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.