Braised Short Ribs

Al made these for dinner and we loved them. Dave had leftovers for lunch the next day and said they were even better than the night before! Al didn't love the thyme and rosemary but I didn't think it was too herby-strong and liked the flavor of the 'gravy'. The original recipe is courtesy of Ree Drummond on Food Network, she serves the short ribs over cheese grits which I'm sure is good,  Al made mashed potatoes and it was delicious.

Ingredients:

• salt and pepper
• 8 beef short ribs
• 1/4 cup flour
• 6 thin slices bacon, diced
• 2 T. olive oil
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 shallots, finely minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• splash of red wine
• 4 cups beef broth (enough to almost cover the ribs)
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• cheese grits, regular grits, or mashed potatoes

Directions:

Preheat the oven 325'. Salt and pepper the ribs, then dredge in the flour. Set aside.

In a large Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until completely crispy and all the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon and set aside. Drain off any excess fat.

Add the olive oil to the pan with the bacon fat* and raise the heat to high. Brown the ribs on all sides, about 45 seconds per side. Remove the ribs and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium. Add the carrots, shallots, and onions to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Splash in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to release all the flavorful bits. Add the broth, 1 teaspoon salt and plenty of black pepper and bring to a boil. Taste and add more salt if needed. Add the ribs to the liqu8id; they should be almost completely submerge3d. Add the thyme and rosemary sprigs (whole) to the liquid. Add the cooked bacon.

Put on a lid and transfer to the oven. Cook until the ribs are fork-tender and falling off the bone, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes with the lid on before serving. At the last minute, skim the fat off the top of the liquid (you can also refrigerate the mixture, then remove the solid fat from the top).

For each serving, arrange 2 ribs on a bed of grits or potatoes, spooning a little juice over the top.

*note: the directions are a bit confusing regarding the bacon fat - first it says to drain off any excess fat, the next part says add the olive oil to the pan with the bacon fat. I didn't ask Al what he did but my guess is the directions mean that even tho you've drained off excess fat there will still be bacon grease left coating the pan since it doesn't say to wipe the pan out. So you're adding the olive oil to the residual fat leftover in the pan.

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