Fall off the Bone Braised Beef Ribs with Fried Mushrooms and Bacon

This recipe is definitely a show stopper. Braised beef, red wine sauce, crispy mushrooms and salty bacon. Similar in style to the bistro classic beef bourguignon, this dish is braised in its sauce over a long time to develop deep flavors out of ingredients that many consider too tough to work with: beef short ribs. The mushrooms and bacon are cooked separately to ensure a differing contrast: melt in your mouth meat with crispy mushrooms. Not that braised mushroom is bad eating, far from it. I just prefer it cooked separately.

I served this braise with a bright, acidic coleslaw and some lemon butter boiled potatoes. But feel free to riff a little with whatever you want. Maybe toss the potatoes into the sauce for the last 20-25 minutes of cook time or add carrots, onions or sautéed spinach to the pancetta and mushrooms.

I must admit though that I made an error with this recipe. When I removed the meat from the braise and reduced the sauce a little bit, I should have removed as much of the residual fat off the top as possible. It didn’t affect the end taste but it added a shine and oiliness to the plate that I was not happy with. To fix this problem when you give this recipe a try, you should spoon off any of the fat floating on the surface when the pan comes out of the oven and do so again when you remove the meat to reduce the sauce a bit. Hmmmm maybe I’ll have to make it again to perfect it......yum.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds, Beef Short Ribs about 6 large pieces, try to find the meaty ones with small bones

1 whole bulb Garlic, smashed up and cloves removed but not cut up

1 Tbsp tomato puree, I used a leftover tomato sauce I had around

¾ of a bottle of red wine, nothing too expensive, ask at the store for something to braise with

3 cups or so of chicken stock

¾ pound of mushrooms, white, brown, portabella, etc. Halved but kept quite chunky

2 or 3 thick strips of bacon or pancetta, diced into lardons

Small handful of parsley leaves

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350⁰ as you prepare all of your ingredients.
• Place a heavy roasting pan onto the stove and preheat to high with a tbsp or 3 of oil.
• When the pan is hot enough to sear, brown all of the short ribs. Turn the pan down if necessary to make sure the ribs are browning not burning.
• When you are browning the last side, toss in the tomato sauce and the garlic. Cook them for a minute.
• Deglaze with a cup of the red wine. Scrap up any bits and let it reduce a little bit.
• Add the rest of the wine after a minute or two and bring to the boil. Top the liquid up with the stock until it’s an inch or so from the top of the ribs.
• Cover with tin foil and place in the preheated oven. Two and a half hours of slow cooking will turn this tough meat into something unbelievably delicious.
• When you have half an hour left, open the oven and pierce the foil with a knife, two or three times. This allows steam to leave and the sauce to reduce a bit.
• Fry the bacon in a dry pan until the fat has rendered a bit and the lardons begin crisping. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden and crisp all around.
• Remove the pan from the oven and skim the fat that has accumulated. Remove the meat to a plate to rest, and set the pan over medium to get a simmer going. Reduce it down a little bit.
• Plate up the short ribs. Spoon some sauce over. Top with the fried mushroom mix and a sprinkling of parsley. Yum.

Nothing Need Go To Waste and I'll Waste no Time in Making Palmiers

Nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. Spices get used up until I'm scraping the bag clean. Veggie trimmings are saved for stock. Leftovers become soup. It is a natural cycle that I keep up because hey I'm not rich and hey who likes to throw things away? So when a few days ago I posted a recipe on the blog for Tarte Tatin (baked upside down caramel apple tart, recipe link here) and I didn't actually need all of the puff pastry I had bought, I knew I needed to come up with a good use for it. I kept this little nubbin of flaky goodness in my fridge for a few days drumming through the possibilities. Puff pastry is extremely versatile. You can top pies both savory and sweet with it, you can wrap meats with it or even turn it into the simple French cookie known as a palmier as I did here.

I've been making palmiers a long time but they are usually of the savory variety. I love rolling the dough out, sprinkling them with cheese and pesto and rolling them up in their trade mark shape and baking them into super flavorful little party appetizers. It has always been that dish in my repertoire that looks complicated and can be thrown together in twenty minutes. Always gets the ooohs and awwws if you know what I mean.

This recipe is a simple sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter cookie, that uses the puff pastry for a super flaky crunch. It goes very well with a nice cup of coffee in the morning and because it can be thrown easily together with little effort it is a great thing to pop in the oven when you have guests stopping by.

Sweet Palmiers

Ingredients: (I have left out specific measurements as it all depends on your taste, see method below)

Puff Pastry, thawed if it was frozen

White sugar

Brown sugar

Butter

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Method:

• Start by taking your puff pastry out of the fridge for 10 minutes to soften up and preheating your oven to 350⁰
• On a large cutting board or your counter top, sprinkle a light mix of white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Put the puff pastry onto the seasoned board and roll it out without flipping it over until it is quite thin.
• Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a small bowl and sprinkle in some brown sugar (about 2 to 1, butter to sugar) and stir well so the sugar dissolves. Using a spoon or a pastry brush, spread a small amount of butter over the pastry. Don’t overdo it. You don’t want soggy cookies.
• This is where your personal taste comes into play.  Sprinkle white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg onto the buttered side of the pastry. If you like your cookies a little more neutral ease up on the sugar. If you want something a bit sweeter, adjust the sugar. Your call.  Not going to lie, I get a different cookie every time. I kind of like it.
• Now comes the fun part. Starting from one side, roll the dough tightly into the middle and then stop. From the other side, roll to meet the other side in the middle. You are looking for a long thin bundle that looks like a scroll. See the pictures if you don’t understand the shape we’re aiming for.
• Flip it over. Brush it down with a little more butter on the outside and slice into 1 cm disks. Place onto a non stick sheet pan (use baking paper if you have it. I didn’t so I used tin foil). Bake in the preheated oven for around 8 mins.
• Let rest for a few minutes on the pan and then remove to a cooling rack. Eat within a day or seal them up tight and finish them off the next day.

A Classic Pan Braise: Porc Avec Sauce Moutarde

Pork and mustard are best friends. A good pork sandwich with a smear of strong whole grain or a roast ham with a sweet, honey mustard glaze are both classic examples. In the bistro, mustards were a common accompaniment to different cured meats and so were readily available for other uses. In this recipe it is slowly braised with pork. The simmer of the sauce mellows the mustard and a touch of cream at the very end makes it very smooth. There are many different varieties of mustard, from dry seeds, sour whole grain, acidic yellow and the one used in this recipe: Dijon. Made using wine, the deep flavor of the mustard works well as a sauce base.

The stove top braise is a classic technique in the French bistro and works well with all types of tougher proteins. Some examples:

• An older chicken sautéed and then braised in wine with vegetables is a coq au vin.
• Meat sautéed and then braised in red wine and stock with vegetables is a beef bourguignon.

They all are cooked the same way: brown the meat in oil or butter and then remove from the pan, cook any vegetables you would like to include in the leftover oil, deglaze with a liquid and add the meat back to the pan, simmer until tender. This recipe is perhaps the simplest of all as the vegetables are cooked separately. This also allows nothing to come between the pork and the mustard sauce, which means great flavor.

I chose to serve the braised pork with some sautéed carrots, brussel sprout leaves and roasted potatoes. These are all seasonal but could be swapped out for a light salad, smooth mashed potatoes or a crunchy apple and cabbage slaw (apple and pork and mustard, are an amazing flavor combo). I love letting the leftover pork sit in the mustard sauce overnight in the fridge. Sliced thin the next day on some good bread with a little cheese broiled on top, delicious!

Ingredients for Pork with Mustard Sauce:

2 pork blade steaks, cut in half, bone removed (a fatty cut works better, lean pork chops might go tough during the braise)

2 ½ Tbsp butter

2 ½ Tbsp Dijon mustard, I used chardonnay mustard

2/3 cup water

2 Tbsp cream

Method:

• Marinate pork in a splash of wine, splash of oil, pinch of pepper and salt. Throw some herbs in if you're feeling particularly bold.
• Melt butter on medium high in a pan large enough to hold all the pork in a single layer. Brown the pork in the butter, about 2 min each side.
• Thoroughly stir the mustard into the water and add to the pan with the browned pork.
• Bring the pan to the boil, cover and cook at a low simmer for 15-20 mins flipping the pork once or twice to make sure the sauce evenly coats the pieces.
• Remove the pork from the pan, set aside and bring the sauce to a rolling boil. Reduce by half, about 7 mins. It should coat the back of a spoon. Stir often so the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Stir the cream into the pan juices, season with salt and pepper and spoon over the pork.

Ingredients for Potato, Carrot and Brussel Sprout Sauté:

5 or 6 new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1” chunks

Small piece of Pancetta or Bacon, diced small

1 clove garlic, minced

3 small carrots, diced

Wineglass of white wine

6 or 7 brussel sprouts, rinsed, cored removed and leaves stripped

Squirt of lemon juice

Method:

• Place potatoes in cold salted water and bring to a rolling boil until tender. Drain; toss with a little bit of butter and leave to roast in a 350⁰ oven until the other vegetables are done. Every once in a while toss to make sure they are nice and golden.
• While the pork is cooking, preheat a pan over medium high with a splash of oil. Sauté the pancetta and garlic for a minute or two.
• Toss in the carrots, fry for another min or two, deglaze with wine and cover. Cook until carrots are tender.
• Remove the lid and add the brussel sprout leaves, stirring to cook about 4 mins.
• Toss in the potatoes, add a splash of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and cover until pork is done.

It Was My Sister's Fault I Made These and Now Suffer an Addiction: Profiteroles also known as Cream Puffs

It was Friday afternoon when I received a call from my sister. She was having a house party on Sunday and wanted to make cream puffs. I immediately was drawn back into my childhood: My mom making light, fluffy cream puffs bursting with cream and drizzled with chocolate. They would come out for special occasions and be devoured as soon as possible. I was drooling. But then my sister explained the problem: she was trying to use my mom’s recipe.

My mother is a wonderful cook and baker but her recipes are instinctual and sometimes difficult to explain. What is a palmful? How does that measure in cups? Why did you add that like that? How do you know that pinch you put in was a tablespoon? I had been down that road before. I knew that sometimes walking in mom’s culinary footsteps is a daunting task. I went home and scoured my books for recipes and called my sister back. She said she was on the right track; she had the right ingredients she just needed to mix them another way. Problem solved. (They turned out beautiful and were a hit a few days later at the party.) As soon as the phone call ended though, I knew I was in trouble. I could taste them. I could imagine sneaking chocolate off the top and eating myself sick on cream puffs and I knew I had to make them. NOW.

This recipe is adapted from a couple different sources but takes most of its inspiration from the recipe of Thomas Keller, famed chef and owner of the French laundry, Bouchon and many others. Cream Puffs as they are known in this part of the world are actually the French delicacy, Profiteroles made from Pate du Choux or Choux pastry. They feature prominently in different cakes and desserts but made simply like this and filled with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, they are a classic everyone needs to experience.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

5 ½ Tbsp butter

1 ½ Tbsp sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup white flour, sieved

4 eggs (have an extra around just in case you need it as it describes in the method), beaten lightly in four separate bowls

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450⁰ and prepare two baking sheets. Optimally you should use a non stick mat or baking parchment but you can use tinfoil like I did in a pinch. Also set yourself out a large bowl and wooden spoon.
• In a sauce pan over medium high, combine butter, sugar and salt until the butter melts and then add in the water. Bring to a simmer.
• Turn the pan down a little bit and add in the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until you smell a nutty aroma and it pulls away from the sides of the pan. It might take a few minutes.
• Take off the heat and remove the dough into the bowl you set aside earlier. Stir for a few seconds with your spoon to release some of the heat. This is important as you are about to add eggs. You don’t want scrambled egg dough.
• One at a time and mixing thoroughly between each, add in the eggs. Check the consistency: is it slowly sliding off the spoon or is it hanging out all clumpy? If it seems dry, add in that spare egg I told you to have around.
• When you are done mixing, put the dough into a piping bag with a plain 1” tip on it. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets, with lots of room around each one, in a shape just smaller than a golf ball. Dip your finger into some water and smooth out their tops so the little nubs left by the piping bag don’t burn.
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the pan, lower the oven to 350⁰ and bake for 15 more.
• Remove from the pan after a few minutes and place on a cooling rack. When they are completely cool and you want to serve them/eat them all yourself, you can do one of two things: poke a hole and inject them with whipping cream or slice them in half horizontally and stuff them with cream either whipped or iced. Drizzle with chocolate. That’s important.

A Guest Writer and a Possible New Classic: Maple, Bourbon Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Pecans

According to Google: This is a classic
 thanksgiving feast

This year’s thanksgiving was a different one for me. On most years I would go home to my parent’s house and have the traditional feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc. This year I instead cooked it myself. My parents were away in Toronto with my sister and I had to work but I knew it just wouldn’t be the same without the traditional food. Although I may have over done it and have been eating leftovers for days, I kept it conventional. Across the country my sister had the responsibility for cooking up the feast and wanted to put her own spin on it. I told her that she should write something up and send it over. I was incredibly surprised by what she sent. She might have recorded a classic thanksgiving item: the perfect gravy or the creamiest mashed potatoes. Instead she sent her recipe for Maple Bourbon Brussel Sprouts. Definitely will be trying this one out as soon as possible, it may even have to be added to my menu for next year!

I am thankful for... Brussel Sprouts?

Written by Kirsti Stubbs

I am very thankful for many things in my life including a great brother, so it seems fitting that I get a chance to be a guest on his Blog, Cornerstone Bistro, this Thanksgiving Monday! I successfully added some new flavors to our Thanksgiving table this year and it turned out rather delicious so I thought I would share with all of you! It all started with a trip to the local farmers market with my brother, when he was visiting Toronto last week.  Here we discovered Brussel Sprouts ... but like I had never seen before. So fresh they are still on the branch!

After a week worth of Toby ruling my kitchen there was also quite a number of exciting ingredients left over when he left ... one of which I rarely buy, Pancetta! Yum. So here began the inspiration for my newest Thanksgiving dinner treat:

Maple, Bourbon Brussels with Pancetta and Pecans

3 cups Fresh Brussels

¼ cup small diced pancetta

2 tbsp butter

1-2 tbsp maple syrup

1-2 tbsp bourbon

¼ cup stock

¼ cup chopped pecans

Let’s get cooking

• First I put a tbsp of olive oil and my pancetta into a skillet and cooked until crisp on medium high heat.
• While I was doing this... watching the pancetta carefully... I pulled my Brussels off the branch, washed them and cleaned them up (they stay fresh a long time on the branch by the way) I also put a small cut in the bottom core of each large brussel to help them cook more evenly.
• Once the pancetta was cooked through I took it out of the skillet and set it aside, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet I added 2 tbsp of butter to the pan and brought it up to high.
• I added my brussels and sautéed until slightly browned, about 3 or 4 minutes on high. They look glossy and delicious at this stage. Yum.
• I then added my syrup, bourbon, stock and pecans and tossed to coat the sprouts... I waited for the sauce to bubble and let them cook at a boil, covered, for 4 minutes.
• Then remove lid and stir while cooking at medium another 5-8 minutes depending on how ‘done’ you like‘em!
• Serve warm and sprinkle with pancetta... you will love these rich, sweet, delicious and flavorful greens!

NOTE – I chose Makers 46 Bourbon (the good stuff) as it was what I had and what my husband likes – plus it has a vanilla aroma and sweetness that paired well with maple syrup! Keep this in mind if you use another type that isn’t as sweet, you may need to adjust the syrup you use.

Does Tarte Tatin Sound as Delicious as Caramel Baked Apple Pie?

This upside down treat is a true French classic and like many simple desserts it plays on quality ingredients and straightforward techniques to build big flavors. Making sure the caramel is a deep brown, making sure the puff pastry fits snugly over the pan to ensure a good seal and using the right apples are all key to pulling off this great dessert. I like to leave my apples cut quite chunky so you can still see their shape and they retain a little texture. You can also switch some or all of the apples for pears if they are more season appropriate. I used some galas I had around but you want an apple that is a combo baking and eating variety. Simply ask at the grocery store and the produce guys can point you in the right direction.

To paraphrase Wikipedia: This classic dessert was created by accident in a hotel kitchen in the 1880s by Stephanie Tatin. She was cooking apples for a pie in sugar and butter when she smelled burning, trying to rescue her pie she put a pastry lid over the pan and threw it in the oven. When she turned it over she saw that the seal made by the dough had steam poached the apples in the caramel. The rest is history.

PLEASE be careful when flipping the pan over. Caramel by its nature is very hot and sticky and will burn severely if it touches your skin. Although the original and a lot of recipes are made with simple pastry dough, I like the versions made with puff pastry because of its crunch and texture. Serve it warm, with a scoop of ice cream or whipping cream. It will melt down into all the nooks and crannies and give a whole new level to this dessert.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup white sugar and 2/3 cup water (I have tried doing it with butter and water but for some reason I can’t explain, I prefer the water)

1 Vanilla bean, split and scraped

A pinch of cinnamon

3 apples (see note about variety), peeled, cored, cut chunky

2 ½ Tbsp of butter

Puff pastry, store bought is fine, defrost it in the fridge a couple hours early or overnight. (Piece of advice: don’t try and make puff pastry yourself. It’s a pain in the ass.)

Tbsp of milk

Optional: Ice cream or whipping cream to serve

Method:

• In an oven proof pan with deep sides, put the sugar and water and vanilla bean over medium high heat. Bring it to the boil and then turn it down a bit to keep it at a simmer.
• Preheat the oven to 350⁰ and make sure all of your other ingredients are ready to go. Cut up your apples and toss with a little lemon juice so they don’t brown.
• Swirl the pan, don’t stir! This will prevent the caramel from getting grainy. If you notice it is splashing up on the sides of the pan, brush a little water around the edge so it doesn’t crystallize.
• When the caramel starts to become a nice brown color, remove the vanilla pod, toss in the butter, swirl quickly and then add the apples. Stir to coat them. Work quickly or the caramel will burn. When everything is evenly coated and tossed, let it cook a minute or two and then remove the pan from the heat.
• Take out your puff pastry and roll out thin. Really thin. Think a 1/8 of an inch. While you are working on the dough, occasionally give the apples a stir. This step is important as it allows the caramel to cool slightly and the apples to absorb flavor.
• Roll the dough out to a shape a little bigger than your pan. Drape it over the apples and tuck it all in. You shouldn’t be able to see the apples or caramel.
• Brush a little milk over with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
• Bake in the oven for about 15-20 mins or until the tart is all golden brown and puffy.
• Rest the pan for about 5-10 mins before you try the flip. If you are serving this to other people try and find a decorative plate much larger than the pan, it makes the flip easier. If you are just chowing down on this yourself, you can simply use a baking sheet. Yay cheating!
• Place the plate or baking sheet over the pan and then in one smooth motion, FLIP!
• Serve warm with ice cream or cold whip.

A New Take on the Classic Wrapped Asparagus

This idea came to me a little spur of the moment with some inspiration from the classic bacon wrapped asparagus. As I work more and more on it, the more I like it. It’s bright, luxurious and is the perfect start to a big meal or as a dinner party appetizer. Feel free to prep it before hand, even in the morning or night before your meal.  

Asparagus is becoming more available year round from foreign countries but in the height of local asparagus season I strongly recommend you freeze some whole. It will be infinitely better and is an easy, quick addition to any meal.

Feel free to switch out some of the ingredients, cream cheese for goat cheese or another thin cured meat for prosciutto. Maybe a little chilli or sun-dried tomatoes in exchange for the lemon zest? Use your imagination.

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus and Goat Cheese Bundles

Ingredients:

Two Bundles of Asparagus (I was always told the thinner the asparagus the better), woody ends snapped off

8 or 9 Tbsp of Goat cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

Salt, pepper and olive oil

10 Slices Prosciutto (Tell the deli where you are getting from that you are wrapping something so they try for large, thin consistent slices)

2 or 3 Tbsp balsamic glaze (you can buy this in most good grocery stores or make your own, see the recipe at the bottom)

Refreshing the asparagus allows
it to keep the vivid color normally
lost to boiling.

Method:

• Set a large, salted pot of water on high and bring to a rolling boil.
• Blanch the asparagus in the boiling water for about 3 mins. You want them to be 90% done. They should be a little bendy in your hand but not whip like.
• Drain the asparagus and as quickly as possible plunge it into ice cold water. This is called refreshing, it not only preserves the color but it prevents the veggies from over cooking. A simply bowl with a few cubes of ice and some water will do just fine.
• On a clean counter, lay out all your prosciutto slices. Top with a little more than a teaspoon of goats cheese at one end and smear flat.
• Sprinkle a little lemon zest over the cheese and a pinch of pepper.






• Drain the asparagus and dry lightly on paper towel. Grab 7 or 8 asparagus stocks and place them on the end of the prosciutto with the goat cheese, roll tightly. Proceed with the rest. Refrigerate until you are ready to go.
• Preheat the grill to medium high. Lightly oil and sprinkle the bundles with salt.
• Grill for a few minutes on each side until they are marked.
• Place on platter and lightly spoon over the balsamic glaze. The sweet and sour flavor goes perfectly with the creamy goat cheese. Serve warm.

Balsamic glaze recipe: 

• In a small sauce pan bring 500 ml of cheap balsamic vinegar to a simmer and reduce to the consistency of thin syrup. Take off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp of honey. This can be stored in the fridge for a month.