Rainy Day Food

Vancouver's winter hit with a vengeance this past weekend. I say winter, because it rarely gets colder her ~ we had torrential downpours for a couple days. I know, that is no excuse for the week long absence from food blogging. How about this; I partied way too hard this past week and when I was at home, the last thing on my mind was blogging. Sleeping is more like it! Anyway, this week reminded me WHY I stopped clubbing all night 7 years ago and I don't think I'll be repeating the foolishness.
As I missed the beginning of the November Blogging Marathon, I have decided to get in on Michelle's version for tardy bloggers.
Yesterday, I felt like staying in. The rain coming down, the lingering effects of the past week. All I wanted to do was curl up on the couch with steaming bowls of hot liquid.

Lunch was a chicken broth based soup with noodles, dumplings and Gai Lan. I simmered 3 cups of chicken broth with a few slices of fresh ginger, a sprinkling of red chili and some rice wine vinegar. Then I poured it over cooked chow mein noodles, cooked storbought dumplings and blanched gai lan. Mmmmmm

Dinner was a low and slow oven affair plucked from the pages of See, Sip, Taste, Hear (yet another blog I had to had to my reader when I discovered it this weekend).
Here is my cut of the recipe, with very few changes from the original, which I believe they credit Mark Bittman for.

Anise-Scented Short Ribs
Time: 2 hours or more, largely unattended

1 Tbs Olive oil
3 Pounds meaty beef short rib
Freshly ground black pepper or szechwan peppercorns to taste*
1 medium to large onion chopped
5 nickel sized slices of fresh ginger or 2 teaspoons of ground**
3 cloves of garlic lightly crushed
5 whole star anise***
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 cup water
1 Tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar


Preheat Oven to 300F
1. Heat oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven. Brown the short ribs well on all sides. Season with pepper as they cook. Don't rush the process, which will take about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the heat so you don't burn the ribs or get the oil too smokey. You can also do the initial browning in a 500º F oven in a roasting pan turning the ribs every so often to get an even brown. This takes about 20 minutes as well.

2. Remove the ribs with a slotted spoon and pour off most of the fat. Lower heat and cook onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger cooking for another 2 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and return ribs to the pot. Place in Oven, covered, and simmer for two hours, turning ribs occaisonally.

Serve ribs over rice. I defatted the broth and drizzled a little over the ribs and rice, then added sauteed snap peas (lightly sauteed, then tossed in sweet chili sauce).