Heart & ribs

I made these ribs the other day. I think they would have been delicious if I'd set the oven at a lower temperature. I did 350... Jack suggested 275 would have been better.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. beef short ribs (grass-finished if you can get ‘em)
• Sea Salt & freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Cooking Oil of your choice (we used bacon lard)
• 1 Cup of Dry White Wine
• 1 Cup of Strong Brewed Coffee
• 1 large Yellow Onion, chopped
• 2 Teaspoons Chili Powder
• 1 Teaspoon dried Oregano

Instructions:

• Season the short ribs with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Warm the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
• Add the ribs and brown until golden, turning them once, about 2-3 minutes per side.
• Transfer the ribs to a paper-towel lined plate.
• Pour the wine and coffee into the skillet. Cook over high heat, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom, until the sauce is reduced by one forth, about 2-3 minutes.
• Put the ribs, onion, garlic, 2 teaspoons Sea Salt, chili powder, and oregano in a slow cooker. Pour in the wine sauce and cook, covered, on high for 2.5 hours. Transfer the ribs and sauce to a serving dish and serve.

Also, I found the top half of a cow heart in our freezer, so I stewed that up. Briefly:
Sautee diced bacon in a Dutch oven, and add in some veggies (red jalpenos and mushrooms). Remove the bacon & veggies with a slotted spoon, and brown the heart (trimmed of fat and cut into cubes!) in the fat. Add the veggies back in, and enough water to cover everything. Season as you see fit. We put in salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, etc. at first, and then we added some soy sauce, fish sauce and miso later on when it seemed to need a little extra something.

It turned out pretty well, but it was really oily - too much bacon grease? Not enough fat trimmed off the heart? Anyways, the top of the heart muscle seems to be tougher than the bottom, so stewing it was a good way to soften it up. The meat turned out to have great texture!

Simple simple truffles

I made truffles as a belated Valentine's gift for Scott. Easy & really good!
Inspired by Mark Bittman.

Heat 7/8 c cream on the stove until it's steaming .(I had half-and-half on hand.)
Stir in 8 oz chocolate until it's melted. (I used half unsweetened and half semisweet.)
Stir in whatever flavors you like. (Rind from half an orange, a teaspoon of rum, a little cinnamon.)

Refrigerate until it's solid.

Scoop out truffle-sized amounts, shape into balls, and roll in cocoa powder (mixed with cinnamon) to coat. Store in the fridge.

I love that it's essentially a 2-ingredient recipe (cream + chocolate) with lots of flexibility!


I also want to try this chocolate custard (1 can coconut milk + 1 cup chocolate chips + flavorings) sometime soon.

Heartiest chili EVER

We purchased an eigth of a grassfed cow in November, and we requested some hearts in our order. We got three! The first one, we just sliced and fried. Not bad, but a little tough, so we decided to slow cook the next one. Chili fit the bill. We made this about a week ago and have been really enjoying leftovers since then.

Instructions:
Saute an onion (diced) with some bacon (about 4 thick-cut pieces, also diced) in a big pot.
Once everything is soft and greasy, throw in cubed meat. We only used about half of the heart - it was 4.5 lbs total!

Chop up some peppers (we used one jalapeno and one serrano) and toast them with spices in a dry (nonstick) skillet. (Cumin, mustard, thyme, sage, rosemary, salt, pepper, and maybe some other stuff that Scott can't remember). When the peppers start to blister, add them to the pot.

Add liquid. We used a big can of diced tomatoes, a little can of tomato paste and a cup or two of water.

Add squash. We peeled and diced half of a blue hokkaido pumpkin that we had lying around.

Add other stuff... a few tablespoons of cornmeal (for thickening), some diced chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, some vegan broth powder (mostly yeast extract) to help add depth, some chopped avocados. I think that's it.

Let it simmer for the afternoon. We were happy with how it thickened up - the squash pretty much dissolved. Like most chilis, it tasted better the next day!

Salmon (Mackerel) pea (beet green) Quiche

One of my most prized wedding gifts is a pair of cookbooks: Cooking in Minnesota and More Cooking in Minnesota, published in 1975 and 1983, respectively. They're out of print, so finding good used copies can be a real treasure hunt. And treasured they are: I grew up on these recipes.

Tonight, I opened up MCiM to page 77: Salmon Quiche. It calls for a pie crust, salmon, dill, evaporated milk and frozen peas. We substituted a potato crust, leftover mackerel from last night's dinner, fresh mint, leftover coconut milk, and some wilting beet greens. It's still in the oven, but I think it will be good!

Also, I made this orange and olive oil ice cream for Scott last night, and it was incredible. Highly recommended. I think it would be a great flavor profile for custard as well... I tried baking some of the cream mixture that wouldn't fit into the ice cream ball, but I think it wasn't eggy enough to stabilize. I'll definitely try again!