Lacquered Short Ribs With Celery Root Puree And Celery Pear Salad Food

LACQUERED SHORT RIBS WITH CELERY-ROOT PUREE AND CELERY-PEAR SALAD

Steps:

• Make the short ribs: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large Dutch oven. Season ribs with salt and pepper, and cook in batches until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer ribs to a plate, leaving drippings in pot.
• Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic, shallots, onion, and chiles, and cook, stirring frequently, until golden, about 10 minutes. Return meat to pot and add scallions, pear, star anise, soy sauce, wine, vinegar, honey, and ginger. Add water to cover by 1 inch, and bring to a simmer. Cover, and transfer to oven. Cook until ribs are fork tender, about 3 hours. (Ribs in liquid can be cooled, covered, and refrigerated up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature, then proceed with step 5.)
• Make the celery root puree: Bring celery root and cream to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer until celery root is tender, about 30 minutes. Strain celery root, reserving cream. Puree celery root with 2 cups of reserved cream in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (Celery root puree can be made up to 1 day ahead; reheat over low heat.)
• Make the celery-pear salad: Mix celery, pear, scallion, and jalapeno in a small bowl. Toss with oil and lime juice, and season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer ribs to a plate and strain sauce through a fine sieve. Skim fat from top, and discard. Return sauce to pot, and cook over medium heat until sauce just coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes. Add ribs to sauce, and cook, basting often, until ribs are hot and sauce coats meat, about 5 minutes. Serve ribs on top of celery root puree, and drizzle with sauce. Top with pear salad.

CELERY ROOT AND PEAR PUREE

Steps:

• Peel and chop 3 pounds celery root. Peel, halve and core 2 Bosc pears. Combine the celery root and pears in a saucepan with 3 cups milk, 1 smashed garlic clove and enough water to cover; simmer until tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Puree in a blender until smooth, adding the reserved liquid as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, brown 3 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup parsley and fry 2 minutes. Microwave the puree to warm and top with the browned butter.

SOUR-CHERRY-AND-FIVE-SPICE-LACQUERED RIBS

Steps:

• Ribs: Stir together scallion greens, garlic, ginger, spices, and 2 tablespoons salt. Rub mixture evenly on both sides of ribs to coat. Cover and let stand at least 1 hour, or refrigerate up to 1 day; bring to room temperature before cooking.
• Glaze: Meanwhile, combine cherries, brown sugar, scallion whites, ginger, and vinegar in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir to submerge cherries in bubbling liquid, skimming any impurities from surface. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cherries and scallions are very soft and liquid has reduced slightly, 40 to 45 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing to extract as much syrup as possible; reserve solids. Transfer strained syrup to a small saucepan; simmer over medium heat until reduced to 1 cup, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely. Transfer reserved cherry solids to a blender and purée into a thick sauce; season lightly with salt. Refrigerate glaze and sauce in separate airtight containers.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 325 degrees, or prepare a grill for indirect-heat cooking. Stir together soy sauce and oil; pour over ribs. Wrap ribs tightly in a double layer of parchment-lined foil, or place in a covered baking dish, and roast or cook over indirect medium-high heat 45 minutes. Uncover and brush liberally with thick sauce, then re-cover and return to oven or grill; continue to cook, brushing every 45 minutes, until meat is tender and can easily be pulled off with a fork, 1 hour, 30 minutes to 2 hours.
• Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking (or preheat broiler with rack 6 inches from heating element). Brush ribs with glaze and grill over medium-high heat, flipping once, until crisp and very browned at edges, about 5 minutes. Finish with a final brush of glaze and sprinkle with chopped cilantro and scallions. Serve with remaining glaze alongside.

BRAISED LEG OF LAMB WITH CELERY ROOT PURéE

Steps:

• To prepare the lamb: Heat oven to 450 degrees. Rub the lamb with 1 tablespoon of oil, and season it with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the stock and wine to a boil; allow to reduce for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the carrots and parsnips, 1/4 teaspoon salt, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, rosemary, sage and bay leaf. Turn off the heat and add just enough stock to cover the vegetables. Place the lamb, fatty side up, on top of the vegetables.
• Transfer the pot to the oven, uncovered, and cook for 25 minutes. Then add the remaining stock, cover the pot and reduce heat to 325 degrees. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, at a bare simmer, reducing heat if necessary, then turn the lamb over. Cook 1 1/2 hours longer and turn the lamb over again. Uncover the pot and stir in the olives. Cook another hour, turning the lamb after 30 minutes. At this point the lamb should be soft enough to cut with a serving spoon. If not, cover the pot and continue to cook until it is.
• After the lamb has cooked for about 3 hours, prepare the celery root purée: In a large saucepan, combine the celery root, peeled garlic cloves and bay leaves. Pour in 12 cups water and 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain, discard the bay leaves and transfer the celeriac and garlic to a food processor. Add the butter and nutmeg; process until very smooth. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Keep warm.
• Just before serving, mash the finely chopped garlic and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to form a paste. Stir it into the lamb's pan juices.
• To serve, make a bed of celery root purée on each plate. Cut the lamb with a serving spoon, and lay some of it over the celery root, along with some vegetables and pan juices.

SPICED PORK WITH CELERY ROOT PURéE AND LENTILS

Steps:

• For celery root puree:
• Bring celery root and milk to boil in heavy large saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until celery root is very tender, about 20 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer celery root to processor. Add 1/2 cup hot milk. Puree until very smooth. Blend in butter and lemon juice. Season with salt and white pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• For lentils:
• Sauté bacon in medium saucepan over medium-high heat until crisp, about 3 minutes. Add carrots, shallots, and rosemary; sauté until shallots begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add lentils and 3 cups water; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until lentils are tender and liquid has nearly evaporated, about 35 minutes. Stir in butter. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.)
• For pork:
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Whisk first 4 ingredients in bowl. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add pork; sauté until brown on all sides, about 6 minutes total. Brush pork with honey mixture. Transfer skillet to oven; roast pork 10 minutes. Turn pork over and brush with honey mixture. Roast until thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 145°F, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer pork to work surface; tent with foil (temperature will increase 5 degrees).
• Add broth and remaining honey mixture to same skillet. Boil over high heat until sauce is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 5 minutes. Strain sauce into small bowl. Return sauce to skillet. Whisk in butter. Season with salt and pepper.
• Rewarm celery root puree and lentils. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place 1/2 cup celery root puree in center of each of 6 plates. Using back of spoon, make indentation in puree. Spoon 1/2 cup lentils into indentation on each plate. Arrange pork slices atop lentils and drizzle with sauce.