For tonight’s dinner we were inspired by a cookbook from Balthazar (one of our favorite “French” bistros located in Soho, New York).  We don’t go there very often because its pretty expensive (especially for kids) but we decided to recreate a meal from there. We made Braised Short Ribs, our take on the Balthazar Salad, and Cream Puffs (or Profiteroles, as Balthazar calls them.) Of course we changed things up a bit.  For the braised short ribs, instead of making it in a Dutch oven all on the same day, we used a slow cooker and let them cook overnight Saturday, refrigerated them during the day on Sunday, and then finished them off on Sunday night.  Mom had made them before that way and thought it improved the flavor. Plus it made it easier to take the fat off because it hardens a little (its sort of weird: this orange layer of fat).  The braised short ribs were even more work than the lamb shanks because we had to tie the short ribs together, braise them, create the braising liquid, cook them in the liquid, take them out of the liquid, untie, strain and reduce the liquid and then add the ribs back.  But they were delicious! (Oh and we served them over egg noodles.  The Balthazar cook book recommends mashed potatoes, but there is all this great sauce that really works with pasta…not mashed potatoes.)

For the Balthazar salad, we played around with the ingredients a little (the recipe calls for various lettuces, radishes, asparagus, green beans, avocado, ricotta salata, a roasted beet and blanched lemon zest.) Nobody in our family likes radishes or green beans in salad, and Dad doesn’t like beets so we decided not to use them.  Then the dressing called for truffle oil, which we didn’t have, so we used truffle salt instead of regular salt. But we did blanch lemon zest and put on top.  Great visual and all in all the salad worked deliciously. And finally the cream puffs. Who doesn’t like cream puffs?

The Whole Meal!

The Ingredients for Braised Short Ribs

Peeling carrots for braising liquid.

Slicing shallots for braising liquid (also included were garlic, onion, carrots, red wine and beef broth)

Tieing short ribs up.

Herbs wrapped up inside celery stalks

Cooking the meat

Cooking vegetables

Meat, after fat was scooped out

Silky smooth sauce…ribs about to be added back

The Salad

Viola! Meltingly soft short rib over egg noodles.

Mixing up the cream puff batter

Creme puffs,before baking

Chocolate sauce for cream puffs

Cream puffs filled with whipped cream, topped with chocolate sauce and powdered sugar, OK So we didn’t think about calories in this meal…