Apres-Ravenous?

Here is a menu for the cold and hungry. I first made it for friends who had been skiing all day. (If you like to cook, I’ve found that skiers are ideal guests. You can make all those things that your finicky sedentary friends have long since banished from their diets.)

My skiing friends had become so hungry, they said, that they had begun to view the world as wildlife, and scanned the mountaintop for snacks. Many heretofore inedible things started to look promising: Could a human gain nourishment from pine needles? Lichen? Bark? Of course, they really could have paused and quarried nuts from a pine cone--for that matter they could have ducked into the lodge for a cup of cocoa and a grilled cheese sandwich, too--but these were serious, driven, focused skiers unwilling to lose a moment of snow. I, the volunteer cook, alone bore the brunt of their hunger.

They came in huffing and tracking snow and roaring for food. Which, luckily, was ready. This is the menu I devised for them, and I think, between the bosky porcini and the earthy beets with horseradish, this meal not only satisfied their hunger but also quieted their desire to eat the forest.

AFTER-SKIING MENU

Braised Short Ribs With Porcini

Beet and Endive Salad

Pear Galette

PANTRY

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

2 onions

2 carrots

Butter

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Balsamic vinegar

Bottled horseradish

Walnuts

Sugar

Egg

Milk

Apricot preserves

SHOPPING LIST

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

2 pounds beef short ribs

4 beets

2 heads Belgian endive

1 bunch watercress

2 to 3 firm Bosc pears (6 to 7 ounces each)

Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or creme frai^che (optional)

GAME PLAN

Morning of dinner: Prepare braised short ribs. Refrigerate when done.

4 hours before: Roast and peel beets and toast walnuts.

2 hours before: Prepare Pear Galette but do not bake.

1 hour before: Prepare remainder of salad, but do not dress.

30 minutes before: Reheat short ribs. Bake galette.

10 minutes before: Toss salad.

BRAISED SHORT RIBS WITH PORCINI

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

Water

1/2 cup flour

Salt, pepper

2 pounds beef short ribs

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots, diced

Butter (optional)

Cover porcini mushrooms with 2 cups lukewarm water and let soak while browning meat and cooking vegetables.

Season flour with salt and pepper to taste. Dredge short ribs in flour, salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy saute pan or Dutch oven. Brown ribs on all sides, remove and set aside.

If oil is scorched, discard and use 1 to 2 tablespoons of fresh oil to cook onions and carrots until softened. Return short ribs to pan with vegetables.

Pour off porcini soaking liquid and strain liquid into meat. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook, either on top of the stove over low heat or in 350-degree oven until meat is tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. After 2 to 2 1/2 hours, squeeze out porcini mushrooms, chop coarsely, add to meat and continue cooking.

For thicker sauce, knead 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon flour to make buerre manie. Add bit by bit to sauce, whisking over medium heat until sauce thickens.

(Up to this point, all can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and refrigerated, covered. To reheat, place in covered pan either over low heat or in 350-degree oven.)

Serve short ribs with sauce spooned over them.

Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

377 calories; 171 mg sodium; 75 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 27 grams protein; 1.35 grams fiber.

PEAR GALETTE

GALETTE DOUGH

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg

1 teaspoon milk

Water

1 tablespoon apricot preserves, strained

PEARS

2 to 3 firm Bosc pears (6 to 7 ounces each)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon apricot preserves, strained

Hot Water

Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or creme frai^che (optional)

GALETTE DOUGH

Mix flour, sugar and salt in food processor or bowl. Pulse or cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Beat egg with milk in measuring cup. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of egg mixture over flour mixture and pulse or stir with fork until mixture will stick together (reserve remaining egg).

Working quickly, gather dough into smooth mass, adding few drops of water as needed. On lightly floured surface, pat dough into 5-inch disk. Wrap in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate until cold but not too hard, about 30 minutes. (Dough can be prepared 1 to 2 days ahead to this point. Soften at room temperature until malleable, about 15 minutes, before rolling out.)

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough into 9-inch circle, turning clockwise 1 or 2 inches each time you roll, to maintain even shape. Transfer dough to lightly buttered heavy baking sheet. Fold in about 1/4 inch of dough all around, forming neat, smooth rim. With back of knife, score decorative diagonal lines around rim. Brush rim with little of reserved beaten egg. Brush apricot preserves over bottom of tart shell. Refrigerate while you prepare pears.

PEARS

Peel, quarter and core pears. Slice each quarter lengthwise into 5 thin wedges. Arrange all but about 6 pear slices on dough in spoke pattern, overlapping. Trim remaining slices and arrange in center of tart.

Gently brush pear slices with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425 degrees until dough is crisp and golden and pears are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

Thin apricot preserves with about 1/2 teaspoon hot water and brush over pear slices. If you like, slide galette onto large wooden cutting board for serving. Serve galette warm, cutting into large wedges and topping with ice cream, whipped cream, or creme frai^che, if you like.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 6 servings, without additional ice cream, whipped cream or creme frai^che, contains about:

260 calories; 345 mg sodium; 72 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.90 gram fiber.

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Kitchen Tip/Beet and Endive Salad

Scrub 4 beets and trim tops to 1 inch. Wrap each beet in foil; bake on baking sheet at 350 degrees until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Let cool, then slip off skins.

Mix beets, 2 heads endive cut in 1-inch sticks and 1 bunch de-stemmed watercress in large bowl.

Combine 1/4 cup oil, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons drained bottled or fresh horseradish. Toss with beet mixture just before serving. Season with salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons walnuts that have been roasted in a 350-degree oven until golden, about 5 minutes.