Brrrrrrrrrrrr

 No matter if you read the temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit, baby it is cold outside. Ok, maybe not the Southern Californians but I try not to be too hateful. Intellectually I know we will catch-up and warm-up though until then my feet are snuggled in my sheepskin sleepers and my shoulders are swathed with a large wool jersey throw. It is a cozy sight I make sitting at my desk, or cooking up dinner – but I am toasty and that is priority.

This chill definitely has sent me into the kitchen as early as possible to start a daily simmer, stew or braise – warming the house, and eventually helping thaw the deep set chill in our bones. My dear husband has the sexiest job in spring and autumn but come the extreme of certain seasons 8 plus hours a day on horseback leaves its marks. So, in an effort to make the day’s finish melt away I am delivering most dinners in a bowl with a spoon. These long cooking pots of relief are a perfect place to utilize my summer stores. Tarragon and loveage salts, frozen tomatoes, sun-dried peppers are being called upon to add further dimension to the season of comfort foods.  

Beef Mushroom Barley Soup - yields 6 to 8 servings

2-tablespoons butter

1 large leek - white portion only, washed and diced

1-large onion

3 celery stalks - chopped

4 clove garlic – diced

1/2-pund boneless beef short rib

1-/2 pounds mushrooms - such as cremini, chantrelles, or morel, roughly chopped

1 oz dried porcini mushrooms - roughly crushed

1-tablespoon thyme - leaves only, roughly chopped

2-tablespoons dill – roughly chopped

3/4-cup pearl barley

5-1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a six-quart pot melt the butter over a medium flame and add the leek and onion. Cook for a few minutes stirring constantly until they lose their raw look and become translucent. Add in the celery, garlic, short ribs, mushrooms, dried porcini, thyme and dill cooking for a few minutes longer. Mix in the barley and, pour over the stock and bring the soup to a boil.  Season the soup with salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the soup for an hour to 2 hours with a lid slightly askew.

Shifting TImes

 Life survives even though for many there is an icy coating, and unfortunately it is months away before we see penetrating verdant shoots that signal the worst is behind us. I miss gathering from the yard and hunting farmer’s markets for my daily inspiration. Not to mention, the pleasure of numerous herbaceous notes I have available to me highlighting my inspirations.

I am so hardwired to hunt and gather, and I cannot be thwarted by nature’s need to refresh. Luckily my freezer is full of vegetables and pestos allowing me to ferret through that chest seeing what I will use to augment the vegetables that had to be bought commercially. I usually take this time of year to put together a list of grocers I want to visit and hunt down items I may not of used before -- Indian, Caribbean, Asian markets all find me a seasonal visitor. With the lack of herbs to chose from I shift my focus to spices. In one of my freezers (of course, I have multiple ones) I have freezer bags stuffed with small plastic bags filled with spices. Usually bought in their whole form for that way I get the most fragrant product and have the option to use whole or placed in my spice grinder to be pulverized. Unlike fresh herbs that, if fortunate, give me about a week in the refrigerator, spices held in the freezer will last years.  So, in those bags you will find spices from annatto to za’atar mix.

It seems seasonally appropriate that my stimulation for what I’ll make comes from a frozen box.

Tamarind Braised Short Ribs – yields 6 servings

4-ounces tamarind paste

2-inch stick cinnamon

2-star anise

6-clove spikes

½-teaspoon mace

1-teaspoon whole black peppercorns

3-pounds short ribs (on the bone)

2- stalks lemon grass – cut in half

1-large onion - sliced

2-inch piece of ginger – peeled and diced

4-garlic cloves – chopped

3-tablespoons Thai fish sauce

¾-pound King Oyster mushrooms

¼-pound Enoki mushrooms

1-pound cubed pumpkin

Salt to taste

½-cup chopped Chinese garlic chives

Soak the tamarind paste in 1½-cups of warm water in a small bowl for about 10 minutes.

Place the cinnamon, star anise, clove, mace and peppercorns in a spice grinder, and process until it pulverized.

Using a small sauce pan gently pound the lemon grass as bruising it this way helps release more of its fragrance.

Heat a 4 or 6 quart pot over a high heat, and add the short ribs. Brown the ribs, and remove to a plate. Into the pot immediately add the onion, ginger, lemon grass and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onions lose their raw look. Mix in the pulverized spices and return the ribs to the pot. Pour the tamarind through a seive right into the pot, discarding the seeds and any fiberous material left in the sieve. Add the fish sauce, and turn the heat down to low. Cover, and cook for an hour.

 

After an hour add the mushrooms, pumpkin and season with salt. Replace the lid, and continue cooking an additional 1 to 1½ hours longer. Mix in the chives, and serve.

Bracing ... oh that chill

Ticking off the first month of the New Year also means the coldest, roughest month is about to begin. Thankfully, it is also the shortest month of the year. I don’t remember looking for to the next 28 days except for the two years I lived in Australia. Today’s chilled, blustery winds is the keynote speaker for the weeks ahead. What do I hope the groundhog sees in two days?

Fortunately, the freezer is still packed with summer tomatoes and I will be pulling those gems out of suspended warmth to comfort this household with soups, stews, braises and sauces over the coming weeks. The sun-dried tomatoes I dehydrated over the course of several searing August days is going to enrich more than my palate – maybe, next summer I should try my hand at sun drying my own tomato paste.

Until, I find myself in shorts and a tank top spreading my tomato puree out onto a sheet of ply wood in the blazing sun I will go to the stores I already have to keep me warm physically and emotionally. 

Braised Short Ribs - yields 4 servings

3-pounds short ribs

2–large onions

6-cloves cloves

3-ounces wild mushrooms – such as morels, trumpets, chantrelles

2-ounces sun dried tomatoes – roughly chopped

1-1/2 pound tomatoes – roughly chopped

1-tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary –leaves only

¼-cup chopped Italian parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat an eight quart casserole dish over a medium heat, and add the short ribs and brown them deeply. Remove the ribs to a bowl, and immediately add into the pot the onions and garlic. Cook the onions and garlics for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Return the ribs to the pot and add the wild mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, dried mushrooms and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and lower the heat to a simmer. Cover, and cook for 2 to 3 hours. About half hour before serving stir in the rosemary and parsley.