Braised Short Ribs, Brusselsprouts with Pancetta and Pureed Cauliflower

I have four conclusions about this dish that our friend Steph treated us to a few weeks back while enjoying our regularly scheduled viewing of the "The Bachelor".   

SIDERANT: Which by the way, is a complete and utter joke this season (even more than usual).  Ben is such an idiot and we'll just leave it at that for now.

Braised short ribs, pureed cauliflower and brussel sprouts with pancetta

My conclusions are:
1.) I really should get a pressure cooker
2.) Converting people into liking brussel sprout is a strange past time of mine
3.) Pureed food can actually rock
4.) Holy crap, yet another example of why our friend Steph should try out for Top Chef...even though in real life she is a drug cocktail shaker (Anesthesiologist), not a chef. 

Let's jump to number four first though.  Steph, seriously...you need to try out for one of those Food Network shows and just forget about that whole "doctor" thing.    

Pressure Cooker
Now onto the pressure cooker!  How did I not know how awesome pressure cookers were before this?  I've always known about them in general terms but it's one of those things that I've always wondered "will I really use this?".   While I'm sure the fiance will be THRILLED to hear that I'll be putting something like this on the registry, he can get over it because it's going on there!

After watching the short ribs fall off the bone with a slight movement of my fork, my mouth also fell when Steph told me that she only had them in the pressure cooker for 35 minutes and then threw them on the grill to brown.  Are you kidding me?  Thirty five minutes?  If you're like me and has purchased a half pig or quarter cow, only to wonder 6-9 months later what in the world to do with some of the cooking time intensive cuts of meat then I highly suggest looking into one!

Brussel Sprouts
Brussel sprouts are now one of my favorite things in the world.  Thinking of them evokes thoughts of the Minneapolis Farmer's Market, summer in Minnesota and their wonderful cabbagy goodness.  But unfortunately for some people this is what they think of when they hear "brussel sprouts":

If you don't get this, then you weren't a child of the 90's (or didn't have one during that time) and I'm sorry for you.

And I was like that too until a few years back!  Growing up the only thing that I knew was that it smelled gross when my mom cooked them, so of course, I didn't eat them. 

Then I had brussel sprouts served to me already prepared at a friends house a few years ago and life hasn't been the same since.  I felt like I had missed out on so many years of a great thing and don't want people to feel that same regret I do...so...

In order to redeem myself now whenever I get the chance to have people over for dinner and the sprouts at the store or market look good, I attempt to bring them to onto the brussel sprout band wagon.  To date I've only converted my sister and one friend...but...I am 2 for 2 on my conversion rate and I've got lofty goals for when the sprouts are back in season and invade the Minneapolis Farmer's Market!

Converted my sister Jenny with this little number: chicken stuffed with an herbed goat cheese and a balsamic & fig glaze finish, roasted beets and green beans (from my garden) and the steamed brussel sprouts in a Dijon & butter sauce.

As far as preparation, my favorite is steaming them with some pretty heavily sea-salted water, straining them, and then mixing them with a butter, Dijon mustard and ground sea salt sauce.  I'll give the details this Spring on the exact recipe but keep in mind that adding salt to your water when you are steaming vegetables makes a HUGE difference in the flavor!

Pureed Foods
Now onto this one.  Many of you know that I'm currently on a 4-6 week pureed and soft foods diet.  Well before having Steph's pureed cauliflower I was downright scared about it.  How is someone that likes food as much as I do not have solid foods for that long?!*  But after trying it, I came upon the realization that the world is not ending...because is was one of the best side dishes that I'd ever had!

Now all I needed to do was think of what vegetables and fruits are "blend-able" and then think of good flavor combinations from there.  Here are a few purees that I've either thought of or tried out over the last few days:

• Primary food - preparation method- ingredients mixed with in food processor
• Potatoes - boiled - seasoned salt, pepper, 2% milk, margarine
• Sweet potatoes - roasted - sea salt, brown sugar, 2% milk, margarine
• Pears - steamed (or canned) - cinnamon, apple juice
• Apples - steamed - nutmeg, cinnamon, apple juice
• Spinach - steamed - sea salt, fat free whipping cream, margarine
• Cauliflower -steamed & roasted - salt, red pepper, margarine
• Broccoli - steamed & roasted - salt, margarine, shredded cheese

Some of these ideas were crafted in my crazy mind but some were also inspired by looking at homemade baby food blogs and recipes for raw living smoothies and soups.  Yeah, I know.  Baby food blogs...well I had to start looking somewhere!

If you have any great ideas on smoothies or purees that don't have seeds in them, be sure to leave it in a comment below or email it to me at annmariescupoftea@gmail.com!