Braised Short Ribs with Tomato, Potato, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

I love this meal.  It was the first for me to make short ribs and have them actually turn out fall-off-the-bone right.  The colors are so vibrant and flavors so fresh.  The short ribs were a 2 day process, but the actual hands-on cooking time is only a couple of hours and is broken up over two days. They are really quite easy to make. The key step is after the initial slow cooking, to let the ribs cool and then chill overnight in the refrigerator. This makes it much easier to remove the generous amount of excess fat that ends up solidifying in the chilling process. The beef ribs also spend the whole night absorbing the flavor of the stock.
The tart features a buttery basil crust, and fresh garden tomatoes.  Who could ask for more?

Chopping basil and garlic to fold into the tart dough.

When making a tart crust or pie crust always mix your dry ingredients first.  Then you want to slowly fold in appropriate amounts of COLD water and butter. Using a food processor to pulse ingredients is best.  You want your dough to form into a coarse meal, with pea sized pieces at the largest.  You can make a simple crust, however I chose to fold in basil and garlic to complement the flavors of the  fresh tomatoes.

An entire stick of butter.

And did I mention, it needs to be COLD!

The water also needs to be ice COLD!

Dough ready to be rolled out.

Garden fresh tomatoes, onion and red potatoes for tart.

Roll out dough on a floured surface.  A clean kitchen counter always works best for me.

Press dough into a tart pan and trim the edges.

Caramelizing onions with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Add a layer of crumbled goat cheese, topped by sliced red potatoes, chopped rosemary and salt & pepper.

Top with caramelized onions, then tomato slices and repeat to desired amount of layers.

Very rarely am I cooking when there is still good light outside. Since I was ahead of schedule on this particular evening, we got a few shots in front of some of our monstrous tomato plants since they are the star of the dish.

I didn't take any pictures of the first step of the short ribs.  Apologies.  The previous night I had seared them on all sides to lock in the juices and then slow cooked in the oven.  They were cooked in beef stock, red wine, chopped tomatoes, herbs, onion and garlic.  After cooking for several hours the ribs and sauce were moved to the fridge in a covered bowl.  This is where the magic happens.  After about 12-24 hours, the excess fat solidifies at the top and can be skimmed off before completing the cooking process.

Looks disgusting, but this is the layer of fat.  You will want to carefully skim off and discard of it...

...to reveal this.

Put short ribs and remaining sauce into a baking dish, and continue to cook for an additional hour to hour and a half.  This cooling and recooking process will deliver fall off the bone, perfect short ribs.

Some of our "kids".

Tomato, Potato, Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tart

Mixed greens with crispy prosciutto and homemade honey mustard.

 Two Day Braised Short Ribs

Engagement Chicken

I am fairly sure that most girls my age have heard of the Engagement Chicken recipe.  The story goes that there once was a young magazine assistant desperate to become engaged to her boyfriend.  One evening she made a classic roast chicken dinner based on the recipe her boss, a Glamour magazine editor, had given to her.  Within days, her beau was down on one knee proposing.  That was not it - three more staffers cooked the chicken and all three got engaged.  The recipe was published in Glamour magazine and has now been responsible for hundreds of engagement dreams coming true.

Glamour recently printed the recipe in their May 2011 magazine and it is in their new cookbook, 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know.  I am not one to follow recipes but I decided to give it a go.  I added lots of fresh herbs from our garden, but other than that followed the recipe to the letter.  I am already lucky enough to be engaged to my prince charming, but Alex loved it all the same and I feel sure he would have proposed to me after if we were not engaged already.  As a matter of fact he has asked me to cook it 3 times since the first attempt.  So ladies (and gents) who are looking for an amazing dish guaranteed to wow, I encourage you give it a try.  You never know!!

The first fruits of our garden.  So pitiful in comparison to the bounty we have now.

Beets, zuchinni, yellow cauliflower, lemons, red pepper, sugar snap peas, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary

THE recipe

Rinse chicken, let drain and pat dry.

This recipes calls for lots and lots of lemon juice.

When roasting, it is always best to use a roasting rack.  It adjusts to the size of what you are cooking and elevates the meat off of the roasting pan to ensure more even cooking.

Chicken was drenched in lemon juice and rubbed with salt and pepper. I added fresh chopped herbs.  Make sure you not only rub the outer skin with the herbs and seasonings, but make a pocket under the skin and apply directly to the meat.

Ready to roast.

Fresh garden beets, ready to also be roasted.  Look at the poor white one - kind of like the Ugly Duckling.  You never know what you are going to pull out of the garden.

The first of our sugar snap peas.  They taste like candy from the vine.  When we have children these and cherry tomatoes WILL be their candy.

Blanching cauliflower

Roasting zucchini and red peppers.  I think this is a Carmen Pepper from our garden.  Unfortunately, we have not had many this season :-(

I mixed the cauliflower, zucchini and pepper together in a glass dish and added butter, breadcrumbs and Parmesan.  Into the oven it went.

Roasted Beet and Avocado Salad

Garden Vegetable Gratin

The Engagement Chicken emerging from the oven.  You will have tons of amazing lemon sauce at the bottom of the pan.  Make sure to reserve and serve over carved chicken pieces.

Serve on a dish and garish with lemon halves and fresh herbs.

Lore says you will be engaged in no time!