Mango Chutney-Glazed Short Ribs

I am always on the lookout for recipes that are easy, delicious (of course), and don't require a lot of babysitting, since my kids seem to regard meal prep time as their own competition time to see who can drive Mama round the bend the fastest.  This "witching hour" means that I pink sparkly puffy heart my crock pot, since I can just chuck everything in during nap time and forget about it for a couple of hours.

I adapted this recipe from one a friend passed on.  This night I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower (I usually try for a more colourful meal, but was trying to use these up before they went bad), but they are also good with rice (for a more Indian meal) or polenta.  You can also double or triple it to have a seemingly fancy meal for a crowd.  They're so popular in our house that every time I see short ribs on sale I have to put this on the menu!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)
     2 pounds (about 8 pieces) beef short ribs
          (note:  you can also use beef chuck short ribs, but will need to increase the cooking time)
     1 small onion, sliced
     kosher salt and ground black pepper, about 1 tbsp. each
     1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
     1 jar mango chutney
     1 cup beef broth
     2 tbsp. tapioca

First, slice your onion thinly and place in the bottom of the crock pot.

This is the bed for your short ribs.  Next, rinse the ribs and pat dry, then sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.  Put them bone-side down on top of the onions.

Spread the mango chutney over the short ribs.  Pour the Worcestershire sauce, broth and tapioca around (but not over -- don't wash off the chutney!) the ribs.

Cover and cook on low heat about 4 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bones.

Enjoy!
Linking up to:  Make Something Monday , Tasty Tuesday , Handmade Tuesdays and Show Me What You've Got !

Mexican meh -- Chicken Enchiladas with Red Chiles & Cheese

I love Mexican food.  Capital-L Love.  Chile rellenos, enchiladas, guacamole, nachos, you name it, I love it.  I've perfected a few recipes to make at home -- carnitas, Chipotle-inspired soft tacos and burritos, refried black beans -- but I am still trying to make enchiladas that are as good as our local hole-in-the-wall for those nights hauling 3 kids out to dinner just isn't going to happen.

Thanks to Pinterest , I found this Rick Bayless-inspired recipe on Elly's blog and decided to try it out.  After all, Rick Bayless is (at least according to my impression watching Top Chef Masters ) the go-to dude for accessible Mexican recipes.  I should've known not to trust a white guy with a soul patch.  *shakes head sadly*

Anyway, the original recipe and Elly's adjustments are on her blog.  Here's what I used:

*6 medium-size dried guajillo chiles, stems removed
*4 cloves garlic
*1 28-oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes and their juice
*1/4 tsp. ground cumin
*1 tsp. ground black pepper
*1 cup chicken broth
*3 shredded chicken breasts
*1/2 white onion, plus a bit diced for garnish
*10 corn tortillas
*4 oz. shredded Oaxaca cheese
*diced avocado for garnish

First, I seasoned the chicken breasts with salt & pepper, granulated garlic, and oregano and roasted them at 375 for 30 minutes.

I toasted the dried chiles in a dry saucepan over medium heat and flattened them with a spatula a couple of times, then chucked those, the garlic, the tomatoes, the cumin & pepper into my food processor and blended until it was smooth.  I pressed it through a fine sieve and put it on medium heat to reduce.
When it was about the consistency of tomato paste I added the chicken broth.

While the sauce simmered, I set the oven to preheat to 350 and put the tortillas in to warm.  After about 10 minutes, I poured about a cup of the sauce into the bottom of a 9 x 13 glass pan and mixed about 1/2 cup of sauce into the shredded chicken.
To assemble the enchiladas, I dipped both sides of a warmed tortilla into the remaining sauce, then filled it with chicken, rolled it, and placed seam-side down in the pan.  Once they were all assembled, I poured the remaining sauce over them, sprinkled the cheese on and popped it in the oven for 15 minutes.

Overall, this dish was OK.  It wasn't quite hole-in-the-wall good, but it was decent, and Darling Husband really liked it.  The sauce, even though I added two more chiles, two more cloves of garlic & the onion *and* left out the sugar that Bayless' original recipe calls for, was kind of bizarrely sweet.  If I try this recipe again, I'd like to try it with plain tomatoes to see if that makes any difference.

If anyone has a fabulous enchilada recipe, please share!
Linking to Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings , Tasty Tuesdays at 33 Shades of Green and What I Made Wednesday at Sweet Peas & Bumblebees !