About the Recipe
In this episode, award winning actress Jill Eikenberry talks about her peripatetic Midwestern childhood, her diet heavy on luscious meat and cheese dishes, frozen vegetables, visits to her aunt’s farm, and a bloodthirsty story about her grandmother’s chickens. She also recalls a story about a blind friend guiding her through the school cafeteria during a college blackout, her introduction to gourmet eating from her husband, actor/writer/cook Michael Tucker, followed by her and her husband’s entre into the world of TV stardom and the almost simultaneous discovery of breast cancer, spurring her activism as a breast cancer survivor. A humorous and revealing talk with an extraordinary woman!
Ingredients
Short Rib:
6 bone-in beef short ribs (they are about a pound a piece)
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil, separated
1 large onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 celery ribs, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, skinned but left whole
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 ½ cups dry red wine
1 14 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
10 fresh thyme sprigs
5 fresh oregano sprigs
½ bunch of fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Smashed Potatoes with Garlic Confit & Rosemary:
* To “confit” something is to cook it over very low heat in fat. The literal translation is to “preserve.” Normally, confit cooking is done in a low-temperature oven, but I’ve found it’s very easy to confit garlic on the stovetop. I make a large batch of it at least once a month if not more. I use both the garlic and the oil in everything from salad dressings to hummus to potatoes to chicken. The soft sweetness of the garlic is much easier to digest and less spicy in a lot of dishes and the oil is luscious on everything.
This is a flexible recipe to feed however many people you have. I generally say 2 potatoes per guest, but I don’t know your guests.
Garlic Confit:
2 heads of garlic, cloves skinned but left whole
Enough oil to cover garlic cloves by ½ inch or more (I use a combination of 25% olive oil, 75% avocado, or other vegetable oil with a low smoke point)
Smashed Potatoes:
Small Yukon Gold potatoes
Baking soda
Garlic confit
Salt and pepper
Rosemary, chopped
Preparation
SHORT RIBS
Aggressively season the short ribs with salt and pepper and then place them to the side for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a large oven-safe saute pan (preferably a deep one with a lid) on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Swirl a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and when it’s hot (almost smoking), add the well-seasoned short ribs 3 at a time so as not to crowd the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes a side until the meat is browned.
Transfer the browned short ribs to a plate.
Pour the fat out of the saute pan but do not wash. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and season with salt and pepper. Saute for about 10 minutes until the veg have become tender. Add the garlic cloves and stir. Add the tablespoon of tomato paste and stir. Add the wine and let simmer for 7 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and the chicken stock. Stir in the porcini mushrooms.
Put the short ribs and any juice from the plate into the saute pan, bone side down. Nestle the thyme and oregano into the pan.
Cover the saute pan tightly with aluminum foil and the lid (or just the foil if that’s all you have) and place in the oven for 3 hours.
Remove the pan from the oven and take the lid and foil off. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.
There will definitely be a layer of fat that has risen to the top of the pan. Skim as much as you can off the sauce at this point and then transfer the short ribs with sauce and vegetables into a bowl or Tupperware container. Put the short rib container into the fridge for one day.
When you open the fridge the next day, you will find that the fat you were not able to skim off the top has hardened and is floating on top of the meat and sauce.
Now all you have to do is pop that fatty layer off the top. You can also pop the bones out of the ribs easily at this point (I like to serve them boneless).
About 2 hours before you’re ready to serve the short ribs, preheat your oven to 350 for 20 minutes. Place the short ribs with the sauce and veggies into an oven safe pan and cover with foil. Roast the meat for 45 minutes and then remove the foil. Roast for an additional 45 minutes and then let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes. Sprinkle chopped parsley over meat and serve with gravy.
GARLIC CONFIT
Set garlic cloves and oil in a small pot. Heat on a very low flame on the stovetop.
Never let the temperature get any higher than a low flame.
Cook for 30 minutes. You’ll see the garlic brown and soften but it shouldn’t burn. Let cool and then keep in a covered container in the fridge. It’ll be good for at least one month.
CRISPY SMASHED POTATOES
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put a pot of salted water on to boil, leaving enough room for however many potatoes you’ve got. Add a sprinkling of baking soda (I never measure it, but it’s probably somewhere around a teaspoon) to the water and then the potatoes. This will bring the starch of the potatoes to the surface making the crispy bits crispier. Cook at a rolling boil for 20 minutes for small potatoes, and 25 minutes for medium potatoes.
Not emptying the pot, carefully pull the potatoes from the water and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Using the bottom of a glass or jar (I always use the bottom of my metal cup measure because it’s wide enough for a good smashing and easy to clean), smash the potatoes. This should be easy to do. If it isn’t just put the potatoes back in the water (this is why I pull the potatoes out of the water and don’t just drain them. That water might still come in handy!)
Drizzle the smashed potatoes with the garlic confit oil and garlic. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped rosemary, and roast for 25 minutes.