Chili and coffee braised short ribs

We had some friends over last Saturday for a "fancy dinner party with a toddler" - which, as the quotes imply, is a complete oxymoron - nothing remains fancy when there is a toddler in the equation. However it turned out that the toddler was not the one we needed to worry about! 

Troublesome guests aside, the food itself was - if I may say so myself - outstanding. We started out with an absolute TO DIE FOR pairing of wine and cheese. Nettle meadow farms triple creme Kunik, and an evervesent slightly tangy and crisp Italian white called Ca' de Noci. The latter I'll take no credit for - it was a recommendation from the amazing guys at my local wine store. But man do they know their stuff - this wine was great and you should get your hands on some, and some Kunik - or your local version of a goat-milk pungent and ripe triple creme. Bacchus himself could not have thought up a better combination. Try it!

The main course was grass-fed beef short ribs braised for four hours with coffee, chili and red wine, served over a bright purée of carrot and rutabaga. I got both recipes from the great compilation of recipes put together by Amanda Hesser from the NYTimes archives, The Essential NYTimes Cookbook.These two recipes were huge hits, especially the ribs. I highly recommend using grass fed beef if you can find it (I got mine at whole foods and it is worth the extra price). I used 10 large ribs and had to use a 10-quart Dutch oven and 1.5 times the liquid. If you are doing 4-6 large you should be okay with a 6-quart and the liquid specified in the recipe. 

I served the ribs with a Spanish 100% Tempranillo. I had been tempted to buy a zin or a Bordeaux but the wine guys said the spice would kill the body. And the Tempranillo worked splendidly - so I think they were right on!

Short Ribs with Coffee and Chili

I used 2 pasilla chilies and 1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle powder instead of the whole chili and 1.5 times the amount of liquid and the ribs were just mildly - very pleasantly - spicy

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

4 large or 8 small beef short ribs

1 large onion, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 dried pasilla chile (also known as chili negro), stemmed, seeded and minced

1 dried chipotle chile, stemmed, seeded and minced

Pinch of sugar

1 cup strong coffee

1 cup dry red wine (I used a nice cotes du rhone, a Zinfandel works well too, don't use it unless you'd drink it!)

Drizzle oil into a large Dutch oven and, working in batches, brown the ribs well on all sides over medium heat. Take your time and season the ribs with salt and pepper while you cook. Remove them from the pot.

Turn the heat to low. Add the carrot, onion, garlic, sugar and chilies to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 15 minutes.

Turn the heat to high and add the wine and coffee. Boil until reduced by about half. Return ribs to the pot and cook covered on low on the stovetop, or in a 300 degree oven, until the meat is very very tender and falls easily off all bones - about 2 or 3 hours - longer if the bones are bigger. Allow plenty of time for braising! Serve atop creamy polenta, and/or golden winter purée (recipe below.)

Golden winter purée

A lot of recipes tell you to peel carrots when you don't really have to - here you really do need to.

Also I used a food mill and was very pleased with the end consistency.

The original recipe says this serves 10, but if you use it like I do, as a substitute for a starch, it only serves 4-6.

1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 lb rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 large firm but ripe pear, peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch cubes

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 

Bring 4 quarts of salted water to boil in a a large heavy pot. Add the vegetables and pear and summer until they are tender enough to be pierced easily with a fork, about 25 minutes. Drain.

Purée the vegetables and pear in a food processor (or pass through a food mill twice.) Put the mixture back in the cooking pot and stir in the butter in small pieces, then stir in the cream, ginger and nutmeg. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Everyday spelt pancakes

I have been looking for a pancake recipe that is as simple and delicious as my go-to waffles. I have a whole, varied arsenal of great pancake recipes which I rotate on a regular basis (carrot cake, zucchini, buckwheat, buttermilk, cornmeal, lemon ricotta). One might even call me a pancake queen. But my royal retinue is only now finally complete - with the addition of this most simple recipe. It requires minimal ingredients, minimal effort, and is the perfect thing to make for yourself, your family, or any visiting royalty.

Spelt pancakes

Adapted from a NYTimes recipe featured in Amanda Hesser's NYTimes cookbook

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

1 cup whole milk

1 1/4 cup spelt flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

Whisk the eggs together in a large bowl until light and foamy. Whisk in the oil, butter, vanilla and milk. 

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and sugar.

Dump the flour mixture into the egg mixture and whisk until just combined.

Heat a griddle or frypan on medium heat. Pour pancakes by 1/4 cupful (use the 1/4 cup measurer you used for the flour) onto the hot pan. Flip when bubbles appear on top, and cook on the other side until just cooked through.

Serve immediately with maple syrup, and butter if desired.

Baked Eggs with Spinach and Tomato

Here is a super-easy, but also rather elegant, recipe to brighten up your next brunch.

I usually dislike recipes written in this way, where the ingredients are per serving, and not per what you actually will need for x number of people. However, this recipe, written this way, is delightfully simple. If you are unsure of quantities for the number of ramekins you need, just double-buy! It is never a bad thing to have extra Boursin laying about. (But just in case, for 10 ramekins, I used one entire box of Boursin.)

This is not a recipe that makes me wax nostalgic about childhood dinners, or want to pack immediately for cooking school. It is just simply one I think is too good and too easy not to share. Enjoy this new trick up your sleeve.

Baked Eggs with Spinach and  Tomato
adapted from Southern Living

This easy recipe makes as many baked egg cups as you would like to serve. (I'd count on 2 or 3 per person depending on what else you are serving.)

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter x number of 6 - 8 oz oven-safe ramekin.
In each ramekin layer the following ingredients in the order listed:

1 tablespoon Boursin garlic cheese spread
8 fresh baby spinach leaves, torn
1 large egg
2 tablespoons homemade, or high-quality jarred marinara sauce
1 tablespoon heavy cream or half-and-half

Place your desired number of ramekins on a baking sheet, dust each one with some freshly ground pepper and place in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes, or until the egg has reached your desired doneness.

Carrot cake pancakes

The best part about making carrot cake is having a piece of it for breakfast the next morning. Hence the absolute genius of this recipe from one of my favorite bloggers Joy, from joythebaker.com. It is a carrot cake in healthy breakfast form. It is perfectly divine and my absolute favorite thing to make for my family in the morning. The only annoying thing about this recipe is that you have to hand grate the carrots finely. If you use a food processor or the bigger holes on the grater (both of which speed up the process of grating significantly) the resulting larger shreds of carrot will not cook fast enough in the pan. So, it will take you several minutes of tedium to get 2 cups of finely shredded carrot but it is worth it. I usually try to shred the carrots the night before, that way the batter only takes 2 minutes to whip up.  **June 2019 UPDATE: I grated carrots this morning by just throwing baby carrots into my Magic Bullet. Used only 1 cup because the Magic Bullet made it very finely grated. Worked great!** 

The other great thing about making these for breakfast is the frosting. Out of maple syrup? No worries, you don't need it! The thought of this frosting sustained me through a 5:30am shouting wake-up of "mommy play! Mommy play! Play mommy come play!!"

Carrot Cake Pancakes

*June 2019 update: make these gluten-free by substituting 1/2 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup King Arthur Gluten Free Flour blend for the 1 cup flour*

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 large egg

2 tablespoons sugar, white or brown

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)

For the frosting (optional but highly recommended)

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons buttermilk or milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir until just combined. Gently fold in carrots. Now preheat a skillet (or two or three), and cook pancakes by the 1/4 cupful with a smidge of butter over medium or low heat. Flip the pancakes when bubbles appear on surface then cook until golden brown. You might need to adjust the heat to get it just right.

While the pancakes are cooking make the cream cheese frosting. Beat the cream cheese in a small bowl until smooth. Add the sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, vanilla and cinnamon and beat till smooth and creamy. Add the extra tablespoon of milk if needed. 

Serve pancakes topped with frosting.

Yum.

Spelt Pumpkin Muffins for a crowd

It's been a while! An international move with a toddler right before holiday/ preschool-applying season does not make for ample time to blog. But what better way to mark my re-entry into my blogbakeworld than an amazingly good, amazingly easy, and moderately good for you pumpkin muffin? Make these on a snowy weekend morning and your family will love you. Make these on a random weekday with your toddler and freeze most of them and you have an instant healthy snack any afternoon of the week!

I used spelt flour because, as I think I may have explained earlier, I am anti-wheat whenever possible. The best part of spelt is that it bakes completely like wheat and is 100% interchangeable with it, so feel free to use whatever flour you like. Half white and half whole wheat would work nicely here too. Substituting in a 1/2 cup of rye might also be nice.

I made this recipe so that it would use exactly 1 29-oz can of pumpkin purée (because I hate having extra) - but I'm sure using homecooked purée would be even more scrumptious. (And environmentally friendly.)

Spelt Pumpkin Muffins

Makes 24 muffins

These muffins are not too sweet. If your family is accustomed to the cloying taste of commercial muffins I might consider adding a 1/2 cup of sugar and/or topping each muffin before baking with a teaspoon or two of white sugar.

These would also be delicious with some chopped walnuts or whole pumpkin seeds, or even chocolate chips. Fold in gently when the flour mixture is almost all folded in but not quite.

3 1/2 cups spelt flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 29-ounce can pumpkin (3 1/2 cups)

5 large eggs

3/4 cup olive oil

2 cups unrefined sugar (looks like brown sugar but is granulated, not soft - although traditional soft brown sugar would work well too)

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease 24 muffin tins with butter or oil, or line with paper muffin liners.

In a very large mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients (except the sugar) and whisk until well incorporated.

In a large bowl whisk together all the wet ingredients (including the sugar) until well combined.

Make a well in the flour mixture and dump in the pumpkin mixture. Fold together until no pockets of flour remain. Do not over mix; stir just until combined. (Over-stirring causes the gluten in the flour to develop which makes the muffins texturally tough.)

Fill the muffin tins with a 1/3 cup of batter each. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the tops of the muffins spring back lightly when you touch them gently with your finger. As always, do not overbake! (Although if you do, a smothering of cream cheese mixed with lots of powdered sugar will make all well with the world.)

One Bowl Triple Chocolate Zucchini Cake

It's zucchini season!

I picked up the largest zucchini I've ever seen at the farmers market last week, and he only charged me a pound for it. There were lots of tasty little baby zucchinis there too, but I wanted to shred mine up and make some chocolate deliciousness.

The best part about chocolate zucchini cake is you can pretend you are being healthy. I'll just have one more slice, because, heck, there's green stuff in it.

But give a slice to someone and don't tell them what it is and they would never know! If you are desperate, then its a good way to trick your kids into eating their veggies. Just let them have a slice before dinner and then they might even try zucchini in its true form when served their real meal. (That's actually true.... studies have shown kids who are given more control over when they have dessert are MORE likely to eat their veggies!)

Sorry for the tangent. This is about zucchini, and what you should do with the inevitable oversupply...

Three words. Eat. More. Cake.


Easy Chocolate Zucchini Cake

adapted from King Arthur Flour

if you use the chocolate chip frosting method make sure you don't overcook the cake. I prefer to sprinkle the chips on the hot cake and not return the cake to the oven. That way when you serve the cake when cooled you still see the chips on top. I like that look - but it is certainly not as polished as a smooth frosting.

** GLUTEN FREE UPDATE August 2021 Works beautifully with ratios of 3/8 sourghum flour 3/8 brown rice flour and 1/4 teff flour, plus 2 tsp of psyllium husk 

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 (275 g) cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose or white spelt flour (312 grams)
3/4 cup cocoa powder (89 grams)
3 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chocolate chips for optional frosting

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until smooth. Beat in the eggs.

Add the half the flour, stir until combined. Add half the buttermilk and stir until combined. Add the rest of the flour, stir well, then the rest of the buttermilk and stir well. Add the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. 

Fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set.

To ice the cake: Slide the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, and use a cake spatula or rubber spatula to spread the chocolate chips into a smooth glaze. Cool on a rack.

Revolutionary Roast Chicken

I'm not sure why more bloggers don't blog recipes from Cooks Illustrated. Because seriously, you can never cook a mediocre dish when you follow a recipe of theirs. Foolproof. Godly. Good. Just a few adjectives that come to mind when I think of shelling out $7.95 an issue. Aka, even though that's about 50 cents a recipe, I still find it to be money well spent.

The following recipe is the perfect example of why I love CI so much. Here I was with a free range whole chicken in my fridge and I thought I had roasting a chicken down to a T. Why mess with perfection? My way consistently produced great roast chickens.

Well, I am so glad I trusted my intuition that CI knew something I didn't. Because this way of roasting a chicken, my friends, is REVOLUTIONARY. Like, the BEST (dare I say only), yes the ONLY way to roast a chicken from now until eternity, amen.

Buy a free range whole chicken. Follow the recipe below. And be converted.

Revolutionary Roast Chicken in a Pan

adapted from Bryan Roof of Cooks Illustrated

Use a 3 1/2 to 4 lb chicken. If you must use a larger bird increase the Step 2 time in oven to 35 to 40 minutes. I used an all-clad 12-inch skillet which worked perfectly and was surprisingly a breeze to clean up (no burnt-on bits at all.)


1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 (3 1/2 - 4 lb) whole chicken, giblets discarded
1 tablespoon olive oil

for optional carrot side dish:
about 4 medium carrots, cut into just larger than thumb sized sticks
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon herbes de provence


Adjust oven rack to middle position, place a 12-inch ovenproof skillet on the rack, and turn the oven on to 450 degrees.

Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Rub chicken all over with olive oil, and rub salt in all over. Tie legs together with kitchen twine and tuck wing tips behind back.

Once oven has fully preheated, place chicken, breast side up, on preheated skillet in the oven. Roast chicken until breast registers 120 degrees and thigh registers 135 degrees. Turn oven off and leave chicken in oven until breast registers 160 degrees and thighs register 175 degrees, 25 to 35 minutes.

Transfer chicken to carving board and let rest, uncovered, for 15 minutes. (If you can wait that long.) Carve chicken and serve.

If you want to make the carrot side dish:
Toss together carrots, oil and herbes. Scatter on either side of chicken in pan a few minutes before you turn the oven off.