Family Dinner Party- Parents Anniversary and Welcome Home Auntie Mo-Mo

This was one of my favorate dinners. The menu is as follow and was pretty easy.
Apps.- Cheese cranberry spread (Trader Joe's) with grapes and crackers

Salad- Pear Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
Dinner- Short Ribs with Mushrooms and Winter Greens http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/short-ribs-with-mushrooms-and-winter-greens
Garlic Mashed Potatos
Dessert- Trader Joe's Fall Fruit Tart with Caramel Sauce and Spiced Whipped Cream ( I just added a pinch or cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg to homemade whipped cream)

Friday night I put together a dinner party, which I have not done in a while.  Before having my daughter I would have them pretty much weekly.  I always tend to make things more difficult then they need to be, but I think this time I got it down.  I looked for a recipe I could make in advance and it was so much easier.  I had it in my head that we had to have short ribs.  They just sounded appetizing on a cold fall night.  I was inspired by the cover of last month's Bon Appetite.  The recipe was Braiseed short ribs with Red Wine gravy and swiss chard :
 http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/10/braised_beef_short_ribs_with_red_wine_gravy_and_swiss_chard

 I read the recipe and the braising liquid was pretty much a vegetable stock.  I kept wanting to replace the vegetables, trunips etc. So I scratched that recipe and looked on Cookster for a new recipe. I made Short Ribs with Mushrooms and Winter Greens (see link at top of page). I cooked the short ribs in advance and they were great. A good thing about making them in advance is I could refridgerate them and skim the fat off the top.  Short ribs are not good for your diet because of thier high fat content, but that is what makes them pretty much foolproof for a special dinner.  They are very tender when cooked for a long time.  I had a hard time finding meaty ones in the meat sections of the grocery store, but I had a lot of success asking the butcher at Roche Brother.   Rather than serving it as a stew I took the short ribs out and tryed to make a gravy buy reducing the sauce.  It was not thick like a gravy, but was still very good and had a ton of flavor. I cooked the swiss chard seperatley and added a side of garlic mashed potatos.  It was great, but next time I think it would be just as good sticking with the recipe as written.  Trader Joe's also was a great way to make things easier.  I bought a Kale and Swiss Chard mix, that was cleaned and cut. I was going to make a dessert, but I did not want to add any stress to the day and wanted to enjoy the night.  I bought a fall fruit tart at Trader Joe's, made a caramel sauce and a spiced whipped cream.  I made a pool of sauce on the plate, put the tart on top and topped with whip cream.