Savory Cheese and Herb Bread

I am totally on top of things and early this week with my FFWD recipe! I improvised with what I had on hand - parmesan, mozzarella, monterey jack, and parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme :)

I doubled the recipe to take a loaf to my friends. This bread is DELICIOUS. It's quite heavy, so one piece will really do you, but so tasty and just yum! How many ways can I say it? YUM-O!

I chose not to add any nuts, although I love them, because I wanted to enjoy the texture sans. Also, since cheese is already salty, I didn't want to oversalt the bread. I did add some salt to the dough, but I also sprinkled just a little freshly ground salt on top before putting them in the oven, and the result was a little crunchy salty goodness when you're eating the top crust.

Short Ribs (or Food Surgery, and Too Many Carbs)

Hello! I'm happy to say I finally completed that short ribs recipe! Better late than never. I ended up making about 3 lbs, which was plenty, and I got to use my brand new dutch oven, which was very exciting :)

The photo on the left is my first night of eating them, with pizza di patate and asparagus. My gremolata had the zest of one orange, parsley, and some grated garlic. I learned that I LOVE the flavor combination of orange and (browned) beef.



I have to say that although I kind of knew it beforehand, I was still shocked at how much fat was in the short ribs. It might be weird, but I have always loved spooning off congealed cold fat from the top of soups and sauces. I think it goes back to my dream of being a surgeon. It's kind of like operating on the food, trying to remove all the fat without any of the good stuff. This next picture shows just how much fat was there after a night in the fridge. Yikes!

Finally, tonight I decided to make mashed potatoes to go along with my short ribs leftovers.

I boiled 2 Russet potatoes, then mashed them (by hand!) with warm milk and a splash of half and half and some butter. For flavor, I sprinkled in some truffle salt, which turned out to be just the right amount. That stuff is strong, and can kind of ruin your dish if you have a heavy hand. I reheated the ribs with their sauce, sprinkled more of the delicious orange gremolata, and cut myself a piece (or 2) of the cheese herb bread. There's no such thing as too many carbs!