cauliflower purée

This side dish is for roast chicken or braised short rib or anything else out of the oven: Chop a head of cauliflower and steam it until soft (about 20 minutes). Add it to the blender with a (very) big hunk of butter and lots of salt and pepper. Blend to smooth; if you have trouble, adjust texture with cream, butter or water. Serve by making it a base layer on each plate, with the meat and vegetables on top. Cauliflower has a truffle-like thing going on that makes any meal seem fancier.

braised short rib

I have made this a few times and it never disappoints! It is an assemblage of ideas from different sources.

Burn a few pounds (I have done up to 4) of beef short rib in a bit of butter in a very hot oven-proof pan. Don't skimp on this step; you want them super-dark on the outside. Remove them to a plate. Then cook a couple onions, chopped coarsely, in the pan until the onions are starting to caramelize. Also don't skimp on this step; you want the onions to get sweet. These two steps take 45 minutes, combined, in reality. While you are doing this, pre-heat the oven to 250F.

Add to the pot one can of cheap beer, a few tablespoons of molasses, a fair bit of salt, and maybe two tablespoons of vinegar. You want some sweet and some sour. The 'Chard recommends trying star anise if you want to go more asian. That's worth trying. Garlic is also a good idea. Put the whole thing, covered, in the 250F oven for three hours. Remove the cover for the last hour of that to reduce the liquid a bit. At the end, the meat falls apart on your fork and is a bit sweet.

If you have a day job, do the two covered hours the night before, save it until tomorrow, and do the last uncovered hour the next day. That's what I'm doing tonight, and maybe it's even better this way. Serve with mashed potatoes or cauliflower purée and some greens like bok choy (sautéed with soy sauce, mirin, and sesame oil). And don't forget the braising pan juices; they are half the point of this dish!