What happens when a world-class chef--Jean Georges Vongerichten, to be exact--writes a cookbook with a culinary minimalist, the New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman? The answer is Simple to Spectacular, a book that presents more than 250 recipes in a unique way. Here's the drill: a few-ingredient "core" recipe is offered
This is an unusual group of flavors for a dark beef stew - citrus, coriander, and fruity white wine. The results are equally unusual, and quite delightful.
Servings: 4
Time: as long as 4 hours - largely unattended
2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed
3 tablespoons butter
4 pounds short ribs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 oranges
4 lemons
4 limes
1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
4 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 bottle fruity white wine, such as Vouvray or Gewtirztraminer
3 branches thyme
4 stems parsley
1 bay leaf
1 small head white cabbage
1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish
Put a tablespoon each of the oil and butter in a deep heavy skillet or casserole and turn the heat to high. Brown the ribs well on all sides, seasoning well with salt and pepper as they cook; this will take about 20 minutes. Remove the ribs, pour out and discard the fat, and wipe out the pan.
Meanwhile, use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest and squeeze the juice from 2 each of the oranges, lemons, and limes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and another tablespoon of butter in the pan, turn the heat to medium-high, and add the onion, carrot, celery, the orange, lemon, and lime zest, the coriander, garlic, a large pinch of salt, and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
Add the white wine, orange, lemon, and lime juice, thyme, parsley stems, and bay leaf to the pan and bring to a boil; add the ribs, cover, and put in the oven. Cook until the meat is very tender and falling from the bone, about 3 hours; turn the meat once or twice an hour.
While the ribs are cooking, remove the central core from the cabbage, then separate the leaves and cut them into 3 or 4 pieces each. Cook them in boiling salted water until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, then plunge into ice water to stop the cooking; drain again and set aside. Remove the zest from the remaining fruit with a zester and mince. Cut each fruit in half and section as you would a grapefruit, removing any seeds; do this over a bowl so you catch all the juices.
Transfer the ribs to a platter. Strain the vegetables and liquid, pressing hard on the vegetables to extract all of their juices, into another large pan and refrigerate or reheat. Bring to a boil and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon butter; whisk until slightly thickened, then add the ribs, citrus sections, and cabbage. Heat the ribs through, adjust the seasoning as necessary, and serve, garnished with the citrus zest and cilantro.
