Ninja & Kong Devour the World: Movie Night Never Tasted So Good

When semi romantic movie night with the Wife and Kid rolls around, you gotta make the dinner special. I chose to go with Beef Short Rib Stroganoff and an Heirloom Tomato Caesar with Bacon Parmesan Crisps.

The Kid loves cow

These gorgeous Beef Short Ribs are the bounty I picked up at Iowa Meat Farms. Beautiful deep red, marbled perfection. Iowa is my go to place when looking for some quality meat and they never fail. The staff is always very friendly and also eager to help with finding the right cut of meat and recipe suggestions and tips for whatever meat you end up choosing.

Herby Garlic paste for the short ribs

Post massage short ribs ready for the oven! While the ribs were in the oven becoming super delicious, I started preparing the salad and the stroganoff sauce

The salad was going to be topped with a Parmesan Bacon crisp, so first thing i had to do was cook off the bacon. Thick cut bacon, beautifully fatty and salty, is such a gorgeous sight as you watch it render down into crunchy strips of pork bliss.

This is what glitter should actually look like! These tempting morsels were then mixed with flour and parmesan cheese and divided up on a baking sheet.

Before oven : modest cheese mixture

After oven: simple, delectable, cookies of the pork gods. After preparing the crisps I turned my attention to the simple Caesar like dressing for the salad

First up was to mince the little briny anchovies down to almost a paste. I then added lemon juice, grated garlic, parmesan cheese, and a little olive oil. There is no egg yolk like a traditional Caesar dressing, but the cheese helps make the dressing creamy in texture so you don't miss it too much.

Completed dressing, tangy, salty, and luscious.

Beautiful offering of heirlooms from Specialty Produce

Gorgeous firework display from the inside of the tomatoes. After all the prep was done for the salad it was time to assemble. I could almost here the Voltron theme song.

This is the salad without the crisps because this was going into the fridge and didn't want them to become soggy. I also added watercress to the combo. So salad is done, must continue on to make stroganoff. The sauce begins with the sautéing of Cremini and Button mushrooms in some olive oil. The smell that emanates from this combo is like delicious wet earth after a summer shower. After the mushrooms brown, it's time for minced garlic and shallots.

Once the mixture has melded together and those garlic and shallots become very fragrant, it's time to deglaze the pan with some cognac. I used champagne cognac, but it doesn't really make a difference which type or brand you use.Be careful in this step and take the pan away from the heat or else there will be flames. Once the cognac is in, it's time for the main event: the heavy cream!

Ah, so beautiful isn't it. Buttery milk fat blending with the tender umami of the mushroom to create a sauce that elevates it's counter parts , yet at the same time is in a league all it's own. After the sauce reduces down, remove from heat and add dijon, sour cream, salt,and pepper (go heavy on the pepper, this creamy sauce can take it and it really gives a nice depth to it with out being spicy)

These short ribs were so pretty that they had their own photo shoot before even getting to join the rest of the meal.

The completed meal was awesome. The rich, creamy mushroom sauce flowing delicately over buttered egg noodles then topped with crunchy, tender roasted short rib was almost too much to bear until you shoveled a perfect bite of tangy, tart, salty, tomatoey, cheesy bacon goodness into your mouth. The salad was the best choice to combat the richness of the stroganoff and even with the bacon and cheese crisps , was actually very light and refreshing.