Christmas and Comfort Food

December 13th


Musad. It has been a long and tiring journey for Musad. He is responsible for the health and performance of the camel that carries his master, Melchior, the wiseman. Finding food and water every night is difficult, and the camels are notoriously ornery. Often, Musad has to lead the camel to keep it going. But since Musad has to walk anyway, his chore adds little to his workload, and it makes him feel that the camel is his friend. The last few days have been very strange following the bright star. Musad has no idea where they are or what they are doing there, but it is clear that an important destination has been reached.


Today is a miserable icy day. Everything has come to a halt due to this unexpected ice storm. I decided it was a perfect day for comfort food.


I recently saw a recipe for short ribs that I was dying to try. I chopped up carrots, leeks, shallots and onions. First I sauteed pancetta.





I dried the short ribs on paper towels.


And sprinkled salt and pepper all over them.


Then I dusted them in flour.



I seared all the surfaces on the ribs.


The I removed the ribs to a plate and added the vegetables to the pan. This sauteed until they were translucent. I then added 2 cups of red wine, 2 cups of beef broth, beef demi glace. 1/4 cup of tomato paste, and three anchovies smashed with some course salt. Anchovies improve the taste of beef tremendously as does the tomato paste. Never skip this step. No one will have any idea you used either of them because their taste in this dish is indistinguishable.



Bring this all to a boil and then turn off the heat.


Add the seared ribs.


Throw in a couple sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Cover and bake at 350 for almost three hours. The meat should be falling off the bone.


I made a goat cheese polenta and served them with the sauce over it. I think next time I might make a blue cheese polenta instead.

Comments

That looks delicious, like all food You make and show here!

We have all these figures to our creche, but I never realised that they had names and stories to tell. Thanks for charing them with us!
Have a great day now!
Christer.
Mmmm, comfort food! It seems especially comforting on a cold winter's day too.
Divaeva said…
Oh. My. Gods....my mouth was watering reading! That looks so delicious! I also somewhat went that route...pot roast for dinner for us tonight!
Sharon Day said…
Delicious! With hubby having cholesterol issues, he's a nazi about no beef or pork. Every now and then (my cholesterol is just 140), I rush out to In and Out and get a burger just to taste beef again. You gave me a craving now! Some day, when you open up an Octoberfarm B&B in some cool old New England lighthouse...(I'm hinting heavily here), I can't wait to sit down to one of your meals. I'll tell the ghost stories by the fireside (just so long as Teddy curls up at my feet).
Suzie said…
What a beautiful meal! I can smell the wonderful aromas right through my monitor! Now anything that I fix for dinner is going to seem terribly mundane! :-)

Your unfolding story of all of the characters in your Nativity, is like anticpating what will be behind the next window of your Advent House! I'm finding that I want to know who's next. Ordinary people we knew nothing about, but each one has a history.

And I have been meaning to tell you, any time I need a quick smile, I go look at Teddy's photos on your sidebar. For some reason, she makes me laugh. Not in a bad way. .I'm not laughing at her, but she has this look of bored tolerance, like she is above all of the trivial hoops that humans jump through every day, and is just waiting for us to come to our senses! lol
brokenteepee said…
That looks yummy!
I am not going to enter the giveaway but I will get it blogged for you...