Sesame Ginger Shortribs

Marinate 4 lean beef short ribs in a mixture of:

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup brown sugar or 2 T honey
2 t ground ginger, or one 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t "rooster sauce" (Sriracha Chili Sauce)

Marinate in the fridge for 2 - 4 hours, turning once or twice.

Bake in a dutch oven with the lid on for 2 - 3 hours in a 300F oven. (until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone)

Remove the ribs, and skim the fat off the liquid.
Transfer the sauce to a small pot and reduce to sauce consistency. Adjust seasoning as required.

Serve with steamed mashed sweet potatoes and steamed bok choy.
Drizzle a little of the sauce over the ribs and the bok choy.

I'm playing with various whole grains this week, in an effort to come up with dishes that have all the nutritional goodness, but none of the "tastes like dirt and sawdust" qualities that health food so often boasts.

I am declaring Spelt and Mushroom Pilaf a middling success. It tasted good, I'd make it again, and my test eater went back for a second serving, but if I'd had it in a restaurant I wouldn't be raving to you all about how fantastic it was.

Cooking the Spelt

Cover 1 cup of whole spelt berries with 2 1/2 cups water and bring to the boil
Turn the heat down to a simmer, and cover
Allow to simmer until the berries are tender, but still a little chewy, about 1 hour
Drain any excess water
(you can cook the spelt well in advance in you want to)

Assembling the Pilaf

Saute about 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms in olive oil
Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and the leaves from 3 sprigs of thyme
Pour over 1/2 cup of water and allow to evaporate.
Add the spelt and a generous pour of olive oil, stir to warm the spelt through
Sprinkle over 1 T of sherry and the juice of 1/2 a lemon
Scatter chopped flat leaf parsley over, and serve.

It has a nice nutty, earthy (but not like dirt and sawdust!) taste to it. Nice with pork or chicken, or tofu, but would probably overpower fish.

I don't love cauliflower. I don't dislike it either, but it seldom occurs to me to buy it, cook it, or eat it.

My friend Guppy sang the praises of roasted cauliflower and I thought I'd give it a try. Wonderful stuff. Roasting does a cauliflower good.

Roasted Cauliflower

Cut a head of cauliflower into approximately 1 inch pieces.
Toss the pieces in a little olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
Spread in one layer across a cookie sheet and roast in a 400F oven for ~20 minutes until the cauliflower is soft and lightly caramelized.

My test eater, who loudly expressed his displeasure at the sight of cauliflower in the shopping basket, declared roasted cauliflower to be "magic" and his new favourite vegetable.

The popular South Beach Diet book suggests steaming cauliflower until quite soft and then "mashing" it with an immersion blender until you end up with something that could reasonably replace mashed potatoes.

I tried it, and ended up with something that could reasonably replace wallpaper paste. Not good. Not even edible by my standards.

But a with a little tinkering I eventually ended up with something that I really liked.

Mashed Cauliflower with Maple Pecan Crust

Break 1 head of cauliflower into pieces
Steam until very soft
Mash with an immersion blender
Salt to taste
Add a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon, stir to blend.

Transfer the mash to a baking dish or individual ramekins.

Roughly chop a handful of pecans
Sprinkle the pecans with a little bit of cinnamon and scatter over the cauliflower mash.
Drizzle a little bit of (sugar free, if you're really serious about the low carb stuff) maple syrup over the pecans
Bake in a 400F oven until the pecans start to caramelize.

No matter what you do to it, you're never going to get cauliflower to taste like mashed potatoes (and why would you?) but this does make a very tasty side dish that I'd be happy to serve in place of spuds.

I love fennel. I think you should love it too.

Braised Fennel

Cut 2 large fennel bulbs into quarters, cutting out the tough bottom part of the core.

Place in a ceramic dish that is not much bigger than necessary to fit the fennel.
Dab with 1 T butter
Pour over 1/2 cup of vermouth and 2 T of water.
Seal tightly with foil.
Bake in a 350F oven for 30 - 45 minutes, until soft and tender.

Remove the foil and place a few thin slices of chevre on top, return to the oven, under the broiler to brown the cheese.

I generally make this as a side for white fish or roast pork. Sometimes I add a couple of apples (cut into wedges) for a bit of sweetness.

Fennel Pear and Truffle Salad

Core the fennel bulbs.
Slice the fennel bulbs very thinly with a mandoline or a Benriner slicer.
Peel, core, quarter and thinly slice 1 pear for each fennel bulb
Drizzle some white truffle oil (Truffle oil is expensive but you only need a little bit) over the fennel and pear, and toss well.

Add a handful of toasted hazelnuts or walnuts and serve with a couple of parmesan shavings over top.

This is one of my favourite salads and I serve it with pretty much everything, but it really sings when paired with white fish.

If that's not enough fennel for you, Check out Clotilde's Fennel and Orange Peel Soup

My goodness there certainly are a lot of you all of a sudden. Welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

It is my aim to make this site a little more active than it has been. I plan to be doing A LOT of cooking in the next few weeks, and will be posting recipes and thoughts as I go.

A facelift for the site is also in the works. Just like cleaning up your house for company, you know? I didn't really mind the boring and ugly design until all you people starting dropping round to see it. But, I'm sure you all deserve better than this old mess.

Eat well. Be Happy.

This is a warm, cozy, comfort food kind of dinner. It takes several hours to cook, so best for sleepy Sundays.

Braised Lamb with Cherries

1 - 1 1/2 pound lamb arm shoulder roast
1 small tin of stewed tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic (peeled, whole)
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups red wine
2 tsp really good balsamic vinegar
Large handful of pitted sundried cherries
1 T sugar

Brown all sides of the lamb roast in a hot frying pan
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a durch oven with a tight fitting lid.
Add the lamb to the dutch oven, cover.
Cook at 300F for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the lamb is tender and shreds easily.

I serve this with thyme roasted sweet potatoes, and a green salad with port braised pearl onions. Bread to sop up the sauce would also be nice.