Cat Sitter Dinner: Main Course
For the main course (and the last two) of our cat sitter dinner, we didn't take pictures. We were too busy enjoying the company of our guests. But since I know you all only visit because of Melissa's pictures, I'll share pseudo-recipes to make it up to you.
I wanted to keep the party simple, as I've mentioned before. After the spectacle of the fruits de mer platter, I went back to a homier dish: braised short ribs on a bed of tomato risotto with a side of Tom's Damn Good Mushrooms. The ribs and mushrooms were easy because they cooked for hours with little effort on my part. A quick reheat at service was the final step. I only made the risotto—one of my best dishes but one whose finicky timing prevents it from showing up at more dinner parties— because the other components were so low-maintenance. I flavored the risotto with homemade tomato conserva, sort of a do-it-yourself tomato paste that I'll write about shortly. With this dish, we drank the 2002 Las Tablas Estates Glenrose I've written about in the past.
Technique: Braised Short Ribs
Figure one rib per person for a good-sized portion. Preheat the oven to 300°. Trim the top layer of fat from the ribs, and season them with salt and pepper. Heat an enameled cast-iron pot over high heat. When the bottom of the pot is warm, sear the ribs on each meaty side until a nice crust develops. Remove the meat from the pot, pour off the fat in the pot, and add about four glugs of red wine (off the heat!). The wine will sputter and steam, but use a spatula to scrape off all the little crusty bits while the wine is boiling. Once the wine is reduced a bit, re-add the ribs, bone side down. If they don't all fit on one layer, you'll have to rotate them top to bottom while you cook them. Pour enough red wine into the pot (again, off the flame) to cover one-third of the bottom layer of ribs. Add some "cooking herbs" such as thyme, rosemary, and marjoram (this is a great place to use dried herbs, by the way). Cover the pot and cook until the meat flakes easily with a fork (five ribs took about five hours). If you've put the ribs on two layers, rotate them every hour or so. Remove the fat: The best way is to cool the pot to room temperature, put it in the refrigerator overnight, and scrape the fat off. Uncover the ribs, and reduce the liquid on the stovetop over a medium flame. Use that as sauce. Reheat the components in a low-temperature oven.
Technique: Tom's Damn Good Mushrooms (serves 3-4)
I don't know what Tom calls these mushrooms, but Tom's Damn Good Mushrooms is our name. Place a pound and a half of mushrooms into a saucepan. Add enough red wine to cover and cooking herbs as above. Place pot over very low heat (the wine shouldn't boil or even really simmer) and cook, uncovered, until the liquid's evaporated (again, roughly four to five hours). Season mushrooms to taste.
Technique: Tomato Risotto
My own risotto technique has changed as I've tasted other risotti, and now I pretty much use Tom's technique. About half way through the cooking time, I added two heaping tablespoons of conserva. I finished with a few handfuls of Parmiggiano-Reggiano.
Technorati tags: food & drink | dinner party | entertaining | recipes
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