Wednesday Dinner

My friends from Montana and I have had a great few days together, the last few in restaurants in the city; one Spanish the other Peruvian. Today, I am cooking again for a group of our friends. I am making short ribs cooked in red wine and port, mash potatoes, roasted carrots and wilted spinach. My husband is asking for octopus salad again so he is at the Japanese market as I write, picking up three tentacles. My friends found some beautiful artichokes on their trip here and will grill those and serve with a tarragon aioli. Since I have willing hands later this afternoon, I will also make suppli, risotto rice balls with motzarella cheese, deep fried. My youngest daughter’s absolute favorite! I will take pictures and give everyone recipes.
I have already made my short ribs and they are curing in its stock in the refrigerator. I definitely think it is better to make this type of braise a day or two before so the flavor can really develop. I have a different cooking technique from lingy58 who flours and fries her ribs. That is more traditional, but since I am cooking for 12 and need to cook up A LOT of short ribs, I cut them into serving pieces, season and olive oil them then place them on a rack on a baking pan and roast them for around 25 minutes at 450 degrees to brown them. I then place them in my roaster and deglaze the roasting pans with my wine and port to pick up those flavors. SO much easier and truly have not noticed any taste difference. Since there is no flour on the meat to help bind the sauce, you may need to make a roux to thicken the sauce at the end. I will let you know what I end up doing after I make it today. Again, I will include the recipe once I finish it. My historian will still be here and am hoping she will still be willing to take pictures!

Departing Menu for our Montana Friends

Have a GREAT Trip Back Home!

12-16-09

With Cocktails and Conversation

Lemon Marinated Grilled Artichokes with Tarragon Aoili

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Suppli al Telefono

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Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt Tam Cheese with Honey Comb

First Course

Grilled Octopus Salad in a Cava Cava Orange Vinaigrette with fennel and Nicoise Olives

Entrée

Port Wine Braised short Ribs with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

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Roasted Carrots and Wilted Spinach

Dessert

A La Karen

(I will tell you later!!)