We hadn’t seen Mark & Sharon for about a year, which is a poor excuse since they also live in Las Vegas (on the far east side of town), so, when we invited them for dinner Saturday night, I wanted to pull out all the stops and make our evening as special as I could. Mark is a newspaperman, working for the Las Vegas Review Journal and Sharon is a syndicated columnist and are both the kind of people that anyone would be happy to spend the evening with.
I’ve mentioned the cookbook, “Two Dudes, One Pan” before, and said that everything those boys make is delicious. So, when I knew I wanted to make Short Ribs I looked it up in their book. Slow cooking main courses are really better if you make them in advance and just let them sit and mellow in the refrigerator for a few days. Which makes them perfect for a dinner party. After the ribs were browned and the chopped veggies were browned in the same pan but one at a time; then everything was combined with spices and a bottle of dark beer to cook slowly in the oven.
Ready to Braise
Here’s the menu:
Puff Pastry with Gruyere & Prosciutto -appetizer
Crab Salad – First Course
Short Ribs of Beef, Pain d’Epi and Butter, Grilled Asparagus – Main Course
Fresh Strawberry Tart
Our Cocktail was a Cherry Sidecar and Mark & Sharon brought two wines over to have with dinner. The white was a Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2009 and the red a 2003 Shingleback Shiraz. We had the white with our first course and the red with the short ribs.
The Sidecars were so good. Cherry infused simple syrup combined with cherry infused brandy combined with fresh lime juice. Shaken with ice and strained into a martini glass. Garnished with a fresh cherry and a slice of lime. Not too sweet, not overly strong…fresh cherry flavor with a note of lime. Wonderful.
With our Sidecars we had the appetizer course. Puff pastry spread with a little Dijon mustard, then layered with proscuitto and grated Gueyere cheese and baked. Cheesy, salty and crisp–we finished every piece while we drank the cocktails.
Gruyère Puffs Baking
Gruyère & Prosciutto Pinwheels
The Crab Salad was simply lump crab meat combined with chili sauce, mayonnaise, fresh chives, s & p and lemon juice. Again, simple but oh, so good.
Crab Salad with Avocado
The Sauvignon Blanc had citrus-y (grapefruit to me) melon flavors and was acidic enough to cut through the creaminess of the Crab Salad. At about $20 a bottle, this was a great match.
For the main course, of course, the Short Ribs. Rich and meaty with a sweet undertone from the Star Anise used in the braising liquid. Everyone absolutely loved this. The meat was so tender it literally fell of the bone.
The Shingleback that we served with it was a strong, fruity, smoky wine. Plenty of heft to stand up to the strong flavors of the meat. Priced around $20 a bottle.
I accompanied this with asparagus that I tossed with olive oil, s & p and grilled.
Grilled Asparagus
Pain d'Epi
For a starch we had Pain d’Epi which was perfect with the sauce of the short ribs.
Main Course
Dessert was a Strawberry Tart and most of the components of the tart were made in advance. I made and baked the tart crust 3 days before and just let it sit in the lower oven. The strawberry glaze was also made 3 days before and refrigerated. To make the glaze: I cooked strawberries and sugar together with a little cornstarch and lemon juice. When it got thick, I strained it and let it cool. That’s it.
The pastry cream was also made a couple of days ahead—just milk, egg yolks, cornstarch, sugar and vanilla. Cook until thick:
Pastry Cream
Strain and let cool. Then refrigerate. On the day of the dinner, just smooth the pastry cream into the tart shell, decorate the top with freshly sliced strawberries and thickly glaze.
Strawberry Tart
Strawberry Tart was the perfect ending to a perfect evening with friends.
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