Good morning and welcome back everyone.

After coasting through a nice, cool, comfortable summer for a bit we are getting our asses hammered right now by a less-than-delightful combination of heat, humidity and fire season which in turn gives us incredibly shitty air quality.

Awesome.

Seriously it’s hot as fuck out there and the forecast ain’t too friendly in the near future either.

Fuck this year. Hard!

Got a real fun one for you today. Something that you absolutely MUST add to your breakfast repertoire. Especially for a special occasion breakfast.

I talk a great deal about meal inspiration but today’s meal required zero inspiration. I flat out STOLE this motherfucker.

Back a couple of weeks ago when I made my very strange yet very needed getaway to San Diego, our own Low Commander and I went to a restaurant for breakfast.

Seriously.

It’s like where you go and sit down and somebody else prepares the food and serves it to you.

I know right?

This was  – no bullshit – the first plate of food that someone else besides myself sat down in front of me in over 5 months.

This was my first “sit down at a restaurant” venture since the pandemic started and it felt pretty goddamn weird to do.

We went to “Claire’s on Cedros” in Solana Beach right around the corner from my hotel.

Let me explain their dine-in process first.

They did everything like they were supposed to. They took our temperature before we got in the building. Every one of the staff was wearing a mask and every customer in the outdoor dining area had a mask on if they weren’t actively eating or drinking. The tables were spaced about 12-15 feet apart and it was open air with a nice breeze.

They brought a menu to the table then required you to take a photo of a barcode on the menu so the menu downloaded to your phone. No touching of a menu required. There was absolutely nothing on the table when we sat down. No salt, pepper, hot sauce, nothing. That was upon request only.

It was just really fucking weird seeing the lower half of stranger’s faces. It was definitely not something I’m recently used to.

The food though?

That shit was dynamite! You can browse their menu on that link up there.

True confession time. I normally don’t make a full-on “breakfast” breakfast unless I do it on here or unless I go on vacation.

My breakfast rotation consists of either an orange with a hardboiled egg and a piece of dry multi-grain toast or a banana/blueberry smoothie (that I make myself of course) with a piece of dry multi-grain toast. I alternate days between those 2 menus. Yes, seven days a week.

Now vacation? That shit is different.

What’s your go to restaurant breakfast order?

I’m a benedict man, myself. Shit, 95% of the time it’s eggs benedict and some hash browns.

Love that shit and why the fuck haven’t I made it for you good folks already.

Fuck.

To be addressed!

Anyway I’m reading the menu at Claire’s and they had a really nice selection of benedicts. Then right down near the bottom of the menu I read these words: “ANGUS SHORT RIB & HASH BROWN POTATO CAKES. Cabernet Braised Beef with Eggs and your choice of Toast.”

Mother. Fucker.

I had never before seen that particular combination of words to describe a breakfast item.

Hell yes I ordered it and it was every bit as goddamn glorious as it sounds.

Since both components of this dish – the short ribs and the potato pancakes – are directly in my fucking wheelhouse, I thought “I’m making this shit at home!”

And here we are.

I didn’t need to do no damn recipe searches since I’m pretty good at making both already, so I winged it.

AND I came up with a couple of handy-goddamn-dandy cooking tips to share with you.

Let’s do this damn thing right now.

Braised “wine forward” short ribs!

About 3-4 pounds of bone-in beef short ribs

1 750 ml bottle of cabernet sauvignon

1 12 ounce beer

2 cups of water

1/2 of an onion diced

5 cloves of garlic minced

2 tablespoons of cooking oil

2 tablespoons of flour

Some sprigs of fresh rosemary – minced

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 tablespoon of beef base or “Better than bouillon” beef bouillon

1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Salt  – shit I don’t know, maybe a half tablespoon?

Pepper – see note on salt above

Hot Hungarian paprika – Use regular paprika if you don’t have Hungarian

1 leftover rind of parmigiano reggiano cheese (trick #1)

Before getting started, this recipe is by memory and I’m fairly confident in its accuracy. It’s just that I’ve braised short ribs so many fucking times that it’s one of those “a little of dis a little of dat” recipes now. I know in the past I’ve told you to use beef stock but I didn’t have any on hand so ad lib time. I didn’t take notes but this feels right.

 

Step 1: score your ass some short ribs!

Add the flour to a plastic bag, toss in those ribs and give a good shake to fully coat. I did this in 2 batches.

Get your trusty Dutch oven all “het up” over a medium heat and add in the cooking oil. When the oil is hot in go the floured short ribs. We’re going to sear for 5 minutes per side. Cook as many of the sides as you can. Some of the ribs will have about 6 sides to them, some will only need 4 sides seared. Season each side with salt, pepper and paprika.

When each side is seared you should have a little something like this.

To build the braising liquid let’s start with the vino. Let me show you what I used.

That’s Color Block cabernet (and rosemary from my garden) and it’s from the Central Valley in Chile. This is a middle shelf quality wine with bottom shelf prices. Seriously this shit delivers a very good bang for your buck as far as “quality to cost” ratio. Damn tasty to drink by the glass and rock solid for today’s application.

After you’ve finished searing the short ribs, deglaze your pan with the wine. ALL of the fucking wine. Next add in the beer, water, onion, garlic and basically every damn thing else. Take note of the ingredients I used to deliver the savory shit today. Tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, the bouillon and the worcestershire. Hell yes.

Let’s try to up that even more.

Goddamn right. That’s the leftover rind of parmigiano reggiano. Seriously I keep all of my parm rinds for this type of application. I’ve got like fucking 5-6 still in my freezer. Cool trick. Simply remove what’s left of the rind right at the end of the cooking process. It imparts that salt and funk that levels this dish right the fuck up.

Speaking of which.

This is after 3 or so hours of cooking while covered with a slightly ajar lid on a very low simmer. Stir it occasionally and season as needed.

Here’s a visual indicator of when the short ribs are almost done.

When the bones fall off that clean, the meat is pretty close to ready.

When the fat has incorporated with the sauce and the meat is falling apart then it’s touchdown time motherfuckers.

And that’s our short rib recipe.

Do with it as you will. I’ve been known to simply grab a wooden spoon and some crusty bread and eat this right out of the pot.

Goddamn I love me some fucking short ribs. Man, dump this on some noodles or some mashed potatoes.

Remember where we’re going with this today though.

That breakfast thing.

How about we serve those short ribs over a crispy homemade potato pancake instead?

Oh fuck yes.

Potato Pancakes ala yeah right!

I’m going to claim this as a true Sunday Gravy original.

3 large russet potatoes peeled and cut into wedges

1 medium sized onion sliced into wedges

1 Granny Smith Apple peeled, cored and sliced into wedges

1 beaten egg

2 tablespoons of flour

1 teaspoon of salt plus more to sprinkle on

Ground black pepper to taste

About a quarter cup of cooking oil depending on skillet size

A tablespoon of butter for each batch of potato pancakes.

That’s what I’m talking about!

Way the fuck back in the day when I was still married (shudders) the former Mrs. right had this old ass cookbook from like 1910 or some shit and that book had recipes for bear and elk and rabbit and all kinds of game and in that book it had a potato pancake recipe that used an apple. I swear to Christ that’s the only time I’ve ever seen a potato pancake recipe that used an apple and I’ve never seen it since.

Go ahead and look. I’ll wait.

I do remember those potato pancakes kicked ass and I’ve appropriated that trick and made it my own.

If all you’ve got on hand is a box grater you’ve got some fucking work to do, Friendo. Because the potatoes, apple and onion need to be grated.

Now on the other hand?

If you’ve got one of these bad motherfuckers? The food processor with the shred attachment?

That’s different. You can shred the bejabbers out of them veggies in no time!

Lemme show yez.

Oh shit yes! And no goddamn bloody knuckles either! That’s handy trick #2.

I alternated a wedge of potato, followed by a wedge of apple, followed by a wedge of onion to mix the flavors together. Repeat until everything is shredded.

Now this next part is fucking critical. Get a clean kitchen towel and dump the shredded veggies – carefully – into the towel and wring the shit out of it.

You’ll be surprised how much liquid will squeeze out. Like a cup or more. It’s a lot.

When you’ve got the water squeezed out just look how goddamn fluffy it gets!

Next you add in the egg, flour, salt and pepper and give it a good mix.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and put a baking dish inside to act as a “receiver” while we cook the pancakes in batches.

Get your skillet busy by adding in the oil and the first tablespoon of butter.

Medium heat.

Then add in the first batch of pancakes.

“Holy shit!” I can hear you saying. “How did you get them so perfectly round and sexy looking like that?”

Handy trick #3.

I used a biscuit cutter and pressed the potato pancake batter inside to form and shape them.

Pretty goddamn clever, yes? I just came up with that shit off the top of my head too.

After about 5 minutes give it a flip. Sprinkle a little salt on each side while you’re at it.

Boom!

Five minutes for the next side and your first batch is ready. Remove the cooked pancakes to the baking dish inside the oven to keep warm and repeat until all pancakes have been cooked. I got 8 finished potato pancakes.

Now all you’ve got to do is cook yourself some eggs. I would recommend a fried egg because a scrambled egg on top of this would be a little weird. Just sayin’. By now y’all know I’m a sunny side up guy.

Put a couple of potato pancakes on a plate and top with a biggol’ scoop of the short ribs then me eggs go right on top!

Yeah, the toast got a little “over.” Still worked though.

Now let’s get a different plate and angle.

There it is.

This is a goddamn “show stopper.” So fucking good. What could be better than slow braised savory-as-fuck short ribs over noodles or mashed potatoes? How about over a perfectly crispy and delicious homemade potato pancake?

THEN you add a runny egg on top?

Fuck right off!

Upon reflection it’s pretty fucking obvious where “Claire” got the inspiration for this dish.

Remember this?

Back in 2015 or Season 1 of Sunday Gravy! That’s our slow roasted brisket and latkes. Hell yes this is basically the same thing just with no egg on top. Somebody got inspired by a Passover meal and just used short ribs instead of a more expensive cut of brisket.

I see what you did “Claire” and I like it.

Breakfast will never be the same again.

There you go folks. Use either one of these recipes or use them both. This business is fucking All-Star good. You’re gonna love them potato pancakes too.

Hope you got some ideas from the various tricks and tips today.

Now get your starving ass in the kitchen and make some breakfast will ya?

Thanks for being there folks. It’s appreciated.

See you next week.

PEACE and UNITY!