Braised short ribs ala Daphne
I recently had a chance to stay a couple of days with some dear friends Dale and Doreen down in Monterey. They get a farm box every week stuffed to the brim and were struggling to finish before the next box arrived. Luckily they have a male monitor lizard (Daphne) which they feed leafy greens so he helped to cut down on leftovers. While I was there, one of the best dinners was a stew which they jokingly referred to as "Daphne stew". I took copious notes as Dale prepped. The meat was tender, the sauce juicy tomato-based, chock full of veggies. Lest you think we were eating the family pet, Doreen explained that they decided to use stuff from the box in every dish. It was working great, they had delicious stews and they started including more and more veg in the recipe. Dale and Doreen laughed as they told me- one day they ran out of veg and decided to use Daphne's portion of the box, wow adding the leafy greens to the stew added a whole other dimension of texture and flavor. Served over rice- perfection!
This week Morgan and Julie kindly gave me a box of their Riverdog Farm share- Rapini, cauliflower, carrots, turnips, bok choy, apples, persimmons. Daphne stew seemed a fitting way to cook these fantastic fresh veggies. I like to think of it as: Meat, onion, garlic, green veg, root veg, leafy greens, moisture, flavor & tomato paste. But if you need a more structured recipe...
Ingredients
1 lb Korean style short ribs
salt & pepper
1 onion chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
6 cloves cured garlic
1 bunch baby turnips
4 carrots chopped
4 Cups stock/water
1/2 Cup sake/wine
thyme
bay leaves
1 Tbs soup chi
4 oz tomato paste
4 Cups Rapini chopped
1 Tbs fish sauce (to taste)
1 Tbs vinegar (optional)
Instructions
In a dutch oven, sear the meat on all sides.
Add onion, celery & garlic, cook till glassy.
Add root vegetables cut into 2 inch chunks.
Add liquid to cover meat.
Place spices etc in a "Disposable Tea Filter" and submerge on the side.
Cover with lid and place in oven at 350oF.
Allow to cook at least 2 hours.
Remove from oven and mix in tomato paste and leafy greens.
Return to oven uncovered for 30 minutes. Adjust taste with fish sauce. If garlic was not cured in vinegar, finish dish with a splash of vinegar.
Serve over rice. Enjoy!