Sailors love a good home cooked meal after a long journey…

These exotic shortribs are familiar and exotic enough to make a sailor think fondly of his two favourite mistresses: his mother and the sea.

Savoury short ribs spiced with middle eastern spices, fragrant scurvy-fighting orange juice served on creamy goat cheese soft polenta. Carrots cooked in carrot juice add a shock of life-preserver orange and an extraordinary familiarity. Top the excursion with a leafy bushel of aromatics herbs like the warm exotic winds of a new found land.

Comforting and invigorating like the sea herself… but much more forgiving.

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds of short ribs (cut short by butcher)

1 cup white wine

3 cups orange juice

1 oz of brandy, rum or sherry

1 onion, peeled and cut in half

2 ribs of celery, cut into 3 inch lengths

1 beef bouillon cube

6 cloves of garlic, whole

4 cloves

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground tumeric

pinch of cinnamon

soy sauce as needed, instead of salt

Carroted carrots

2 large carrots of excellent breeding

1 cup carrot juice

pinch of sugar or a glug of honey

pinch of salt

nob of butter

soft polenta

1 cup fine corn meal (white or yellow)

4 cups water

1 cup cream

good pinch of salt

100 g goat cheese

herb salad

10 tender mint leaves

10 tender coriander leaves

10 tender parsley or chervil leaves

10 little sprigs of dill

5 chives, finely sliced

juice of 1 lemon lemon juice

pinch salt

crack of pepper

PROCEDURE

Get a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Get it on the stove over medium heat at let it heat up for 5 minutes. Your pot might begin to smoke a little which is good.

Preheat the oven to a relatively low 250˚F.

While the pan heats up get your ingredients ready. Drizzle the beef with oil and toss to coat them evenly.

Place the meat in the pan to brown. Two tips for really good browning 1) don’t crowd the pan and 2) place them once and don’t keep moving them. When the one side is beautifully golden brown (approx 3 minutes) you can turn them to the other side and brown (approx 3 minutes).

Now you can just pile in all the other ingredients in whichever way suits you best, just making sure the beef is at least half submerged in the juice. Plop the lid on tight and blap the whole thing into your oven for 5 hours.

When the ribs are done slow-cooking, remove the ribs from the sauce and set aside in a dish. Strain out the herbs and aromatics from the cooking liquid by passing it through a sieve.

Reduce the strained liquid over high heat until it is saucy, but not too thick.  Taste the sauce and add some soy sauce as needed instead of salt.

Drizzle the sticky sauce over the ribs and keep warm until ready to serve.

You can also freeze the ribs and have them another day.

To make the carrotted carrots, simply cut the carrots to your preference (big chunks, small dice, diagonally, sticks, it doesn’t matter much). Place the carrots in a pot, pour in the carrot juice, sugar (or honey) and salt. Save the butter for the end.

Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a fast boil. Cook until the carrots are tender, but still have just a little bite in the middle. The cooking time will depend entirely on the size of the carrot cuts. At the last minute add the butter and whirl it around the pot to the carrots are nice and glossy.

For the soft polenta with goat cheese you need a good sturdy whisk. Nothing to flimsy.

Bring the water, cream and salt to a boil. Use the whisk to get a slow whirlpool going by stirring in a circular motion. Whisk constantly and pour the cornmeal in a steady stream directly into the center of the whirlpool. When it’s all poured in whisk it hard to make sure there are no lumps. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover to cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid lumps. To finish add the goat cheese and stir to dissolve.

For the herby salad. Use the most tender little leaves for this salad. Gently combine all the ingredients at the last minute so the tender herbs don’t get a chance to wilt and get soggy. Use your fingertips to toss the salad carefully.

To serve, put a nice scoop of the polenta on the plate and let it cover the bottom of the plate. Top with nice sticky ribs, scatter on some carrots for colour and top with a nice cluster of bright herb salad.

Main Course served on March 13th at the Ellerslie showhome: 223 – 54 street, Edmonton, Alberta

Spinach and olive phyllo cigars with a lovely sundried tomato yogurt dip 

Do you have an unhealthy addiction to spanakopita? Here is a very simple alternative with loads more flavour and it just so happens to be much easier to make.

INGREDIENTS 

1 package frozen phyllo dough, thawed

filling

1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/3 cup olive tapenade

1 egg

butter

½ cup butter, melted

1 Tbsp cumin

yogurt dip

2 cups plain 3.5% yogurt, strained

¼ cup Sundried tomatoes, in olive oil, finely minced

1 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice

1 clove of garlic, grated with a zester

salt to taste

PROCEDURE

Allow an hour for the phyllo dough to thaw at room temperature.

To strain the yogurt place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the yogurt into the sieve. Place it in the fridge for at least on hour or up to three and allow gravity to draw out the excess moisture leaving a nice thick yogurt behind in the sieve. Combine the thickened strained yogurt with finely minced (or pureed) sundried tomatoes, white balsamic vinegar, grated garlic and salt to taste. The salt will depend entirely on how salty the sundried tomatoes are.

Thaw the spinach in the microwave. When it cools squeeze out the excess liquid so it is very dry.

Place spinach into a bowl and add the olive tapenade and egg. Mix thoroughly to combine.

Get your butter and cumin in a small pot and melt the butter over low heat.

Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Place your melted butter and spinach mixture near your cigar rolling station.

Unroll the thawed phyllo dough onto a clean work surface. Cover with a clean damp tea towel as it will dry out very quickly.

Get one sheet of paper thin delicate phyllo dough onto your rolling station and using a pastry brush gently apply a sparse layer of melted butter.

Place another sheet directly onto the first sheet and brush with butter.

Now that you have two layers of phyllo, you can place a long strip of spinach mixture one inch from the bottom edge of the phyllo. Fold over the phyllo flap and carefully roll up a long tight cigar.

Roll until you reach half way, then cut the cigar away. Repeat on the top  half with spinach and roll it up again all the way to the end.

Line up the two long cigars and cut them into 3-4 inch batons. Transfer the cigars onto a parchment lined baking sheet leaving some space between each cigar to allow them to brown evenly. Make sure the seam of the pastry is facing down. Brush the tops with butter.

When you have a full tray, blap them into the oven and bake until the pastry is golden and flakey. About 8-12 depending on how much spinach is inside.

Allow them to cool to room temperature and serve with a bowl of the yogurt dip.

The remaining phyllo can be rolled up, wrapped tightly in plastic and refrozen.

Makes 16-20 cigars

Appetizer served on January 16th at the Magrath showhome: 307 Magrath Blvd, Edmonton, Alberta

Taste’s like home

Homes by Avi and Pierre Lamielle (that’s me), an international award nominee, chef and cookbook author, will be preparing a different menu item at each of Homes by Avi’s four showhome launches between January and May.

Continue reading →