Eating Dirt

Roast Beast

Well, here it is again, nearly the end of Summer. Our vacations are over, the kids are back in school, I'm expecting the fog to lift any day now and, as usual, my tomato plants have died. This time I blame it on not hiring an expensive service to water them while out of town: relying on my babysitter for one week and my husband for the next was, clearly, not the right decision. But Summer here extends through late October and really doesn't arrive until sometime in September anyway, so I've started afresh with two new seedlings. I'll let you know how that goes.

As for the strawberries, they are still in the freezer. The two five pound bags of sugar I measured out precisely for making two pots of jam still clog up the pantry, threatening to spring a leak or invite varmints to chew through their flimsy plastic casings every time my husband opens the door.

"When are you going to make that jam?"

"Honey, are those strawberries going to last another day in there?"

"Will you please make that damn jam so I can fit my spare beer on the shelf!"

As we who were lucky enough to come of age in the late 80's know, life moves pretty fast. If we don't stop and look around once in a while, we could miss it. So instead of blogging or making  jam this Summer, I've been busy looking around, mostly in other peoples' kitchens. I've watched my friends, family, a few people I barely know and myself struggle to cook for our own families and friends, and thought a lot about what makes home cooking so difficult.

For one thing, there is the problem of time. We are all very busy people. Slaving away over a hot stove is not the way most of us want to spend our minutes away from work and outside of the car. So today, I'm going fast and easy...get in and get out. Like Lightening McQueen, I am speed. And not only is this sandwich cool, quick and tasty, but it comes from my absolute favorite, the ladies of the canal house, who will be visiting San Francisco tomorrow!!!

Really, I don't want to gush, but I haven't been this excited for an event since I saw REM on their Green tour in 1989. So we ate their fast, easy and delicious suggestion of a sandwich with great excitement. Or at least I did. My husband loved it for the meat, as, shockingly enough, so did my daughter. And my son could be convinced to take a few bites if offered a bribe. So there you go, its a winner all around!

---

Summer Roast Beef Sandwich (adapted from Canal House Cooks Lunch): 

(makes 1 sandwich)

2 slices of whatever good fresh bread you have around

mayonnaise

1/16 lb roast beef (1/2 lb makes four sandwiches)

ripe tomato slices, as many as you want

ripe avocado slices, as many as you want

salt

pepper

 Slather some mayo on one slice of bread, layer the tomato on top, then on the opposing slice of bread smush the avocado into the bread and stack roast beef on top. Liberally salt and pepper both sides, then put them together and slice in half. Excellent with a glass of water or chilled white wine and an ice cream cone for dessert.

--

Slow Cooker Short Ribs

 Break out the crock pot baby, cause Mama's coming home late!  

Well, actually, we come home after five twice a week because of my four year old daughter's rigorous ballet schedule, but I can still claim it as a need for ready to serve dinner.  Back in January I stocked up on new slow cooker books and tried all sorts of things, some good, many wretched.  This was one of my favorites and my husband Jason liked it too. It is adapted from Cuisine at Home's Slow Cooker Menus.

There's quite a bit of prep - so I do it in the morning after breakfast while the kids wreak havoc and I yell at them.  You could probably prep the night before (brown ribs & make sauce) and it would turn out fine if you add an hour or so more cooking time to warm up it after all that time in the fridge (ribs and sauce would have to spend the night in there).  

Serve it with rice from your rice cooker and sauteed stir-fry greens or kale.  If you don't have a rice cooker, go buy one.  There is no easier way to make rice.  Even boil-in-bag varieties look like work compared to plugging in my rice cooker (and the bag grosses me out, but thats not important right now). Cook the greens right before you plan to eat, you can wash and dry them the night before,  wrap in a paper towel and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge for safekeeping.

Like at least half the dinners we eat in our house, my kids aren't sold on spare ribs yet.  But after we've eaten them 100 times I bet they will be.  For now, I just put a quarter of a pb&j on each plate, and let them eat that if they're still hungry after rejecting my food.  Lucky for me, they enjoy rice almost as much as they enjoy pasta.

---

Slow Cooker Short Ribs:

3 lb beef short ribs

1 T canola (or vegetable) oil

1/2 cup chopped scallions

1/4 cup chopped green garlic

1/4 cup minced ginger

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup hoisin sauce

juice of 1 lime

1 t fennel seed

1/2 t red pepper flakes

For starters, cut the ribs into pieces so that each one has only one bony bit.  Then salt and pepper them. Next, brown the ribs on all sides in a big pot with a tablespoon of canola oil, over medium heat. You want them to get nice and brown and crunchy, but don't let them burn.  On all sides means all six sides of each rib piece, thats a lot of turning every five minutes or so.  Just stack them all in really close if you have trouble standing them on end.

When all sides are browned, move the ribs to your crock pot. 

Combine the scallions, ginger, brown sugar, vinegar, molasses, hoisin, lime juice, fennel seed and pepper flakes in something with a pour spout.  Stir it up, and pour it over the ribs.  

Put the top on your crock pot and cook it on low heat for 7-9 hours or high heat for 4-6 hours.  Serve the ribs with rice and greens.

---

---

Sauteed Stir Fry Greens:

1 big bunch stir fry greens (or kale)

2 T olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 t red pepper flakes

salt

Heat the olive oil in a pan big enough to hold your greens, over medium heat.  The oil is hot enough when it begins to shimmer, but you don't want it to smoke - turn the heat down if it does. Put the garlic through a press into the pan (or you can mince it), stir it around. Add the greens, red pepper flakes and about 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir some more.  Watch to make sure the greens don't start to smoke or burn.  In four or five minutes add about 1/4 cup of water to the pan and stir.  Cook for five or so minutes more, and they're ready to eat.

---