After a super long hiatus from Daring Cooks, (now, when was my last challenge?), I’ve decided to embark on this monthly challenge again. The past year has been crazy, and committing to a monthly challenge has been rather impossible. Now that the babe is 1 year old, it’s time for me to return to my monthly cooking/baking challenge.
The March, 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Carol, a/k/a Poisonive – and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman’s technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”. I wanted to cook braised beef short ribs initially but couldn’t find short ribs. Seeing that I had 1kg of old beef sitting in the freezer, I decided to use that up instead. For the braising sauce, I used a combination of 2 cups of red wine (that was all I had left in the bottle) and 1 cup of beef stock. After simmering in the oven for 4 hours, the results were delicious. The beef was absolutely tender and chock full of flavour. I served it over fluffy potato mash and everyone had clean plates at the end of dinner.The picture above does not do justice to the dish – if only I can figure out how to take better pictures using indoor lighting!
I learnt something new in this challenge – gremolata. See that greenish yellow thing that’s sprinkled on top of the braised beef? That’s gremolata, a combination of parsley, minced garlic and lemon zest. It was an amazing addition. It added much freshness to the braise, something I’ve never quite tasted before.
I’m so glad you are back and the braised beef with the germolata looks delicious. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.
Thank you Audax!
I still want to make some braised beef using wine, it sounds so delicious! Gremolata is also new to me, I had to do some research. It’s great to have you back at the DK!
BTW, I’m very intrigued with your airfryer, sounds like an amazing kitchen helper!
The airfryer is an amazing help. If you have it over at your country, do explore it!
Great job! it looks very yummy.
Thank you Andy!
I’ve never made gremolata. I’ll have to try it next time!
Yes, it’s really tasty!
The braised beef looks awesome. I like how you served it over the potatoes. It looks like something I would be served in a restaurant.
Thank you! Do try it, it’s delicious!
Yum – looks delicious and very professional
Thank you!
Nice plating, everything looks delicious. I’ve made gremolata a few times in the past, and as it adds so much to a dish like this, need to make it more often.
This is the first time I’ve made it. Need to make it more often too!
Welcome back! Your ribs look fantastic, if you are a salmon eater, gremolata is great on it too!
Thanks for the tips on gremolata with salmon. I do like salmon. 🙂
What a great post and you have a beautiful site. So glad you decided to come back to the Daring Kitchen!
Thanks for the great challenge Carol, and yes, I’m glad to be back!