Martha Meets Lucy

Braised Oxtails with Horseradish Cream

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that everyone (minus the vegetarians, vegans, and my friend Jenna who doesn’t eat beef) like short ribs. After all, they’re tender, hearty, and just all around delicious. I like them. I really do. But...

Short ribs are the Wally Cleaver of the Low-and-slows. Short ribs wear Letterman’s jackets, get named Prom King, and single handedly save the big game.

Oxtails are James Dean. Oxtails ride motorcycles, wear awesome leather jackets. They’re bad ass and they know it. They don’t care if you like them. They’re the boy your mom warned you about.

I love oxtails. I will pick them over short ribs. Every. Single. Time.

They have texture and richness and gelatiney goodness that short ribs can only hope to have. Which is why not everyone likes them. Or it could be the name. I bet in a blind taste test oxtails would win hands down. Especially when given the Lucques’ short rib treatment. Marinated, braised, then put in a hot oven to get a crispy burnished finish oxtails are an easy show stopper of a dish. As per Susan Goin’s instructions, I served these with swiss chard, mashed potatoes, roasted pearl onions, and horseradish cream. Lots of horseradish cream. 

Garlic Bread

This is embarrassing to admit, but I’m adkfjdmajoringinnutritionfakdf. What’s that? You couldn’t understand me? Fine. I’ll try again. *deep calming breath* I’m a nutrition major. Whew, if feels good to get that off my chest.

The problem with my major is that I do a lot of eating during which I basically ignore everything I have learned. Like this garlic bread. That I pretty much made a meal of today. I did have glass of red wine with it which is good for me (and one of the only perks to being unemployed). This is not a healthy recipe. Or an unhealthy recipe trying to masquerade as a healthy one. This is an in your face calorie assault, best done with no concept of moderation.

I don’t know for sure, but I think my grandpa could eat this garlic bread everyday he would. This is a man who doesn’t eat  crispy skin on chicken or the fat on a steak. He thinks the best thing to happen to pork chops in the last 50 years was breeding the fat out of pigs. I think my dad was adopted because none of these traits seem to have carried through the gene pool.

But oh Mylanta, that man will inhale this bread. He eats 1/2 a loaf by himself. And every. single. time. I make it he tells me I should be selling the spread. While he won’t be seeing it at the grocery store anytime soon, he will be able to make it at home because I made him a huge batch for Christmas.

Chicken in a Jar (aka Chicken Rillettes)

Remember that chicken stock I made the other day? You know, the one with the feet? I just felt a shudder, so I guess you do remember it. Well, as delicious as it is in soups and anything that calls for chicken stock, its true calling in life is to be one of the main ingredients in Chicken in a Jar.

Chicken in a Jar is what I call Chicken Rillettes because I don't know how to pronounce rillettes and I always serve it in a mason jar. I can sound out Spanish, so I've always pronounced it Ree-yets, but I'm pretty sure the rules of Spanish are not the rules of French. Lucky for me, no one else knows exactly how to pronounce "rillettes", so Chicken in a Jar it is.

Tastes even better when the wine has your initial on it.

I've been making this recipe for years, and despite numerous requests, I have never shared the recipe. I tell people its hard (its not) and its time consuming (most of it is inactive) and leave it at that. Really I don't want people to know how much butter is in this stuff. Better to live in denial.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Tartlets

I feel like these days there are very few things people find truly scary in the kitchen. Sure, some things are still intimidating, like primal cuts or yeast based products. Other than flambeing though, is anything truly scary? Anything besides caramel that is.

 

Making good caramel is scary. There are so many things that could go wrong so very quickly. Caramel can crystalize, it can decide to not set, it can be bland, and it can burn. Oh, and there is a very good reason caramel is referred to as culinary napalm.

For years I wanted to love caramel. I really did. Every year my neighbor gives me a giant box of homemade caramel, most of which never gets consumed. I don’t want caramel to just taste sweet. Or buttery. Even salt on bland caramel doesn’t save it. I want caramel to be complex, slightly bitter and smokey with an underlying sweetness. My perfect caramel tastes like the sugar on creme brulee, but creamy.

Three years ago, I read a recipe in Pure Chocolate (by Fran of Fran's Chocolates) for Nearly Burnt Caramel Ice Cream. I felt like the heavens opened and a choir of angels sang. The secret, that apparently has never been a secret, to great caramel is that the sugar isn’t just melted, it is cooked.

Great people of the internet, you have to cook your caramel. You have to put on your big kid pants, man up, and play chicken with some molten sugar. It might take a few tries before you win, but when you win it is like hitting the jackpot. (Besides, a cup of sugar doesn’t cost that much.)

Everyone wins if you put your newly discovered caramel making skills to use making Chocolate Caramel Tartlets. Chocolate crust, loosely set caramel filling, chocolate ganache, and a sprinkle of sea salt all contained in a perfect two bite serving? Who wouldn’t want to eat that? Best of all, they are easy to make and transport really well. I brought a batch of these to a dance lesson with me, and they were gone by the time the lesson was over and there were only five people in the studio at the time.

My Favorite Chicken Stock

I spent years convinced that homemade stock was a waste of time. There were perfectly usable stocks that I could buy at the grocery store. Why would I want to spend the time making stock from scratch? Especially at my house where we are constantly losing food in the freezer. When I worked for a catering company someone made stock at least once a week. Unfortunately, it wasn’t particularly good stock. Who ever made it broke almost every basic tenant of stock making. They started with hot water, and they cooked the stock at a rolling boil for a short period of time. Bleh.

When I went to the CIA I learned how to make stock that was worth the time (and I had to in order to pass the class). I think it was made just with chicken bones and mirepoix (I just consulted with Pro Chef...it was).  It cooked for 4-6 hours and was golden and chicken-ey. When I came home, it was the stock I made.

But there was a problem with it. I wanted more gelatin. I wanted it to have more stick to your ribs quality. It lacked unctuousness.

I have found my favorite chicken stock recipe. This chicken stock is full of gelatin. You could use this stock to make a chicken flavored jello mold. The secret is the chicken feet. They are just full of collagen and connective tissue. As an added bonus, chicken feet are cheap. I bought mine at Whole Foods for just over $1 per pound. The butcher and I also had a long conversation about how awesome chicken feet are in stock.

Cranberry Pecan Bakewell Tart

I love cranberry sauce. It has always been my favorite part of Thanksgiving. In a meal full of rich and creamy foods, the acidic pop of cranberry sauce is a welcome bright spot with almost every bite.

I make homemade cranberry sauce every year, always thinking “this is the year everyone will discover how awesome cranberry sauce is”. And every year I end up with a ton of leftover cranberry sauce because my mom and I are the only people that eat it. This year was no different. Long after the turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes were gone, cranberry sauce remained in the fridge. Every time I opened the fridge, there it was. Watching me. Waiting to be used. Until last week when my cranberry sauce found it’s final resting place.

I’ve had my eye on this Cranberry Pecan Tart for awhile. Honestly, how could you not want to make it? A shortbread-esque crust with a creamy pecan filling, studded with whole fresh cranberries? I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.