It's like a boat.

Part of me wants to own and run a restaurant or wine bar type place. But another part of me knows how hard the work would be. This is what kept me from jumping into the food culture years ago. I want to enjoy dining with friends and family on the weekends when my husband is available.

I know I don't want to own a boat. My father owned a boat while I grew up. I spent every other weekend on that boat with my dad, his wife, her two kids and my sister. We didn't want to go, we had to go. And there was lots of hauling of stuff from here to there and maintenance on the boat, constant work. But I like to sail. Later in life I've had the opportunity to sail with others on their boats. I have to say , this is the way to go! No commitment, just a day of sailing.

So you see where I'm going with this? I've learned it's good to have a friend with a boat. It's also good to have a friend with a restaurant. At least that's what I'm hoping.

Our friends Joe and Karla are opening a bakery and restaurant in NorCal in just a few months. They came over for dinner last week (see Beef Short Rib recipe) and gave us details and now we're really excited for them. We can't wait to check it out. We wish them the best. They've offered to let me come up and cook. What can be better than a friend with a restaurant?

Evolution of a Dinner Menu

Steinbeck was so right, about the "best laid plans" thing. So we had dinner for 5 adults it turns out. The menu turned out like this instead of the post from yesterday:

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Spring Garlic, Red Wine and Porcini Mushrooms
Roasted Root Vegetables with coarsely ground Cardamom - carrots, parsnips and potatoes
Apple and Blueberry Crisp with almonds and oatmeal

The meal was good. I didn't have time to deal with a starter at all. It was actually a double dinner party night. I made pork ribs, fried potatoes and broccoli for my two boys and two others BEFORE our adult dinner guests even arrived. I'd do the crisp again, but use lots more topping and very thinly slice the apples as the Pink Lady apples were quite firm.

I'm most proud of the short ribs. No recipe, just winging it and they were awesome. Here's what I did:

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs

Serves 5-6

Ingredients

3 lbs Beef Short Ribs cut into 3" pieces (ask your butcher)

2 Tablespoons Flour

Salt and fresh ground pepper

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 heads green/spring garlic

3 whole carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 large onion

500 ml (3/4 bottle) red wine - something good, but not fancy

1 15oz can Beef Broth

1 oz. package dried porcini mushrooms

1 Cup boiling water

bouquet garni of fresh herbs - 3 sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs rosemary, 3 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle of cheesecloth

Method

In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Open up your meat package, rinse the meat and pat dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper the meat. Sprinkle with the flour. In small batches, fry the beef ribs in the oil making sure to brown on all sides. This takes time, but it's worth doing a good job. As the beef finishes, remove to another dish and set aside.

Chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrot into large dice (3/4" - 1"). Make sure to remove any fibrous outer layers of the garlic heads.

When the beef is all browned, pour out all but 2 Tblsp. of the oil. Add all the diced vegetables and lower the heat to medium. Stir well coating the vegetables with the hot oil. Cook for about 5 minutes while you prepare the bouquet garni and boil water for the mushrooms.

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl. Add 1 C boiling water. Let sit 10 minutes. Taste the soaking water. If it tastes good, not musty, not dirty, but like mushroom tea, use the water in the dish. If the water tastes terrible, don't use it, just strain the mushrooms, use them and a cup of water instead.

Salt and pepper the vegetables in the pan. Return the beef ribs to the pan. Tuck the bouquet garni into the mix. Pour in the wine and beef broth. Now add the mushroom water. Bring to a boil. Put on a tight fitting lid.

Put in a medium low oven (325F) for about 3 hours until the meat is falling off the bone. Pull out the meat and put on a platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to another bowl. If you'd like, de-fat the juice and return to the pan. Reduce, the juice for a few minutes and taste for seasoning.

Enjoy!

Midweek Dinner for Six

Well, I hope they are omnivores. It makes things so much easier. Besides, I have my heart set on short ribs. Yes, I know, beef. It's so banal. But comforting as well. And easy.

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs
Roasted Parsnips and Carrots with butter and parsley
Egg Noodles with poppy seeds and butter
Green Beans "perfectly cooked" with pepper bacon dressing
Some great white and red wines, to be picked and/or purchased in the next 24 hours
Apple and Blueberry Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream

God, I hope they are omnivores.