Anticiplate

Maybe it’s the weather? Or that my internal clock tells me that around this time each year for most of my life, I am programmed to dance to that proverbial Tchaikovsky score of the Nutcracker. Whatever it is, I am down. This should be a season of renewed energy, holiday baking (which I don’t really do, except this), and socializing like a rabid butterfly. I know I am in there somewhere, I am just lurking under a thin chocolate coated shell.  I should be thrilled that for the first time in my life, I do not have to be stuck in a dark, cold theater listening to the same orchestra play the same score over and over…

Cooking at home is different now that I work in a restaurant. I feel disorganized, and out of my element. There is something relaxing about making thirty salads for someone else when your boss tells you to do it. But, when I am given the reins to make one dish, a dish (mind you) that is all my own for me to eat, I am almost uninspired and clueless.

But, I have my teachers, as I have told you before, to guide me through this process to become a chef. If I stick to my tried and true, I feel safe and protected: David Chang, Judy Rogers, Molly Stevens, Nate Appleman. So, why did I decide to go to the grocery store, no list in hand, and make dinner?

People, I am weird. It beats me. Seems like a recipe for failure, due to the fact that as I told you just sentences before, I am completely uninspired.

I saunter through the produce, touching an occasional persimmon for ripeness and smelling meyer lemons through their winter coat of zest. I pick up a huge bunch of red kale, feeling if their leafy greens are taught. I drop a few baseball sized local yellow onions in my basket and they roll back and forth as I head to the meat section.

Searching, I hope to discover thick pork cheeks or a ruby red beef tongue through the clear glass case. But, I must remind myself that I am in a corporate grocery store in dowtown Seattle that caters to the hungry “9-5 ers” who just want to get food on the table before an episode of “Glee” or “Gossip Girl”.

I settle for beef short ribs, swipe a cheap bottle of Nero D’Avola and head home. I guess I will be braising. I turn on some music, from my husbands genre “emollient’, and get cooking. My soul begins to lift. Just a bit. I slap the Flavor Bible down on my counter and sift through some of the ingredients that I have just purchased, hoping to discover some treasure of ingredient pairing.

I outsmart myself. All their recommendations, I have seen before. I will just have to resist being taught today, and cook. My short ribs will be seared over the highest heat possible and a mirepoix, substitute leek, will flavor my sauce. I decide to braise with beer and beef stock rather than the classic full-bodied red wine and veil stock. I drink the wine instead. Coriander, fennel seed, colored peppercorns, and bay will be in my bouquet garni and floral smelling lemon thyme will swim in those same braising waters.  After I tuck all the ingredients under a parchment blanket, and lock them in with my red Le Cruiset lid, the house will begin to smell for hours. And, somehow, a smile will reappear on my face.

Serves 2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

1 tsp. olive oil plus a splash of vegetable oil

4 beef short ribs, about 1 1/2 lbs.

1 leek, light and green parts removed, thinly sliced into half-moons

1 carrot, sliced into rounds

1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced with leaves

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. fennel seed

8 peppercorns

2 c. beef stock

1/2 bottle of beer (whatever you drink, I drink paler ales)

In a medium-large dutch oven, heat some olive oil and a splash of vegetable oil over high heat until smoking. Season the short ribs generously with kosher salt and cracked black pepper on all sides. Sear off each side of the short ribs until the outside is crisp, and caramelized, about 3 minutes each side.

Put all of the aromatics-bay, coriander, fennel, peppercorn- in a tea bag or wrap in a cheesecloth.

Remove short ribs, and set them aside. Lower heat to medium. Saute the mirepoix (leek, carrot, celery) until translucent, about three minutes and add in the thyme sprig and the bouquet garni. Deglaze the pan with the beer, letting it bubble a bit and reducing by half. Then, add in the beef stock and the short ribs.

Cover the top of the dutch oven with parchment paper, pressing it down to coat the top layer of the braise. Cover the pot with its partnered lid, and cook in a 275 degree oven for about 2 1/2 hours until the meat literally slips off the bone. Short ribs are forgiving.

Now, here you can do many things. I usually strain the sauce, reduce, and use it to baste my short ribs to reheat them. Or, you can use it as a sauce to coat mashed potatoes, a parsnip puree,