7 Quick Takes: Mussels and Short Ribs and Dancing With The Stars Contestants I've Seen In Person

--1--

First off, a disclaimer.  Some of the photos in this post aren't the greatest because I took them with my phone.  My old one.  I now have a new phone (longish story--you can read about that here) AND, I finally got my camera back after a month in the shop.  My future posts will have better photos, I promise.

So.

Joe and the boys, as always, cooked me a fancy dinner on Mother's Day.  They pulled out this cookbook

I took THIS photo just this morning, with my camera, not my phone...

and decided to cook mussels and short ribs.  So without further ado (now that it's almost Father's Day; good grief, I'm late posting this, sheesh):

--2--

Grill-Roasted Mussels

6 lb* (3 kg) mussels, well scrubbed and debearded (what the heck does THAT mean?)

1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) dry white wine

1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

Leaves from 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

Prepare a CHARCOAL or GAS grill for DIRECT grilling over HIGH heat.

Divide the mussels between 2 large, heavy cast-iron frying pans,* discarding any that fail to close to the touch.

CHARCOAL:  Place the pans over the hottest part of the fire.  Cover the grill and cook the mussels until they open, 3-5 minutes, stirring the mussels occasionally with tongs.  GAS*:  Place the pans directly over the heat elements.  Cover the grill and cook the mussels until they open, 3-5 minutes, stirring the mussels occasionally with tongs.

Transfer the mussels to warmed individual bowls, discarding any mussels that failed to open.  In a small flameproof saucepan, combine the wine, butter, and garlic.  Place the pan n the grill rack and swirl until the butter is melted.  Stir in the parsley.  Pour the wine mixture over the mussels, dividing evenly.  Set out a couple of empty bowls for spent shells.

(from Williams-Sonoma's Essentials of Grilling:  Recipes and Techniques for Successful Outdoor Cooking, p. 239)

*I think they halved the recipe and only got 3 lbs, and only used one pan.  We poured the mussels into one big serving platter and everyone dug in.  Oh, and we have a gas grill, not a charcoal one.

--3--

Korean-Style Short Ribs

1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) soy sauce*

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons dry sherry (we didn't have any so I helped them choose a red wine to use instead)

3 tablespoons Asian Sesame oil*

1 1/2 tablespons peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons honey

1/3 cup (1 1/2 oz/45 g) sesame seeds, toasted*

3-4 lbs (1.5-2 kg) beef short ribs, crosscut flanken style*

Lettuce Leaves

In a shallow, nonreactive dish just large enough to hold the meat in a single layer, stir together the soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, sesame oil, ginger, honey, and about 1/4 cup (1 oz/30 g) of the sesame seeds.  Add the ribs and turn to coat all sides.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or for up to 24 hours, turning occasionally.  Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling.

Prepare a grill for DIRECT grilling over HIGH heat.  Oil the grill rack.  Remove the meat from the marinade, reserving the marinade.  Grill the ribs over the hottest part of the fire (for charcoal) or directly over the heat elements (for gas), turning once and brushing with the marinade for up to 5 minutes before the ribs are done, until nicely charred and cooked to your liking, 6-10 minutes per side for medium rare.  Sprinkle the ribs with the remaining sesame seeds and serve with the lettuce.

*We made some substitutions:  Gluten free tamari rather than soy sauce, canola oil instead of sesame (Moe is allergic), and Joe made Moe a separate marinade without sesame seeds.  We didn't have any dry sherry so I helped them pick out a nice red wine they could use.  And the part about "crosscut flanken style?"  They couldn't find anything like that.  Just plain old regular-cut short ribs will do; I think they just had to cook them just a tad bit longer.
(Adapted from Essentials of Grilling, p. 92)

Of course, the asparagus is the fresh, local variety! 

Joe is the grill-meister.

--4--

Before I started blogging and before I knew about Facebook and Twitter, I was really into Oprah's Book Club, and wasted many hours taking part in online discussions of her selections.  Now that Oprah has moved on to other things (I'm still miffed that she never had Nicholas Sparks on her show.  But hey, Anderson Cooper did; yay, Anderson!) I figured her book club had gone down with her.

Guess what?  Oprah's Book Club is back, and last week I read her latest selection, Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  Yesterday over at Musings of a Catholic Mom I posted my own review of sorts; check it out!

--5--

And while you're on my other blog, you might as well check out what I posted earlier this week, too.  Last Saturday I took some friends to see GAIVIN DEGRAW LIVE IN CONCERT (I just love typing that) and I still don't think I've quite come down off of Cloud Nine yet.  You know Gavin DeGraw..."Not Over You," "Sweeter"... you might have seen him this spring on Dancing With the Stars, although if you blinked you may have missed him because he got booted pretty early on, unfortunately.  So anyway he ROCKS and I got to see him and here's how I was feeling afterwards.  I took some blurry photos with my new phone; here's the best one:

And in case you missed Gavin on Dancing With the Stars, here he is on what was probably his best night (except maybe the crying part):

--6--

Speaking of people who've been on Dancing With the Stars (AND cried on the show; those evil producers try and squeeze as many tears out of them that they possibly can) and pictures I've taken of them, do you know who this is?

It's Helio Castroneves, the race car driver who won the Mirror Ball Trophy a few years back.  He also won the Indianapolis 500 three times.  I took this photo of him in Richmond back in 2008.  Yes, that's ME he's smiling at.  And why did I post this photo, you ask?  Well, do you know the name of the professional dancer who taught Helio to foxtrot and samba and quickstep and ultimately helped him become a Dancing With the Stars champion?  Julianne Hough.  Know what she's up to these days?  (Besides starring in the new movie Rock of Ages, which frankly looks like one I will most likely skip...) Right now she's down in Soutport,North Carolina, filming the next Nicholas Sparks movie, Safe Haven.  How about that? 

(Wouldn't you just love to see Nicholas Sparks on Dancing With the Stars?  I would vote for him every single week.  Hopefully they won't try and make him cry.)

--7--

Sooo....summer vacation is here and hopefully I'll have a little bit more time for this here little blog.  I've got a couple more projects up my sleeve from The Lucky One, and soon you'll probably see more Lemony Snicket and/or The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo posts.  Then we'll move on to The Last Song.

I sure hope Nick will have a new story out this fall.  I'm running out of books.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to give all the dads in your life big hugs.  Oh, and Nick...Happy Father's Day!

(Check out Jen's Conversion Diary blog for more Quick Takes!)

The Rescue: Warm Beef Stew and Cornbread on a Chilly Sunday

On the last few pages of The Rescue (don't worry, I won't give away the ending--read this post for a quick description of Taylor and Denise and their romantic story), Denise makes beef stew for Taylor and Kyle, Denise's four-year-old son. It's late in the fall, and the air is turning colder. Denise has to tuck her hands into the sleeves of her sweater when she goes outside to talk to Taylor and Kyle, who are having a grand old time digging in the dirt.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the air was chilly at our house. While the men in my life were outside blowing and raking leaves and hauling them to the road (and you could say they were also playing in the dirt--their shoes and their coats and their clothing were covered in grime when they finally came inside) I made our favorite beef stew and some cornbread to go with it. Now, I told you earlier that Moe and I were the only ones who liked beef stew--well, now I'm taking that back. Everyone loved it, even Joe. "I thought you didn't like beef stew," I remarked when Joe raved about how good it was. "I don't," he said. "But I like THIS beef stew." When Curly was born, a friend brought a batch of it for us to enjoy, and I will admit I wasn't too excited because I had never really liked beef stew. It was so delicious that I asked her for the recipe. And when I read about Denise preparing a pot of stew for the men in her life, I knew exactly which recipe I would use--it's the only one I've ever made as far as I know. But first, the cornbread. Which isn't mentioned in The Rescue; but at our house, cornbread is a must when we're having beef stew. Or chili, for that matter.

Golden Sweet Cornbread (courtesy of AllRecipes.com)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan. 2.In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. 3.Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. (source)

Because of Moe's food allergies, I had to make it with Egg Replacer. The last time I made this cornbread, it was quite crumbly (the egg replacer works well as a binding agent but real eggs work better) so this time I tried substituting honey for half of the sugar. I was asked my the menfolk if I would please make it that way again. I'm happy to oblige.

Now for the main attraction:

Hearty Beef Stew

2 T all-purpose flour

1/2 t salt

1/4 t ground black pepper

1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 T vegetable oil (I use olive oil, but that's just me)

1 small chopped onion (about 1 cup)

1 cup (2 stalks) thickly sliced celery

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 3/4 cups (one 14.5-oz can) diced tomato, undrained

1 cup (2 small) peeled, thickly sliced carrots

1 t. beef bouillon (a splash or two of Worcestershire sauce is a good substitute in a pinch)

1/2 t. ground or dried thyme (or about 1 T chopped fresh thyme)

1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

Combine flour, salt, and pepper in medium bowl. Add beef, toss well to coat. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan or soup pot on medium-high heat. Add beef, onion, celery, and garlic.

Cook, stirring frequently for 6 to 8 minutes or until beef is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Add tomatoes with juice, carrots, bouillon, and thyme. Bring to a boil. (I usually end up adding a little water of beef stock as well.) Reduce heat to low; cover. Cook about 5 to 10 minutes and then add the potatoes. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes more, or until beef is tender. When cooking the beef, etc. in the oil, it will probably stick to the bottom of the pan, but after adding the licquid it all comes up and mixes with the rest of the stew. This recipe makes 5 servings; I almost always double the recipe so I'll have leftovers for the next day.

A few hunks of local Monterey Jack cheese on top complete this yummy comfort food.

We lit our Advent wreath. See the red candle? It's supposed to be pink (ahem, rose). We're pretending.

I hope I'll share one more Nicholas Sparks food project before I tell you about my A Walk To Remember New Year's Eve party I'm planning. I'm hoping to cook venison burgers ('cuz Taylor cooks venison for Denise because she's mad at him and he wants to make up--but I'm getting ahead of myself), but so far I haven't found any deer meat I won't have to pay an arm and a leg for. I'm holding out hope that I can order some from our new butcher for a reasonable price, but I might have to skip it and cook lasagna instead. Which I think I'm going to do anyway, so if you're REALLY lucky you'll get TWO meals before Christmas.

Oh, by the way, I finished Nick's latest book, Safe Haven. I think it's my new favorite. Everything you love about Nicholas Sparks, but more edgy. An edge-of-your-seat page turner with a fabulous twist. You've outdone yourself with this one, Nick, and I can't wait to read it again and fix that stuffed shrimp and bacon-wrapped Brie.

I was tempted...

...to buy this last night when I stopped in at Border's.

Nick's new book, Safe Haven, just came out last week. I hope I have the willpower to wait until it comes out in paperback, or at least until the price for the hardcover comes down a little. I wonder what we'll be cooking for this one? We still have quite a number of books to get through first.

At our house, fried chicken a' la The Notebook is on the menu this weekend; stay tuned! (I think we'll be watching the Dear John movie, too. I'll let you know what I think. Chances are I'll like it.)