Short Rib Ragu

Prep time 30 minutes  Cook time 4 hours  Serves 8-10

KITCHEN NOTES

This is a hearty, earthy ragu that we’re confident would be just as satisfying over pasta as it is over polenta. The mushrooms, which get pureed with the rest of the sauce once the short ribs are fall-apart-tender, make the liquid cloaking the shredded short ribs nice and meaty, and the wine, anchovy, tomato paste and mustard make it sing. Gremolata is an nice, bright touch at the end. On a frosty winter evening, this would be perfect with a big, green salad and the other half of that bottle of red wine. 

Ingredients 

For the short rib ragu

• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• 5 ¹/₂ pounds bone-in short ribs
• 1 pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon bacon fat, lard or oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
• ¹/₂ bottle big red wine
• 14 ounces can fire-roasted whole tomatoes and juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce, more to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large sprig rosemary, leaves chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 quarts chicken stock or water (more or less as needed)
• 1 recipe gremolata (as follows)

Gremolata

• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 ¹/₂ tablespoons zest from one large lemon
• ¹/₄ cup parsley, finely chopped
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

 Directions

For the short rib ragu

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Soak dried mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water.
2. Season ribs well with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large, heavy pot (I used a 5-qt. enameled cast iron dutch oven) over medium heat until shimmering. Brown ribs in batches for 2-3 minutes per side, then set aside. Pour out all but 1 tablespoon of accumulated fat from pot, then sauté onion, carrots and celery until soft. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.
3. Create a hot spot in the pot by moving vegetables aside and leaving about a 3-inch radius bare. Add tomato paste and anchovy paste to the hot spot and stir vigorously until caramelized, then stir into the vegetables. Add red wine to deglaze and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms and soaking liquid (minus the last 1/4 inch to keep sediment out of your dish), plus herbs.
4. Add ribs to pot and fill with chicken stock or water until ribs are nearly covered. Bring liquid to a boil, then cover tightly and braise in oven for at least 3 hours or until ribs are fall-apart tender.
5. Remove ribs from liquid and set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove bay leaves and discard. While ribs cool, purée the braising liquid with an immersion blender until thick and set over medium-low heat to reduce if the sauce seems thin. When ribs have cooled down, discard bones and large pieces of fat, then shred the beef and return it to the pot. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, skimming any large pools of fat from the surface.
6. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove additional fat from the surface before reheating. Serve over polenta, sprinkled with gremolata.
7. Slow-cooker variation: After browning the meat, add it to a slow cooker, along with the rehydrated mushrooms and the rest of the ingredients, and cook on "low" for 8 hours.

 Gremolata

1. Mix ingredients in a small bowl and let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

Instant Pot Soy Chicken

Prep time 30 minutes  Cook time 1 hour 30 minutes  Serves 4

Ingredients

• 6 dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in room temperature water for at least 1 hour
• ¹/₂ cup cubed bacon
• 3 pods star anise
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon whole white peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons neutral oil (such as avocado, safflower, or grapeseed)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark
• ¹/₂ cup sliced fresh ginger
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed
• 3 shallots, peeled and halved
• 2 scallions, trimmed and cut to 3-inch lengths
• 2 red chile peppers (such as cayenne)
• 2 tablespoons fermented black bean sauce (optional)
• ¹/₄ cup Shaoxing cooking wine or dry sherry
• ¹/₂ cup light soy sauce
• ¹/₄ cup dark soy sauce
• 1 (3 to 3 1/2–pound) whole chicken
• 1 to 2 cups water
• 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil

 Directions

1. Crisp the bacon in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Set aside crisped bacon and rendered fat.
2. In a small, dry pan set over medium-low heat, toast the star anise, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, and peppercorns until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
3. Set the Instant Pot to “Sauté” mode. Add the oil and sugar to the insert of the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, 7 to 10 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, shallots, scallions, peppers, and fermented black bean sauce (if using). Cook until the aromatics have softened, and are starting to caramelize, another 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and their water, toasted spices, crisped bacon, rendered fat, cooking wine, dark soy, and light soy. Stir to combine well, scraping up any browned bits. Add in whole chicken, breast side up, then pour in just enough water to barely cover the chicken. Set the Instant Pot to “Slow Cook,” and the timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
5. Tilting the chicken upwards, lift and drain off any excess sauce. Place chicken on a serving platter and set aside. Fish out the mushrooms, and plate them around the chicken (or just eat them before anyone else notices, yum!).
6. While the chicken is resting, use a slotted spoon to strain out and discard the rest of the solids. Set the Instant Pot to “Sauté,” and reduce the liquid until slightly thickened, about 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in vinegar and half of the sesame oil, then transfer sauce to a gravy bowl for serving.
7. The last step seems cosmetic, but it's essential for an eye-popping presentation. Brush the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil all over the bird. Now carve it up and enjoy with your family and friends!

Steak Po’ Boy

Makes 4 Po' Boys

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (or more to taste)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 pound sirloin flap steak
• ¹/₂ cup sherry vinegar
• ¹/₄ cup water
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• ¹/₄ teaspoon chipotle powder (or chile powder)
• ¹/₂ teaspoon cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons lime juice
• Soft sandwich rolls
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Avocado, sliced
• Cilantro
• Mexican crema (or sour cream thinned with a bit of milk)

Directions

1. Mix together the garlic, onion powder, paprika, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of oil. Toss the steak in the marinade to coat and let it sit at room temperature 30 minutes or refrigerate it for up to 8 hours. Heat the grill to medium-high. Season the steak with salt and grill until its internal temperature reaches 125° F and it is nicely browned. Let the steak rest for ten minutes before slicing it very thinly against the grain.
2. Heat the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Add the onion and jalapeño and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Mash the beans with chipotle, cumin, lime, and salt and pepper. Taste the mixture and add salt and acid as needed. Add a spoon or two of water and heat gently before serving.
4. Toast the insides of the rolls slightly, then top them with the beans, steak, pickled vegetables, avocado slices, cilantro, and a drizzle of crema.

Moroccan Seared Salmon

This may be a simple recipe, but the flavors unite in an elegant and complex way. It's perfect because you can have it on the table in less than 10 minutes with almost no mess. 

Ingredients

(This is for a single portion – for additional servings, multiply ingredients by number of guests)

• 1 salmon fillet with skin attached, sized to suit your appetite
• ¹/₂ teaspoon chile powder
• ¹/₄ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¹/₈ teaspoon coarse salt
• ¹/₈ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Canola oil, enough to barely slick the skillet
• 1 dash sesame oil

Directions

1. Wash and completely pat dry the salmon fillet.
2. In a small bowl mix chile powder, cinnamon, and the salt and pepper. Sprinkle this mixture on both sides of the salmon fillet. Heat canola oil and sesame oil in a non-stick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. Choose a skillet that is plenty big enough to avoid steaming the fish for the crispest possible skin.
3. When the skillet is very hot, but not yet smoking, add the salmon, skin-side down. Cook it until the skin is very crisp, dark brown and releases easily from the skillet This should take 3 to 4 minutes. Do not be tempted to check or move the fish around in the skillet during this time. You will only succeed in making it stick to the skillet or worse ruin your beautifully crisp skin.
4. You will notice that the fish gets lighter colored and more opaque. Do not let it cook more than about 1/4 of the way through at this point. You might be worried that the rest of the fish seems raw, but honestly this is a good thing. Once the skin has crisped flip the fish, and cook it an additional 2 (maybe 3) minutes more. Do not let it cook all the way through. The fish will continue to cook after it leaves the pan. Your goal is a succulent flesh graduating from a rare center outwards to a crispy crackly skin.
5. Serve the fish warm or at room temperature with a slightly chilled Pinot Noir (yes, Pinot Noir... trust me).

Seafood Paella

KITCHEN NOTES

Crackling top and bottom, succulent goodness in the center: that’s our seafood paella. We do it Catalan-style, adding both sofrito and picada for a more robust flavor. The former brings the earthy sweetness of caramelized tomatoes, onions, and garlic; the latter delivers the fresh bite of parsley in a saffron-scented olive oil. Lobster stock deepens the from-the-sea juiciness of cuttlefish, squid, mussels, clams, and cod. A lot of our diners tell us it’s the best paella they’ve ever had anywhere in the world. Follow this simple formula and you’ll hear the same when you serve it at home.

Borrowed from: A Cookbook, from Barcelona to New York. Copyright © 2018 by by Marc Vidal and Yann de Rochefort. Published by Absolute Press.

Ingredients

For the paella:

• 4 cups Lobster Stock (see below)
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• 4 ounces monkfish or cod, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 6 large shell-on, head-on shrimp, preferably red shrimp
• ¹/₄ pound cuttlefish, cut into 1/2-inch dice (If you can’t find cuttlefish, also called sepia, you can use more squid instead.)
• 7 ounces squid bodies and tentacles, bodies cut into 1/2-inch rings
• 3 tablespoons Sofrito (see below)
• 3 tablespoons Picada (see below)
• 1 ¹/₂ cups bomba rice
• 12 mussels, beards removed, cleaned well (discard any that have opened)
• 12 manila clams or cockles, scrubbed well (discard any that have opened)
• 1 pinch kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the lobster stock, sofrito, picada:

• 9 raw lobster heads (2 pounds) (Chef’s tip: You can ask for lobster heads at your local market’s seafood counter. If you can’t find them, use 2 pounds of large shell-on shrimp with heads instead.)
• ¹/₂ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• ¹/₂ cup cooking brandy
• 1 large leek, white and pale green parts only, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• ¹/₂ onion, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 head garlic, cut in half through its “equator”
• 1 celery stalk, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 tablespoons sweet pimentón (smoked paprika)
• 3 tomatoes, cored and cut into 1-inch chunks
• ¹/₂ cup dry white wine
• 1 pound ripe tomatoes, cut in 1-inch chunks
• 1 8-ounce) white Spanish onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed
• ¹/₂ cup blended canola-olive oil
• 1 dried ñora pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and trimmed
• ¹/₂ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 2 (3/4-inch-thick) slices baguette
• 1 pinch of saffron threads
• ¹/₄ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pinch Kosher salt, to taste

Directions

For the paella:

1. Bring the lobster stock to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce the heat to keep warm until ready to use.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 16-inch paella pan over high heat. Season the monkfish and shrimp with salt and pepper and put in the hot oil in a single layer. Cook until well seared and browned, turning once, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
3. Heat another 2 tablespoons oil in the pan. Add the cuttlefish and squid to the hot pan in a single layer, season with salt, and stir well. If the pan is dry, add another tablespoon oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until nicely seared, browned, and popping, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the sofrito and cook, stirring, then reduce the heat to low and stir in the picada. Add the hot lobster stock and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil and season to taste with salt. Sprinkle the rice evenly in the pan. Stir it a little to make sure it’s evenly distributed and submerged in the liquid, but then don’t touch it again. You don’t want to activate the starches and make the mixture creamy like a risotto. You want the grains to cook separately from each other.
5. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil vigorously for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the rice is al dente, about 10 minutes.
6. Tuck the mussels, clams, shrimp, and fish into the rice, evenly spacing them around the pan. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon oil over the rice and raise the heat to high. Cook until the mussels and clams open (discarding any that don’t), all of the liquid evaporates, and the rice forms the socarrat crust on the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rest for about 5 minutes. Uncover and serve directly from the pan.

For the lobster stock, sofrito, picada:

1. To make the lobster bisque, pull the top shells of the lobster heads off the bottoms. Cut the top shells in quarters and cut the bottoms in half lengthwise, then crosswise into thirds.
2. Heat 5 tablespoons oil in a large stockpot over high heat until smoking hot. Add the lobster pieces, in a single layer if possible. Cook, turning the pieces occasionally, until well caramelized, about 15 minutes. The shells should be bright red and the meat dark brown.
3. Add the brandy. If you’re comfortable flambéing, light the alcohol very carefully with a long match. Otherwise, let the brandy boil until it has almost completely evaporated. Transfer the lobster pieces and all the pan juices to a large bowl.
4. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil to the same stockpot and heat over medium-high heat. Add the leek, carrot, onion, garlic, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until well caramelized and browned, about 15 minutes.
5. Add the pimentón and stir well, then immediately add the tomatoes to prevent the pimentón from burning. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down, about 3 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, then simmer until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add 4 quarts cold water and return the lobster and all its juices to the pot.
6. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and let stand for 1 hour to steep. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing on all the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. The stock can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.
7. To make the sofrito, put the tomatoes, onion, and garlic, in that order, into a blender or food processor. Pulse until well mixed, then purée until almost smooth but with a few small chunks remaining. Transfer to a large saucepan with the oil and stir well. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thick and sweet, about 3 hours.
8. To make the picada, cover the ñora pepper with very hot (almost boiling) water in a bowl. Let stand at room temperature overnight. Drain the pepper and discard the stem and seeds. Use a spoon to scrape out the flesh. Reserve the flesh and discard the skin. Put the garlic and a large pinch of salt in a mortar or food processor. Pound with a pestle or pulse the machine until the garlic becomes a paste. Add the parsley and pepper flesh and pound or pulse until the leaves are very finely ground. Fill a small skillet with the canola-olive oil to a depth of 1/2 inch. Heat over medium-high heat until the oil is hot and shimmering. Add the baguette slices and cook, turning once, until golden brown and crisp on both sides. Transfer to the mortar or processor and immediately sprinkle the saffron on top. Pound or pulse until the mixture is smooth. Add the olive oil and stir with the pestle or pulse in the machine until fully incorporated.