Short Ribs, Gorgonzola-Polenta, American Prosciutto
Tonight I made a dinner that was inspired by a delectable magazine cover shot from almost a year ago—Bon Appetit had a simple recipe for short ribs, one of my more favorite dishes.
The flavors are simple: herbs, good wine, and a base of creamy polenta, scented if you will, by sweet gorgonzola cheese. We start with some ingredients:
- beef short ribs
- red wine (I used a yummy Black Burret syrah/grenache blend)
- onion
- herbs (majoram, thyme)
- garlic
- beef stock
Brown the short ribs in oil, set aside. Add one sweet onion to the pan, still hot, and wilt. Add 3 cloves garlic. Pour one bottle wine into an oven-safe vessel, and add back the short ribs. Since my wine didn’t quite cover the ribs, I augmented the liquid with beef stock.
Cook for 2-3 hours in the oven at 300-375 degrees.
The flavor is punched up here with the addition of a grimolata, a type of spicy topping. Chop more herbs, including parsley, with lemon peel and garlic, and top the cooked short ribs for a flavor “punch.”
To make this topping, I whizzed everything up in the Cuisinart.
I covered the beef short ribs with a wine sauce reduction, after straining the herbs and onion/garlic from the mixture. I thickened the sauce with a flour/butter addition.
For the polenta, whisk-in some instant-cook polenta into boiling beef or chicken stock. It thickens quickly; keep stirring with the wisk, then drop in two medium-sized knobs (I know, how big is a knob, right? You judge!) of gorgonzola dulce cheese. Finish it off with a few glugs of heavy cream (again, judgement!), and stir. Take off the heat; stir in some salt, and keep covered until service (not too long, as you still want to ladle it into the plates runny).
The meal started, however, with some heirloom tomatoes and a favorite: prosciutto.
Here, we used heirloom cherry tomatoes, sliced, and dressed with a garlicky olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar dressing. Between slices of La Quercia American prosciutto slices went the tomatoes; on one side, a wedge of delicious private-farm (Vermont) smoked mozzarella.
I was anxious of trying La quercia after reading about it… it’s produced in America “to rival” the Italian original. The pigs are fed a specially-created diet, matching the ‘old fashioned’ one once carried on in Italy. It was different, for sure, sweet, very “porky,” and not as fat as the Italian variety. Still, delicious.
The tomatoes were so sweet, with sea salt and balsamic adding just the right notes.
Tonight’s dinner came by way of the Whole Foods market, with some ingredients and things I hadn’t used before. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Everything was quite good.
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