Susan Copeland Guest Chef cooks from “Sunday Suppers at Lucques” , Braised Beef Short Ribs with Potato Puree and Roasted Asparagus.

Saturday we were invited to the Copelands Adirondack style home on the southeast side of  Squam Lake. sited on a private cove, the home faces west over beautiful Squam Lake with views of  the sunsets. The rustic and whimsical craftsmanship of their home, is exciting and everywhere you look there is something unique and fun to absorb.

 As we arrived, Bill gave us a tour of their home and then we went outside and walked on the frozen lake as he pointed out neighbors and points of interest. When we returned,  Susan served delicious champagne, with cheese and special crackers around the fireplace.

Eventually, Susan and I went into the Kitchen, to make the final preparations for dinner.  She and I talked about the recipe she was using and some changes she made, as I sat at the bar and watched her cook. She was working from the Sunday Suppers at Lucques” Cookbook, by Suzanne Goin. Susan Copeland describes this book as, delicious and labor intensive recipes, which you need two days to prepare.

The short ribs are rubbed with cracked pepper and thyme and are sautéed for 15 minutes. The recipe amusingly tells you not get lazy and rush this step or crowd the meat. Remove the short ribs from the iron kettle and  sauté the vegetables, onions, carrots and celery, for 6-9 minutes and add a ¼ cup of  balsamic vinegar and 2 ½ cups of  wine in the large pan, the short ribs. add 6 cups of beef stock added, then place the kettle in a hot 400 oven for 3 hours.

 The Potato Puree is basically mashed potatoes with lots of cream and butter ran through a fine mesh, however Susan used milk and a small amount of butter and it was delicious.

After the short ribs had cooked for 3 hours, we removed them from the stock and put the stock in the snow so the fat would coagulate and we could remove it from the top. After an hour so, we removed the fat and reduced the liquid in half. She made a horseradish sauce from the same menu in the cookbook out of crème fraise and horseradish. She made a bed for the short ribs on the potato puree and then ladled the reduced stock over the ribs. On the side she serve roasted asparagus which is really simple, you rub asparagus in olive oil and cook on a cookie sheet in a 400 oven for 10 minutes.

Some notes Susan made were, she felt the stock was way too much liquid only add enough to cover the ribs. Also definitely the recipe for potato puree could cause an instant clog in your arteries. A recipe for 6 servings,  called for 1 ½ sticks of butter and 1 cup of cream.  

After dinner we went downstairs to play pool and had many laughs. It was a wonderful and memorable weekend. The house is absolutely uniquely beautiful and a very special place, perfect for the Copelands who are special people.