February 10, 2015 Lunch Istanbul Market Dinner Pot Roast with Steamed asparagus

February 10, 2015   Lunch  Istanbul Market   Dinner  Pot Roast with Steamed asparagus

I went to Istanbul Market today for lunch today.  When I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see John Budagher and his wife, Sharon? and associates, John and Jessie.  Here is their picture:



I ordered my favorite Kibbeh platter.  I comes with two kibbeh, which is a coating of Bulgur wrapped around a filling of ground lamb.  The platter contains salad and turmeric colored rice and hummus or Tabouli $8.99.  

I loved the lunch and then bought a number of items at the store, including real Middle Eastern yogurt, my favorite yogurt drink, taramasalata, green olives, chocolate wafer cookies, ground lamb, fresh pita bread, baba ghanoush, Moroccan sardines, and Bulgur wheat, total of $45.00 of stuff including lunch.

At 4:30 p.m. I went by Lowe’s in the afternoon and bought 4 lb. of boneless short ribs, a new cut of meat to me, to see if it would be a good cut of meat to use in Saturday night’s Boeuf Bourgogne.  I also bought a parsnip, three carrots and two turnips. 

When I arrived at went home I wanted to test the cut of meat I had bought to see if it would work for our Valentine’s Day dinner on Saturday.  I cut ½ onion into wedges and braised it and 1 lb. of meat in 1 ½ Tbsp. of olive oil and then added three cloves of garlic and then a parsnip, a carrot and a turnip  cut into chunks.  After the vegetables and meat had braised for about ten minutes I added and a dash of salt and pepper and Herbs Provence and about 1 cup of red wine to almost cover the mixture and put the top on the enamel casserole and simmered the mixture for about 1 ½ hours.  Suzette came home around 5:30 and around 6:00 we added a cup of water and at 6:30 Suzette added three cubed mushrooms and a cup of PPI boiled potatoes.  This produced quite a bit of stew.

At 7:00 I steamed a handful of asparagus and then we ate bowls of stew, with one of the cornbread sticks Suzette made last week and some asparagus with a glass of PPI La Granja red wine.

I was amazed at how well the boneless short ribs cooked into a stew.  There was actually less fat on it than I thought and the flavor and texture were good.

The dish I cooked tonight is essentially Boeuf Bourgogne, so the boneless short rib cut of meat should be fine for Saturday’s meal.

Bon Appétit