Marco Polo Short Ribs

 This recipe is a crock pot recipe, but I cooked it in the oven because it was a weekend and I had time.  The prep isn't long, but the cooking time is about 4 hours.  I'll tell you at the end why I liked it better than the crock pot.

 The title comes from the addition of tomato sauce and ginger, plus horseradish.  The flavors work great together.  Ingredients:
4 lbs beef short ribs
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 cup beef bullion or water
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 onion sliced
2 TBSP prepared horseradish
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp ground ginger (or fresh grated)
2 TBSP cornstarch

 Brown the ribs on all sides, add sliced onions, and sauce.  Bake in oven heated to 350, then turn heat down to 325 or 300. The ribs were not frozen at all so I turned the heat down.  But if they were still thawing out I would have opted for 350 degrees.

 Bake for 2-3 hours.  The ribs will start to shrink and you can then add potatoes, and carrots.  Cook another hour or two.  When the potatoes are done and the fat on the short ribs has shrunk and made a transparent layer over the juice, remove the dish from the oven.

 Put the potatoes and ribs in a serving dish.  Then laddel the clear fat off the pan juices.  Make gravy with the cornstarch, water and pan juices.

Enjoy your tender meat!

Cajun Style Fish Steaks

This is really good for fish. Use Cod or Halibut or your favorite!
Serves four (or how many steaks you use)

Ingredients:
4 cod,halibut steaks each weighing about 6 oz
2 Tbsp plain yogurt
1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp mustard power
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
Peanut oil

1 Rinse fish and pat dry on absorbent paper towels. Combine the yogurt and lime juice and brush lightly over both sides of the fish.

2. Combine the garlic, cumin, paprika, mustard powder, cayenne, thyme and oregano. Coat both sides of the fish with the seasoning mix, rubbing in well. I might have put the yogurt on a bit heavy. So I didn't rub too hard but made sure that all areas of the fish were covered.

3. Brush a ridged grill pan or heavy frying pan with a little peanut oil. Heat until very hot. Add the fish and cook over high heat for 4 minutes or until the underside is well browned.

4. Add more oil if necessary and turn over and cook for another 4 minutes or until the steaks have cooked through. I had my burner set on 7 and 4 minutes was just right. The steaks were about 1 inch thick. There is a large spine bone in the center which needs to get hot.

Serve immediately.
The "expert" sporting my new Apron!