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Beef Short Rib Ravioli with Tarragon Beurre Blanc

I’m not going to try and pull the wool over your eyes, this recipe is a lot of work. If you lose a little steam along the way, the braised short ribs served with a little bit of polenta would be a fine meal in itself. However, if you want to go the distance to create an elegant and sophisticated meal, you will be blown away by the results. The flavour combination of the savory red wine jus and the rich and tart tarragon buerre blanc was inspired by the proven combination of filet mignon with Bearnaise sauce and red wine demi glace.

Making ravioli is the kind of action that really allows you to up your cooking game. You’ll need to make your own pasta if you don’t already. You’ll then realize that the intimidation factor of making homemade pasta is really unwarranted; it is one of the easiest things to do in the kitchen, and you may even stop buying dry pasta. After you make your first ravioli, the creative juices will start to flow and you will begin dreaming up new delicious fillings. The possibilities are virtually endless!

Tip: Ensure to roll the pasta dough as thin as possible, since the end result will be double the thickness when you assemble the ravioli. This is the one place where this dish could go wrong, and I’ve made this mistake in the past.

Ingredients:

For the short ribs:

500g boneless beef short ribs, cut into 2 inch chunks

1 Big carrot, peeled and quartered

3 Cloves garlic

1 Shallot, halved

1 Tbsp tomato paste

A couple sprigs of thyme, and a handful of cut parsley stalks (no leaves) tied together with kitchen twine

1 cup red wine

1/2 cup chicken stock (veal stock would be better, but I didn’t have any on hand)

1 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper, plus some whole peppercorns

For the pasta:

1.5 cups flour

2 eggs

pinch of salt

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 egg, beaten

For the filling:

Braised short ribs, pulled apart delicately, excess fat removed

1 Shallot, thinly sliced

1 Lemon, zested, reserve lemon juice for later

100g Firm cheese, I used an aged gouda

Handful of parsley leaves

For the sauce:

1/2 cup white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

200g cold butter, cut into chunks

A few sprigs of fresh tarragon leaves

Pepper

Directions:

To make the short ribs:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Heat a saute pan to high heat, and add a glug of the oil. Generously season the short ribs, and sear each side to get some color (about 5 min a side). Set aside and leave pan on high heat.

2. Sear the carrot, shallots and garlic in the hot pan to get some color, then add the tomato paste and the short ribs. Toss everything around while the tomato paste browns but not does not burn, about a minute.

3. Add the red wine and the chicken stock to the pan and deglaze. Add a bundle of the fresh thyme and parsley stems. Turn off heat, cover with tin foil, and place in the oven for 2.5 to 3 hrs.

4. Once done, remove the short ribs from the liquid and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, skim the fat off the braising liquid then strain and discard the solids. Reserve the jus and keep warm for plating.

While the short ribs are cooking, make the egg pasta.

For the filling:

1. Brown the shallots with a bit of olive oil, and set aside to cool.

2. Add the short ribs, shallots, parsley, lemon zest, and cheese to a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and gently fold ingredients. We don’t want to create a homogeneous mixture, we still want some texture with the filling.

To assemble the ravioli:

1. Roll out the pasta sheets as thin as possible on a floured surface. Cut 4 inch rounds out of the dough using a mason jar lid. Create a couple rows of pasta circles, top one row with filling, and brush the other with the egg wash. For the filling, create little golf ball size mounds, and gently compress with your palms to remove any air.

2. To assemble, drape the top round (brushed with egg) over top of the rounds topped with the filling. Align the edges on one side, the pinch down firmly to create a seal. Gently lift up the ravioli and hold delicately in your flat palm. With the other hand, work your way around the filling, pinching to create a seal. When you have almost made it around the full circle, retrace your steps to ensure any excess air is pushed out, then pinch the final opening together to fully seal off the ravioli. This will take a little practice, but you’ll get it eventually. Dust with flour after completing, to prevent it from sticking to the other ravioli.

For the beurre blanc (make immediately before cooking the pasta):

1. Add the white wine, lemon juice, and shallot to a sauté pan; reduce on medium heat until there is about a tbsp of liquid remaining, then reduce heat to low.

2. Now in the same pan, add the butter 1 cube at a time, whisking to incorporate. Same technique as hollandaise, minus the egg.

3. Gently tear up the tarragon leaves and add to the buerre blanc. Leave on low heat until the pasta is ready.

To cook, bring some salted water to a boil and add a glug of oil to the surface to create a kind of oil slick effect on the surface. Add the ravioli one by one, so that they fall through the oil slick. Once they float to the surface, the ravioli is done. Transfer to the beurre blanc pan with a slotted spoon, it’s okay if a little pasta water follows. Gently toss to get an even coating of sauce on the ravioli.

To plate, slowly pour the strained red wine jus into the bottom of a shallow pasta dish to create about a 4-5 inch circle. Top with the ravioli and garnish with a sprig of fresh tarragon and some cracked pepper.

Enjoy with a nice Okanagan merlot!

Simple Egg Pasta

A simple recipe that works for all different pasta shapes. Going the extra mile to make pasta from scratch is well worth it, and is surprisingly fun and easy. The second time you make it, you won’t think twice about whether or not it is worth the extra effort!

Ingredients:

1.5 cups flour (Type 00 if you can find it, but all purpose works too)

2 eggs

Glug of olive oil

pinch of salt

About 0.5 cup of extra flour for dusting the work surface

Directions:

1. Make a volcano shape with the flour directly onto a clean working surface. Crack the eggs into the center and add the pinch of salt.

2. Beat the eggs with a fork, while bringing in a little bit of the flour at a time. Continue to combine the ingredients, it won’t combine in one uniform mass, but a bunch of flaky bits.

3. Flour the working surface, and knead the dough for about 5 to 10 minutes; you will start to see moisture come to the surface while the dough combines into a uniform mass. You want a stiff, springy, dense dough – this is what gives pasta it’s desirable texture.

4. Toss the dough ball in a glass bowl with the olive oil, swirl it around for a couple seconds so that all sides are coated in oil. Cover in plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour.

5. Roll the dough out using a pasta machine or rolling pin into your desired noodle shapes; if not using right away, dust the noodles with a bit of extra flour and drape over a pasta rack, or just wooden spoon propped between a couple of tall cans.

Enjoy in your favourite pasta recipe – remember that the cooking time will be less than dried pasta, so taste while they are cooking to determine the level of doneness!

Beef Cheek Ragu with Pappardelle

Ragu is simply meat braised with tomato, mirepoix, wine, and stock. It’s a beautiful thing on its own, but it turns magical when elevated with lemon, parmesan, and arugula and served with fresh pappardelle pasta.

Pappardelle noodles are thick and broad, you can even use lasagna sheets cut up in lieu of having actual pappardelle on hand. If you’ve never made pasta noodles before, pappardelle is a great starting point since you can get away with making it without having a machine.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb beef cheeks (about 2) cut into 2 inch pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

3 small shallots, halved

2 garlic cloves, whole

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 carrots, peeled and cut into diamonds

1/2 cup red wine

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 cups chicken stock

1 lemon, zested

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp fresh Parmigiano Reggiano,

handful of fresh arugula leaves

Salt and pepper

Enough pappardelle pasta for two, homemade if you do that kind of thing

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Season beef cheeks liberally with salt and pepper. Heat an oven proof pan on the burner to medium high and add the olive oil. Sear beef shins until they have a nice golden colour, about 8-10 minutes.

2. Add the shallots and garlic to the pan, and continue to saute for 5 minutes. Toss the pan a bit while sauteing to ensure the garlic and shallots are browning.

3. Add the tomato paste to the pan, and continue to saute for 1 minute while lighty tossing or stirring the ingredients. The tomato paste will brown quickly, but this is what we want.

4. Add the wine and mustard to the pan, let cook down for 30 seconds, then add the chicken stock (the liquid should almost cover the beef). Transfer the pan to the oven. Braise until the beef can be pulled apart easily with a fork. This should be about 3 hours. If you decide to braise longer, just ensure that there is enough liquid to prevent the beef from drying out.

5. While the braise is finishing, boil some water for the pasta and salt generously. Then toss in the pappardelle pasta. While you’re waiting of the pasta to cook, remove the beef from the oven and add the lemon zest, butter, and Parmesan. Stir to incorporate, then fold in the arugula. Once the pasta is al dente, transfer with a slotted spoon to the pan with the beef. It’s okay if a little water transfers over in the process, if not preferred. Gently fold all the ingredients together and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Gnocchi with Brown Butter, Squash, and Crispy Sage Leaves

This is a very simple autumn inspired dish. It will work with a wide variety of squash, and each one will give the dish a different flavour and character so there is tonnes of room for variation by following the simple formula of this recipe.

I love the combination of brown butter and sage, but the lemon is really what brings the whole dish together. Opt for fresh gnocchi instead of store bought, and you won’t be disappointed! You could even take it one step further than I did by making butternut squash gnocchi instead of regular potato.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh potato gnocchi (either store bought or fresh, recipe for this to follow)

1 small squash (about 500g), acorn, gem, or butternut squash work well

1 small bunch fresh sage

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup butter

1 lemon

1 tbsp hard cheese such as grana padano, or parmesan

Directions:

1. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds, season the inside with salt and pepper, and add a small glug of olive oil to each and roast for 30 min at 350 degrees F, or until done (timing based on gem squash).

2. Meanwhile, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a large saute pan and place on medium heat. Pick the sage leaves from the stem, and carefully arrange in the pan to avoid overlapping. Continue to saute until the sage leaves are crispy, but not burnt. Pick out individual leaves as they crisp up if the heat is uneven. Set aside crispy sage leaves for later and reserve the pan for the gnocchi (step 5).

3. Bring a pot of water to boil and salt as you would for pasta. Add the gnocchi and drain with a colander once the gnocchi has floated to the surface. Ensure you remove as much water as possible to avoid oil splatters in the next step.

4. While the gnocchi is cooking, turn a small saucepan to medium-high heat and add the butter. Cook until the color begins to turn golden brown and the aroma changes, then remove from heat. Ensure you do not remove from the heat too late, as the butter will continue to brown somewhat.

5. Heat the large saute pan to high heat, and add a glug of olive oil. Add the gnocchi to the pan to saute, ensuring they form a single layer. If the pan is too small for this, work in batches. Saute the gnocchi until they develop a nice golden brown exterior with a slight crust. Reduce the heat to medium, and add the squash, brown butter, and the juice from the 1 lemon. Toss the ingredients lightly and continue to saute for 1 minute. Add the crispy sage, reserving a few for garnish. Season generously with salt and pepper, and toss to incorporate all the ingredients.

6. Grate the cheese over the gnocchi, and garnish with the reserved crispy sage leaves.

Simple Sous Vide Beef Shank

Originally, I imagined that any cheap cut of meat cooked with the sous vide method would emerge tender and juicy after many hours. This is simply not true. I have learned that sous vide cooked meat can emerge tender, flavourful, and even medium rare but bizarrely enough also dry. For this reason, the beef was somewhat underwhelming directly out of the sous vide bath.

I sought to improve the dish by changing the sauce, which worked, but I also think this method for beef may simply benefit a different style of dish. It would work very well for a ravioli or other stuffed pasta, where the lack of moisture would actually be a benefit. I am intending on trying this in a future post, so stay tuned. I am also planning on documenting several different iterations of temperatures and cooking times to see if the moisture level can be improved by changing these variables.

I compared this dish with two sauces, first was a simply sherry pan sauce (pictured above) and the second was a red wine reduction sauce. The red wine reduction was a far superior accompaniment to the beef, and also filled the gap that I felt was missing due to the slight dryness of the beef.

Ingredients:

500g beef shank, bone removed

1 sprig thyme

1 garlic clove, halved lengthwise

8 whole peppercorns

1 tbsp olive oil

For the red wine reduction:

1/2 cup red wine

1 tbsp minced shallot

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp butter

1. Set sous vide bath to 75 degrees C and timer to 12 hours.

2. Lightly season the beef shank with salt, and place in the zip lock bag with the olive oil, thyme sprigs, and garlic clove. Remove air with the water bath method, seal tightly, and place in the sous vide bath for 12 hours.

3. Once the beef is done, remove from the sous vide bath and ziplock bag. Heat a pan to medium-high heat, add a glug of olive oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the beef and sear for 90 seconds a side, or until a nice caramelization develops. This will happen a lot faster than with raw beef, so monitor the beef closely when it is searing. Set the beef aside, and reduce the heat to medium.

4. Add the red wine and shallots to the hot pan and reduce by a half. Add the mustard and whisk to incorporate for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from heat and add the butter while whisking continuously. Serve with the beef.

Enjoy!

Obligatory Morel Mushroom Recipe

A quick look at a dish conceived around beautiful fresh morels and one of my favourite concepts for cooking wild mushrooms.

Normally I conceive of a dish for dinner while shopping for groceries and not before, I like to be inspired by what is fresh, special, or even economical. On this particular day I stumbled across some rare early summer time jewels not normally available in your every day produce section, fresh morels!

My first inclination for these brainy shaped wild mushrooms was to saute them up with fresh thyme, shallot, white wine, and finished into a nice cream sauce. Normally morels and cream are a wicked combination, but dried morels are really better for that type of sauce due to their concentrated flavour. Also – you can pick up dried morels any time of the year, so I wanted to do something that showcased the freshness of these rare beauties.

What I decided to do was based on a mushroom bruschetta, which is one of my favourite things to make and serve to friends in my kitchen. The concept is simple, fresh wild mushrooms tossed onto a hot and dry cast iron pan (it brings out the woodiness and beautiful umami flavour of the mushrooms); then quickly sauteed in a piping hot pan with a glug of oil and some shallot or garlic, fresh herbs, scallions, and julienned chili; then finished with a splash of whatever alcohol you may have available, sherry and white wine are my favourites. Of course, once the alcohol is reduced to a nappe consistency it’s taken off the heat and finished with a generous knob of butter. Keys throughout the process are to maintain a high temperature, and not to overcrowd the pan. Once autumn rolls around again, I will do up a post about a version I’ve made with fresh chanterelles over a fire pit during a surf trip in Tofino.

The brushetta in this dish consists of fresh morels, thinly sliced garlic scapes, roasted shallot, dry vermouth, and butter. Served with a simple pan roasted chicken breast and sauteed potatoes (which I take very seriously, and will warrant a post of their own in the future).

Official recipe to follow, but for now enjoy the food porn!

Recipe:

1 Chicken breast, boneless and skin on.

1/4 cup of butter

1 large shallot, halved

1 Sprig fresh rosemary, intact

Handful of fresh morels, about 6-8 per chicken breast, halved

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup of fresh garlic scapes, thinly sliced

1/8 cup dry vermouth, white wine, or sherry

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

For the chicken:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Put nonstick oven-proof frying pan on medium-high heat and toss in a glug of olive oil.

2. Liberally season the chicken with the coarse pepper and salt, place (not toss) in the pan. Cook for about 5-6 minutes and flip once a nice golden brown colour has developed. Immediately add 1 tbsp of butter, as well as one of the shallot halves and the rosemary. Baste the chicken in the beautiful shallot-rosemary-butter sauce a few times, then toss the whole pan in the oven until the chicken is cooked through.

3. While the chicken is cooking, put another saute pan on high heat. Toss on the fresh morel mushrooms and dry saute until golden brown. You should be getting a beautiful nutty aroma at this point off the mushrooms. Set the mushrooms aside once browned and reduce heat to medium-high.

4. Add a glug of olive oil to the pan, then add the garlic scapes. Julienne the other shallot half, then add to the garlic scapes. Toss this around a few times with the oil so that good colour begins to form.

5. Toss the morels back in the pan with the garlic scapes and shallot, turn the heat to high. Wait about 30 seconds, then splash in the vermouth. We’re aiming for the vermouth to reduce to the nappe consistency in about 15 seconds, so there needs to be enough heat in the pan to achieve this without burning the mixture. Take the pan off the heat, and add 1 tbsp of the butter, season to taste and toss the mixture. Serve immediately over the chicken.

Enjoy!