normally, I don't like veggie soups because I despise veggie stock. I think it tastes like stick water, okay? But by dumping tomato sauce and tahini into the broth, it took it to a whole other level.  

While I did find this recipe on MindBodyGreen, I didn't use everything the recipe called for. The one thing about recipes from here is that sometimes they feature some weird stuff that is also impossible to find slash uber expensive. For instance, this recipe called for chia seeds. I did end up stumbling on chia seeds but once I saw their $12 price tag, I decided that we didn't need chia seeds that bad. I also left out the nutritional yeast (who needs it!) and switched out black beans for red kidneys. A few years back I went on this salt free diet and one day all I could eat for lunch was black beans. Let's just say I should  have invested in some Beano prior to black bean day.  So I guess I have a little black bean PTSD.  Maybe I'll try them again if I don't have any plans for a few days.....

So enjoy this soup - it's cozy, it's delicious, and surprise, surprise......it's VEGAN. 

Italian Superfood Stew 

Featured on MindBodyGreen - with some East of Eating adjustments. 

3/4 of a medium onion, diced

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups veggie stock

1 package of mushrooms, sliced

3 cups spinach

1 can of white beans

1 can of red kidney beans

2 cups tomato sauce 

1/4 tahini butter

a few fresh basil leaves, shredded

a few dashes of Italian seasoning

salt and pepper 

1. Add 1T of olive oil to soup pan. Once hot, add onions and garlic.  Saute over medium heat till fragrant and onions are transparent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add mushrooms and continue to saute for 2 minutes. 

3. Add broth and increase heat to medium high.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Add spinach, beans, and basil and continue to simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes. 

4. In a separate bowl combine tomato sauce, tahini, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.  Pour into soup pot, stir, and cover. 

5. Continue cooking over high heat with cover on for 3 minutes.  Take the cover off and stir every minute or so.  Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool before serving.  Yummy!

Jumping on the Pumpkin Bandwagon: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese

When the calendar flipped to October 1, it was like my Facebook news feed virtually blew up with everything fall. It's something I like to salaciously refer to as a fall-gasm.  People exclaiming, "I LOVE FALL", and wearing sweaters and riding boots even though in most cases it was still about 75 degrees everywhere. By a show of hands, who has visited an apple orchard in the last week? And has taken pictures of fall foliage with the hashtag #nofilter? So yes. People love fall. Sadly, I'm not one of those people. I would say I like fall slightly less than most people.  First of all, I'm a spring baby and no one can convince me that fall trumps May 19th because it just don't. Also, my fall and winter wardrobe is the pits. Tights?! Arg. Also, I miss the beach and good smelling sunblock. But my biggest beef with fall is.....What is with all the pumpkin?! Once fall hits, suddenly pumpkin becomes injected into everything.  Pumpkin coffee, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin beer, pumpkin cider,pumpkin hot chocolate, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin hair gel. Hell, I'm surprised Colgate doesn't come out with  pumpkin toothpaste around Halloween every year. Maybe they do, and I'm just blocking it out.

Punching pumpkins like it's my bizness

So most years I'm all like, "Down with pumpkin" and I go on being the equivalent to The Grinch that Stole Christmas. Just call me the Gluten Free Grinch that Stole the Autumnal Equinox.   However, now that I'm doing this ole blog again, I decided what better time to release my demons and jump on the pumpkin bandwagon once and for all. If you can't beat them, join the pumpkin lovin' bonanza!!

Tossing and turning one night after a touch to late in the day cup of tea, I stumbled upon the idea for pumpkin macaroni and cheese. When I learned to make mac and cheese from scratch a few years back, it became one of 10 or so dishes on my rotating menu. I never get sick of it. It's easy and quick and it's always delicious.  You can find my original blog post on making classic mac and cheese, including step by step instructions on making the GF roux here. 

While pumpkin in itself isn't sweet, it seems as if most things that pumpkin ends up in are in fact sweet. I wanted to pair the pumpkin with a little savory sweet, which is why I went with the caramelized onion. I balanced that out by adding the crust of blue cheese. This is a pretty multi-step recipe, so I suggest saving this for a nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon cooking session.  You can light your autumn harvest candles, wear a bulky sweater, and have a fallgasm in the privacy of your own kitchen. 

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Blue Cheese

Ingredients

Onion

Sugar

2 T butter

1 cup of water

salt and pepper

One pie pumpkin

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

3/4 bag of GF pasta

2 T butter

1 1/2 T GF flour

2 cups milk

garlic clove, smashed

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

4 oz or so blue cheese, crumbled

1. First up, roast your pumpkin.

I was able to buy a smallish size pie pumpkin from Trader Joe's for this recipe. Thank goodness because I was traveling by bus. Cut the handle portion and bottom off so it will lay flat on the counter. This way you can cut it in half without fear of impalement. Cut pumpkin in half and scrape out seeds.  Set seeds aside.  Sprinkle two halves of pumpkin with olive oil, salt, and pepper and place cut side down on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until pumpkin is nice and soft.  Remove from oven and let cool and then scrape out your pumpkin and mash it up.  Add a little salt and pepper and set aside.

Also, don't forget to bake your seeds! Remove all the guts from the seeds and sprinkle with salt. Place on a separate cookie sheet and you can bake them in the oven with the pumpkin for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with a bit more salt and set aside. 

2. Next, caramelize your onions.

You can do this way ahead of time and I suggest you do. Caramelizing onion takes awhile and like any good food it can't be rushed. However, I was able to find a small loophole in terms of onion caramelization that I will share with you to make this process a bit more bearable and fool proof. When I first attempted to make caramelized onions, I ran into a myriad of problems. My pan was too hot, the onions cooked too fast, the onions burned, the sugar burned. Bah. I nearly gave up. Instead of losing all hope, I learned of a technique that allows for essentially mess up proof onions.  I'm sure Julia Child is rolling in her grave but I'm sorry Jules. I just don't have your culinary prowess! Forgive me.

Sinfully adding water to my caramelized onions to speed them along

So, start by cutting onion into rings.  Add butter to a saucepan and turn heat to medium. Once butter is melted, add onions and stir.  Shake one t of sugar and a dash of salt and pepper onto onions. Stir to coat.  Keep heat at medium. After about a minute or once you start to see the onions start to stick to the pan, add a splash of water and stir.  Keep doing this every time you see the liquid decrease to levels where it looks like the onions will start to burn or stick to the pan. I also usually add a little salt, pepper, and a dash of sugar every now and then too.  Basically by adding the water, you're not only preventing the onions from overcooking too quickly, but you're making a little speedy sugar/water sauce that will coat the onion and keep everything a nice brown color.  Now this process will still take some time.  I would say a good 20 minutes or so of constant stirring and adding a little bit of water each time things start to stick. But once the onions are a good light brown color and they fall apart when you try to cut them with a fork, they are done. Remove from heat and put in a bowl to cool.


3. Make your pumpkin cheese sauce

Add butter to sauce pan and place heat at medium high.  Once butter melts, add flour and stir about 1 minute.  Add milk slowly, whisking as you pour it in. I've started to add a smashed garlic glove to my cream sauces. It adds a great dimension and pairs well with the pumpkin.  You can throw that in now if you'd like. Reduce heat to medium and keep whisking until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Add cheddar cheese and then taste. Add salt and pepper to season to your liking.  Next, add about 1 cup of your mashed up pumpkin that you roasted previously. Stir it all together and then set aside.

4. Boil pasta

5. Put it all together.  Once pasta is cooked and drained, add your pumpkin cheese sauce and stir.  Take the remainder of your pumpkin mash and carmelized onion and add it to the pasta.  Mix everything together and place in baking dish.  Top with crumbled blue cheese and place under the broiler for 3 minutes until blue cheese is nice and bubbling. Remove from oven and top with pumpkin seeds.

God, that's good stuff

So this recipe totally won me over. I may not have fallgasmed but pumpkin certainly has earned a spot in my culinary repertoire.  However if you see me with a pumpkin latte in my hand anytime between now and December 21st, feel free to kick me!