December Menu: Short Ribs, Fennel and Pears

The dessert pears just after being poached in white wine and cardamom.

Wine, meat and spice come together to light up a cold night

Generally in the home kitchen, we fear disruptions of all kinds: some ingredient’s sold out, it’s not sold out but it’s forgotten and vital to the dish, things that go totally sideways in the oven because who knows. I say that’s what makes it fun.

A case in point: for the first gathering at my apartment to test out these new recipes, I had planned on home-made pickles and a brisket. Despite my best efforts, I had neither pickles nor a brisket.

I went ahead, anyway. As I wrote to my friends before dinner on the night of December 5:

“Due to highly unforeseen circumstances (OK, not really—I over-brined my pickles and I didn’t order the brisket ahead which made it impossible to find), there are some changes to tonight’s menu. Luckily, however, improvising and using what’s on your doorstep is the whole shtick for this project. So, we can consider tonight a win.

“Short ribs—like brisket—are a classically Kosher beef cut. They’re fattier and the bones add a new dimension of flavor. Short ribs are perhaps best known in Jewish cooking as the key ingredient of cholent, a beef-barley stew that we’ll try out later this winter.

“Here’s our menu for tonight.”

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Short rib daube

Spicy fennel in white wine and toasted sumac

Disturbingly simple radish salad

Cold pears poached in so much white wine

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For the main, red-wine braised short ribs, have a look at my One Pot Daube recipe.

I chose to serve the short ribs with spicy fennel to offset some of the fat of the meat. You’ll need chopped fennel bubs, some chili flakes and ground saffron or cumin (optional). Once the fennel’s chopped, toss and rub it in the spices. Heat up your olive oil, add in the sumac and a bay leaf and let it bloom—you’ll smell it. The sumac is also optional and I admit that it’s bougey but I chose it, again, for its lightness compared to the meat. Add your fennel and when it’s well seared deglaze your pan with white wine, and let it cook down (I leave the cover partially open so the white wine reduces more easily). Don’t overdo it or the fennel will be too soft.

I like to follow the daube up with a fresh radish salad—winter radishes are naturally crisp and peppery, so they don’t need much work. The salad is a palate cleanser, either to finish the meal on a light note or clear the way towards dessert. Cut the radishes (a mix of different types or all the same is fine) into thin slices, salt them generously in a colander for about half an hour and rinse the radishes thoroughly. After drying, dress them lightly with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

For dessert, I went with sweet, wintery pears poached in (more) white wine and spices. Peel your pears and add them to the mix of white wine, cardamom, star anis and a bit of sugar once it’s simmering. I’m careful not to add too much sugar; I think the pears are better when you can taste the tartness and a bit of the alcohol, and they’re already sweet enough at this time of year. These pears were hard and I left them for about half an hour until they were done. I reduced the rest of the sauce after and then left the fruit along with the thickened sauce to marinade in the fridge and double down on the flavor. Serving them cold is also a refreshing way to end a heavy meal.

Even without the pickles, we managed to survive the evening just fine.