When it’s time to bring the romance, we turn to the kitchen to woo our beloved with a home cooked meal. Because let’s be honest – who wants to go out on Valentine’s Day when you can whip up a beautiful (and decadent) dish for your honey pie by way of the executive chef of Riviera Caterers, Sean Wilson? As NYC’s catering company to the stars (hey hey Keith Richards, Kobe Bryant, and Usher), CEO Andrew Cavitolo & President Bobby Stern are the bad boy geniuses behind serving up meals that are delicious, on trend, and dead sexy. Today on The Tig, these handsome fellas have shared a dish that’s sure to make you and your Valentine’s hearts go pitter pat and your bellies go to bed mighty happy. Braised short rib in Barolo sauce? Um, yes, please and thank you. Cheers to happy hearts and full bellies!
From Riviera Caterers
Valentine’s Day is a day of celebration with your loved one. A time for sharing a meat and a glass of wine, not slaving over a hot stove trying to make a complicated entrée. The bulk of preparation for this dish occurs the day before, so it gives time for the flavors to develop and prevents chaos day-of. The red wine braise is perfect for the cold weather and a simple yet elegant presentation rounds it out. Enjoy with a Zinfandel or another full-bodied red, this dish has the backbone to pair exquisitely with silky tannins and berry aromas.
Ingredients
Directions
1. Short Ribs
- The day before (or up to one week before), braise the short ribs. Start by cleaning and peeling carrots, onion and celery. Chop into 1 inch pieces.
- Clean short ribs of exterior fat and silver skin if present and liberally season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
- Sear in canola oil in a large rondeau. Once brown on all sides, remove from pot and add chopped vegetables.
- Once brown, pincage vegetables with tomato paste and add Barolo wine to deglaze. Reduce wine by about half, which takes approximately 20-30 minutes.
- Add beef stock, aromatics, and seared short ribs to the pot and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce heat, cover with parchment paper and place in a 350 degree F oven and braise until tender, about 3-4 hours.
- Once tender, remove from oven, place the pot in an ice water bath and cool to 70 degree F within two hours.
- Remove from ice water bath and place in refrigerator to cool in braising liquid overnight. The next day, remove any fat from top of braising liquid and discard. Remove short ribs from liquid, portion and put to the side.
- Strain braising liquid (it may be easier to heat on stove top first then strain into a second pot) and reduce to sauce-like consistency.
2. Polenta
- Peel and small dice onion. Brown in a 4 qt stockpot over medium high heat with salt, pepper, one stick of butter, and canola oil.
- Pluck rosemary and thyme and add to onions. Cook briefly.
- Deglaze with white wine and reduce until most of wine has evaporated. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, briskly whisk in polenta and continuously stir for 4-6 minutes.
- Once cooked and thickened, adjust seasoning, stir in cream, cook for 1 additional minute and then mount with 1 stick of diced butter in small additions.
3. Vegetable Bundles
- Take one asparagus and snap the piece holding both ends. Where this piece breaks, cut the remaining pieces to the same length, discarding the bottoms.
- Take seven pieces and wrap with a sheet of prosciutto folded in half lengthwise.
- Season with salt + pepper and drizzle with canola oil. Roast under the broiler until crisp.
4. Garnish & Presentation
- Take the desired number of short rib portions and warm in beef stock.
- Dust the lemon halves with sugar and sear until well caramelized.
- Place a scoop of polenta in the center of serving bowl, place short rib on top, lean vegetable bundle next to short rib, dress with hot reduced braising liquid and garnish with caramelized lemon and rosemary sprig.
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