Last night I decided I wanted to get fancy. I had a whole day off with absolutely no plans, so what better day to do a little in depth cooking and really get my hands dirty in the kitchen.
Whenever I want to get "fancy" I look to either a Giada de Laurentiis or Ina Garten recipe. Usually they're just complicated enough that you feel you challenged yourself, but not so over the top that you need a dictionary to decipher the recipe. And they're not drowning in butter like Paula Deen.
Recently, I had come across a Giada recipe for Short Rib Lasagna Roll-ups. I already make a Chicken Rollatini (recipe here:
http://itsdinnertime2.blogspot.com/2011/10/chicken-rollatini-with-spinach-alla.html?m=1) but have never made short ribs. Plus, Giada's recipe was about 3 paragraphs longer than my chicken one. Challenge accepted.
First, it took me 3 different grocery stores to find enough short ribs for the recipe (2 pounds). I know I probably could've asked the meat counter for assistance but it seemed like there was no one to be found. At this point I wanted to get my ingredients, get in a gym visit, do some online work training, and then get to cooking so patience? I had none. I know I said I had absolutely nothing to do but for one of my days off that is nothing.
Second, I wanted to make a fancy drink to go with the fancy dinner. I hit up the liquor store and bought everything I needed there for the drink, but forgot the fresh limes and lemons at the grocery store AND forgot the Pinot Noir needed for the short ribs. Oy.
After squeezing in my workout and knocking out the work training in 15 minutes, it was finally time to get cooking. It started out innocent enough.
Do a little prep work first. Rough chop a white or yellow onion and smash 4 cloves of garlic. How do you smash garlic you ask? Place your unpeeled garlic clove on your cutting board, lay your knife flat across the top and smash down with your first. Voila, smashed garlic. Just make sure you peel off your skin. Smashing garlic makes garlic more sweet and less overpowering.
The next step is to open up your short ribs, place them in a large bowl, and season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium high heat.
Once your olive oil is nice and hot, add in the short ribs and sear for about 4 minutes per side until browned.
Now remove the ribs from the pot and set aside. Add your chopped onion, smashed garlic, and 2 sprigs of rosemary to the pot and cook for about 5 minutes, until your onions are translucent.
At this point, turn your heat up to high and pour in 2 cups of red wine (I used cheap Barefoot Pinot Noir, you don't need anything expensive). Make sure you scrape up all the extra brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Then add in 2 cups of beef broth and add the ribs back in. Bring the whole mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
It was at the 2 and a half hour mark that things went south again. I had checked on the pot several times while it was cooking but while in the kitchen prepping the rest of the ingredients noticed a burning smell. Uh oh. I immediately removed the lid and realized the liquid on the bottom of the pan had completely reduced and everything was now burning. I quickly took it off the stove and pulled the ribs out. Fortunately only the bones and the very edges of the meat were burned so I was able to salvage most of it. But talk about a heart attack.
The next part of the process, while the ribs are cooling, is to thaw 10oz of frozen spinach and drain out all of the liquid (easily done by pressing on it with a paper towel). Set that aside and prepare your sauce. On the stovetop in a medium saucepan bring 3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of heavy cream to a simmer. Then add in 1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and add in the spinach, 2 minced cloves of garlic, and 1/4 cup of chopped basil.
Now that your ribs have cooled you'll want to pull them off the bone and shred them with your fingers. Then add them into the spinach and cheese mixture and add in additional salt and pepper. Set aside.
The recipe calls for 12 lasagna noodles but I only boiled 6 and it turned out to be plenty. My issue was since I burned the bottom of my large pot, I was really searching for something to cook the noodles in. And was coming up with just about nothing. I had to cram them into a deep saucepan and hope for the best. At this point I was praying for no more mishaps!
While your noodles are cooking preheat your oven to 400F. Grease a large baking dish with cooking spray and spread 1 cup of marinara sauce over the bottom. Then lay your lasagna noodles on a clean surface, spread the meat and spinach mixture along their length evenly, and roll. While rolling be sure to do it as tight as possible and press the meat into the sides if it starts to fall out.
I don't know how Giada managed to make 12 rolls unless she was skimping on the meat. Once rolled place seam side down into your baking dish, top with more marinara and grated Parmesan cheese. Then bake for 25 minutes.
Don't they look yummy? As a side dish I baked some asparagus that good friends of ours grow in their garden (thanks Pat and Steph!). Just top with salt and pepper, a little olive oil, and some grated Parmesan and bake for 15 minutes at 400. This was perfect because it was the same temperature as the roll ups so I put them in at the same time and pulled the asparagus out early.
Here's the finished roll ups:
I'm happy to say that the meat and taste did not suffer at all with the accidental burning. My guy really really liked this dish, so much so that he ate 3 rollups in one sitting. The meat was very tender and seasoned well and there isn't so much cheese that it overpowers the meat. You can definitely taste the freshness of the basil and garlic and there's a little bit of sweetness with the marinara. I'll definitely be making this again!
Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the cocktail. I chose to make an Irish Redhead using Jameson whiskey. First, muddle 4 blackberries in the bottom of a tumbler (just use the end of a wooden spoon to smush them enough to get the juice out). Then add in 3oz of Jameson, 1oz of grenadine, 5-6oz of ginger ale, a squeeze of lime and a squeeze of lemon, and garnish with a lime wedge. Delicious!
Here's the muddling:
And the finished product!
For the full recipe, click here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/short-rib-lasagna-rolls-recipe.html
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