Cooking at home VS. Cooking at work.

I have been cooking for quite a number of years now and yet I hardly cook at home.  Here are the my top reasons i don't cook at home....

First off  I don't have a fully stocked pantry and a walk in fridge.  Also working on all electric applianaces really stinks.  I miss my jade burners when I cook at home.  There is nothing like having a 14" sautee pan heated up by15000 btu of gas power.  Plus I can cook 12 things simaltaineously at work.  At home i am limited to these chipped nonstick pans that can barely fit a whole egg to make breakfast.  My main complaint about cooking at home is i don't have my dishwaher, pot washer and porter  cleaning up after me.  I miss throwing 16 different bowls/utensils/pans into the pot sink and looking over five minutes later to see them cleaned.  Not only that, the garbage magically takes it self out.  I don't know how, but it does.  The main reason i don't cook at home is i'm ussually the one telling people what to do, but once take off the chef coat and clean my knives... I am no longerthe boss.  I'll admit it, because I don't mind.  I do enough nagging at work, I guess it's only fair that I recieve my dose too. 

There is an old saying, "if you go to a carpenter's house you'll find a three legged table."  If you come here you'll probably find a Big Mac Extra Value Meal and a diet coke... got try and keep it healthy. 

Now on to the recipies.
Lambic Braised Beef Short Ribs with Swiss Chard.  for 6 people.



5 lbs Beef short ribs(of the bone, if on bone add another pound)
1 bottle cherry lambic
1 cup Beef stock (the canned stuff is fine)
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrots
1/4 cup  diced onions
5-6 springs  of  thyme chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic( minced)
1/4 cup Dried Cherries (Cranberries work too)
1/4 cup flour
Salt and Pepper to taste
Vegetable oil
Swiss Chard or Escarole

1. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper.   Dust lightly in flour and sear them in a sautee pan  with a little oil.  Make sure to brown all the edges nicely.  Don't worry about over cooking the meat...
2. Remove the meat and set aside, drain excess oil and deglaze  the pan  with the onions, garlic and thyme. 
3.Sweat the onion mix and then add the celery and carrots.  cook till all ingriedients are light golden color. 
4. Replace beef with veg mix and add lambic beer.  Bring to simmer on the stove top and then cover and place into a 325 F oven for the next 2 hours. 
5.Clean the vegetables (swiss chard or escarole) and chop onto bit size pieces.
6. during the last 5-10 minuts of cooking, lightly brown some minced garlic in a sautee pan and then add the green leafy vegetables.
7. Sautee  the vegetables intil tender and season with salt and pepper. 

If you really want to take it a step further, you can make some gremolata. 
Zest a couple lemons, limes and oranges.
Mince some garlic and add it to the mix.
Do the same with some finely chopped parsely. 
Add some nice olive oil and salt and pepper.
Squeeze in some citrus ( a little of each works) and there you go... this stuff will last a while in the fridge and goes nicely with meats and fish.   Enjoy

J-