Cold Evening by the Fire Meal !

Justin spent the day with me today and as usual we decided to try new recipes for dinner. The main course was a super rich Short Rib Wellington Pot Pie and for dessert we tried Mario Batali's Grapefruit and Honey Cake.  In between he taught me to make pretzel rolls and croissants, I have to save that for another blog, way beautiful croissants  were really complicated to make, yet pretzel rolls relatively easy and delicious ! Here is the recipe for the Short Rib pot pie as well as some pics of the process. Only change we would make is adding tomato paste to the sauce before cooking to cut some of the richness of the dish otherwise it's frightfully delicious ! Try it on a cold night. Will post the grapefruit cake shortly !

Recipe will serve 4 we added tomato paste to the original recipe

1 1/2 lbs boneless short ribs cut into 1" pieces
Kosher salt and Pepper
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/8 lb proscuitto or pancetta cut into 1/4" dice
1/4 lb mixed mushrooms diced
4 tbsp butter cubed (unsalted if possible)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup red wine
3/4 Tbsp. beef or veal demi-glace
1 3/4 cup beef or veal stock
1/2 tsp fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
 1/8 cup chopped parsley
2 tsp tomato paste
 1/2 sheet puff pastry
1 egg plus 1 tsp water beaten.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Cut the boneless short ribs into 1" pieces

Mushrooms diced and ready

Browning the meat in small batches keeps it from stewing

browning the pancetta and mushrooms

making the roux with butter and flour

Meat and Veggies added back after sauce is complete

puff pastry topping after baking

Finished portion - Delicious !

Season beef with salt and pepper in small batches fry in warm oil until browned, remove to bowl, add proscuitto/pancetta to saute pan, cook 8 minutes until browned also remove to bowl. Then add mushrooms and carrots cook 5 minutes add to bowl with beef. Pour off excess fat return pot to heat, melt butter, stir in flour, cook, stirring constantly 2 minutes, whisk in demi-glace, tomato paste and wine, cook for a minute. Whisk in stock 1/2 cup at a time, add thyme and bay leaf, simmer. Add back beef etc. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and bake approx. 2 hours. Throw away bay leaf, take off any extra fat, stir in parsley. Increase over temp to 400. pour into a shallow casserole dish. Place puff pastry over casserole, score the top of pastry with a knife and brush with egg mixture. Press edges to seal. Return to oven, bake 20-25 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes. You may double the recipe for 6-8 people. Would be great with a simple green salad with a nice tart vinaigrette and maybe rice on the side !