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.

8.31.18: farmhouse projects
8.31.17: remoulade sauce
8.31.16: coconut cream filled cupcakes

Braised Short Ribs with Tomato Barbecue Sauce

I don't usually eat ribs (too messy and too much work!) but I saw a recipe that looked good so I thought I'd try to make them for company coming to Sunday Supper - ran it past Dave and he vetoed pork spareribs (too messy and too much work haha) but requested beef short ribs. Um ok, well then I had to find a recipe that looked good for those since I've never made them before! I found this recipe in a cookbook "American Bistro" and decided to give it a try - like how I experiment on guests haha? 

geez I have a lot on my plate! short ribs,
smashed potatoes, roasted carrots, broccoli
slaw, and a roll. Yum...I'm still full.

So...this is a delicious and pretty easy recipe that everyone loved. I served them with smashed red potatoes and broccoli cole slaw (2 other recipes I've never tried before and turned out SO good - I lucked out that the whole menu turned out so good! I'll post those recipes on another day).

I followed the recipe with a couple tweaks: I increased the meat to 6.35 pounds (to serve 8), only used one onion so Dave wouldn't freak out, added more carrots and 1/2 cup more of the tomatoes, bbq sauce, and beef stock. Forgot to garnish with parsley and it totally didn't matter.

One thing I will do in the future is to cook the ribs and sauce ahead of time and let it cool so I can remove some of the fat, short ribs are a pretty fatty cut of beef. I tried to skim off what I could before serving, it would have been much easier to do when it was cool and the fat rises to the top and hardens. Otherwise this is a great, flavorful recipe.

braise the ribs in a large nonstick skillet, then transfer to a dutch oven. then in the skillet saute the veggies.

after sautéing the veggies and adding the other sauce ingredients pour over the ribs in the dutch oven.

finished ribs in the sauce.

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds lean beef short ribs, cut into 3 to 4" pieces
• salt and pepper
• 3 T. vegetable oil
• 2 onions, thickly sliced into rings
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2" thick slices
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup bottled barbecue sauce
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 t. Dijon mustard
• 2 T. finely chopped parsley, for garnish

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, season the ribs with salt and pepper. 
2. Preheat the oven to 325'. In a 12" nonstick skillet, heat 2 T. vegetable oil over medium-high heat. In batches, brown the ribs on all sides, using kitchen tongs to turn and brown them evenly, for 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the ribs with a slotted spoon, drain briefly on paper towels, and then place in a large, ovenproof Dutch oven or other heavy pot. 
3. In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 T. oil, increase the heat to medium-high, and brown the onions for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently and watching carefully so that they brown but do not burn. Add the carrot and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, bbq sauce, beef stock, and mustard and stir well. Increase the heat to high and simmer for 1 minute to mix the flavors. Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the short ribs and mix to combine.
4. Cover and bake the ribs for about 3 hours, or until the meat is very tender, turning the ribs every 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with the parsley. Serve immediately.

Can be prepared up to 3 days ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Reheat gently on the stove top.

Serves 6

from the American Bistro cookbook