Fairmont Pittsburgh Recipes: Short Rib Pierogies & Truffles

If you feel like starting off the new year by trying out a new dish in your home, be sure to try these recipes from the Fairmont Pittsburgh today!

Braised Short Rib Pierogies with Horseradish Sour Cream

Short Ribs

1 pound beef short ribs
Salt and pepper
Cooking oil
2 large carrots
2 sticks celery
1 white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
2 cups red wine

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Sear them in a large pan in oil. Chop the vegetables and add to the pan along with the wine and bay leaf. Sauté for two minutes. Transfer beef, vegetables and wine mixture to a roasting pan and cover beef with water. Cook at 285°F for 2 ½ hours. Allow the beef to cool in its juices. Once cool enough to handle, pull the beef off the bones and shred.

Pierogies

4 cups flour
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
Butter
Olive oil
Chopped white onion, to taste
Salt and pepper
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon horseradish

Combine eggs, salt and water. Add egg mixture to flour and knead until dough is firm. Let it rest for 20 minutes. Using a pasta machine, roll on #2 setting two times (or roll until thin using a rolling pin). Cut into circles using a pastry cutter.

Using the cut pierogie dough, fill one half of the circle with the short rib meat, fold over and pinch the edges together. Cook the pierogies in boiling water. Once cooked, add them to a hot pan with butter and olive oil. Add the chopped white onions and sauté. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the sour cream and horseradish. Serve pierogies with a tablespoon of the sour cream.

Juniper and Gin Truffles

400g cream
8g juniper berries crushed
4g coriander seeds crushed
Zest of half of an orange
500g milk chocolate
80g Trimoline or corn syrup
100g unsalted butter
30g gin

Bring cream to a boil. Add juniper, coriander and zest and infuse for 30 minutes. Strain cream, pressing on solids to extract the most flavor. Return cream to a boil. Place chocolate and Trimoline in the bowl of a food processor and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Blend well. When the mixture has reached 35 degrees Celsius, add butter and blend again.

Finally add the gin and blend. Pour into molds or frame. Let set. If not using molds, scoop the set ganache using a melon baller and roll in cocoa powder, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, etc.

Yield: Approximately 75 truffles

Tangerine Sea Salt Caramel Truffles

Zest of 6 tangerines
½ gram Maldon sea salt
80g glucose or corn syrup
One dried vanilla bean
400g cream
80g sugar
800g milk chocolate
30g brandy
40g butter

Add zest, salt and glucose and vanilla bean to cream in a small pot and heat. Allow to infuse for 30 minutes. Add the sugar to another pot and wet slightly and cook until it is an amber caramel color. Shock the caramel with the hot cream mixture. Add the chocolate to the bowl of a food processor and strain the hot cream mixture over it, pressing on the solids to extract the most flavor. Blend this mixture well. When the ganache has reached 35 degrees Celsius, add the butter and blend, followed by the brandy. Pipe ganache into prepared molds or into a frame and allow to set. If not using molds, scoop the set ganache using a melon baller and roll in cocoa powder, sprinkles, chocolate shavings, etc.

Yield: Approximately 85 truffles