Hi guys and thank you so much for stopping by! We would like to introduce ourselves…we are Arturo and Wrenn Pacheco.
Arturo, or as he is sometimes called ” the cowboy” is just that, a real cowboy and rancher who has his PhD in ruminant nutrition from Kansas State University. He is also the cook in our household! Don’t be fooled by the cowboy hat, he doesn’t just “man” the grill, he makes every type of food from savory main dishes with homemade pasta to decadent desserts like butterscotch pudding with roasted pears. Plus, there are so many more yummy recipes that we can’t wait to share.
I am Wrenn, I don’t have a nickname yet, I will be doing most of the writing and all of the photographing for the blog, as well as the dishes and the taste testing! I am a wedding photographer by trade. I also hop in the kitchen and do some of the cooking from time to time!
Together we have one little cowboy, named Leo and another rowdy little cowboy on the way! In the summer of 2014, we purchased a small piece of the Flint Hills of Kansas and a 103-year-old farmhouse. We love the history this home holds, and we are excited to preserve and care for our home for many more years to come. We love the idea of raising our children in this part of the world surrounded by cattle, cow dogs and horses.
Our home circa early 1900’s. This photo hangs in our dinning room.
Together we care for steers (a castrated male calf) for a rancher in Iowa and develop heifers (a female calf that has not had a calf) for a rancher in Texas. I will be sharing a little more on all of that with a later post!
“Cooking with the Cowboy” is a place for us to share some our favorite recipes that we enjoy cooking for friends, family and ourselves. These recipes will consist of a variety of things, from full dinners to homemade tortillas, and even some desserts! We will also be sharing a little about our way of life, out here in the middle of nowhere!
Something that is super important to us is our Sundays as a family! We are both self employed, so a couple of years ago we made it a rule that we would do our best not to work on Sunday afternoon in order that we could spend it together. Part of Sunday is spent in the kitchen, where Arturo is doing the cooking and I am doing the dishes. We also have some of our best conversations about life in our little kitchen! One of our favorite Sunday dishes is Braised Short Ribs. We buy most of our beef, a side at a time, from a family member because it is easier on our budget than buying beef at the grocery store. More to come later on about this strategy. Short ribs are one of the cuts of meat that come with our beef and the following recipe is the one we cook to utilize this cut of beef. Beef short ribs usually aren’t front and center in the meat case but your grocery store probably carries them. Your butcher would be happy to help you find them if you want to give this Sunday supper a try.
Braised Short Ribs
4 individual Beef Short Ribs (about 2 lbs total)
Olive Oil
2 Carrots
2 Stalks Celery
3 cloves Garlic
2 cups of any tomatoes (we used canned from our summer garden)
Thyme
Rosemary
2- 3 cups of chicken or beef stock. (Enough liquid to just cover the ribs)
1 cup of red wine
½ cup sour cream
1-3 TBS Prepared Horseradish
Salt & Pepper
Heat a large Dutch oven on medium high heat. Season the ribs liberally with salt and pepper. Then place all the vegetables in a food processor and process until finely chopped into a pulp. Coat the bottom of the pot with olive oil, and sear the ribs in the oil until deeply brown at least three minutes a side maybe more. Once the ribs are browned, remove them from the pot and set aside.
Add the vegetables and herbs to the pot and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 8 min or until most of the liquid from the vegetables has evaporated and the vegetables begin to just stick to the bottom of the pot. Place the ribs back in the pot with the vegetables, add the stock and wine, stirring the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. After adding salt and pepper to the braising liquid., cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and simmer for 2 and a half hours. About halfway through the cooking, flip the ribs over and nestle them back down in the braising liquid. While the ribs braise, mix together the sour cream and the horseradish to taste, adjust amount of sour cream or horseradish to your preference. Also, once you get the horseradish to sour cream ratio the way you like it, season the horseradish cream with salt and a little pepper. When the 2 ½ hours are up, use a fine strainer and ladle to pull out about two cups of the braising liquid. Put into a small sauce pan and reduce liquid down to a thick sauce, whisking frequently to prevent scorching (this will take a good 30 minutes or so). When the sauce is reduced you are ready for supper! Plate one rib with some of the sauce spooned over the rib and a dollop of the horseradish cream on top. Serve these ribs with the starch of your choice and a vegetable (we had jalapeno cheddar grits and roasted acorn squash with ours).
Leave a Reply