Day 1 - Basic Short Ribs & Brownies

While Ravi has made I would have to say the best lamb soup today that I feel I have ever tasted, soup is merely lunch... midnight comfort... etc.  The key we have found is to not add any potatoes, rice, noodles or starch of any kind because after chilling will turn the broth to goup. Whereby it is no longer considered soup in my book.   If you can't drink it from a mug it just doesn't cut the mustard.  I cannot attest to everything that went into this soup, but the veggie ingredients were carrot, swiss chard, mushrooms, onion and celery....heavy on the broth...light on the veggies.

We have been in search of the perfect short rib recipe for quite some time now.  My personal favorite, but not my dear husband includes shallots, tomatoes, country style mustard and wine reduction, however I feel we have found one today that will fit the bill for both.  Since I have discovered my slowcooker, I find that if I think it will work, I will alter any recipe to fit this easy to use cooking option.  It was the simplest recipe imaginable:

1c red wine or more (I used a lighter beaujolais which seems to suit)
1 onion sliced
mushrooms
salt
pepper
a dash of thyme, garlic powder
1c sour cream

The process was simple.  Saute the onions.  Braise the seasoned ribs.  My trick is salt pepper, put them on a cookie sheet and pop them in the oven on a high broil.  This makes less mess on your stove, and less cleanup.  Pop the ribs in the slow cooker, onions on top, pour the wine into the onion pan to deglaze and then pour into the slow cooker.  I added a bit of broth and a bit more wine to increase the liquid, then turned it to high and let it cook for 4 hours.  Once the ribs are cooked remove them from the slow cooker and set aside, then saute the sliced mushrooms (amount depends on you) in butter, add the juice from the ribs, your herbs and salt to taste and bring to a simmer to reduce by half.  Remove from heat and add the sour cream. chopped parsley to garnish and voila.

This is a great dish! We served with mashed potatoes and broccoli, but I could definitely see egg noodles as an alternative.

Desert was brownies from scratch.  A recipe gleaned from my friend Lynne.  Also a very simple recipe, and a good base, but I would probably tweak this recipe a bit for maximum Yum factor.  Here it is:

1c White Sugar
1c Brown Sugar
1c Butter Melted (I used salted)

Combine well then add

3/4 c of cocoa
3 eggs - one at a time

1c Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (Just pour some in)

Pour into a greased and floured pan (9 x 12) and bake on 350 for 30 minutes.  These brownies did get frosted...thanks to Duncan Hines.  With everything going on today there wasn't much time for anything else.

I think in future I would try melted chocolate rather than cocoa... amounts to be determined, and I would add some walnuts or chocolate chips to the batter.  Overall they were a great tasting brownie, but not quite as dense as I would like.  I think the melted chocolate would take care of this issue however. I will keep you posted when I try this recipe again.

The best part of the brownie experience was sharing it with my 1 year old son.  There was some major finger tasting going on at every stage of this batter.  The result was a VERY chocolate covered baby and a lot of smiles.

Until next time!

Sherri