Braised Short Ribs in Tomato BBQ Sauce (re-run)

I did a couple re-runs this week for Halloween ideas and said I was done with re-runs for now, but then I saw this recipe I posted 5/16 that was delish and now I want to make it again (I'm hoping you do too - or at least want to read about it again hahah!). 

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

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

JAR Pot Roast

I thought I put this recipe on the blog before but when I tried to find it to make for Sunday Supper it doesn't seem to be on here...so if it's a repeat I apologize. It's SO good though that it deserves a repeat post if it is a duplicate!! JAR is a restaurant in Los Angeles - JAR stands for "Just Another Restaurant" - cute, right? It's an easy recipe - sear the meat, add some veggies and broth, stick in the oven for 3 hours. Let it cool and remove the fat, then reheat. I serve with roasted carrots and smashed potatoes in a shallow bowl, then top with a little of the broth. Yum! The original recipe says to serve with caramelized onions and roasted carrots but we like it with potatoes. 

• 3 T canola oil
• 1 ½ t kosher salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 denuded short rib or boneless short ribs* (see note),  3 to 5 lbs
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 leek, white and light-green parts coarsely chopped
• ½ bulb of garlic, cloves smashed, but unpeeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 c sherry
• 3 to 4 c chicken stock
• 2 T finely chopped parsley

Set rack to the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dry beef with paper towels; season with salt and pepper.

Set a Dutch oven on high heat until it is very hot; add oil and heat until just smoking. Sear beef until it is a deep, rich brown, about 3 to 5 minutes a side.

Remove beef from Dutch oven and set aside. Discard all but a teaspoon of fat from the Dutch oven. Add sherry to Dutch oven and reduce by half, about 4 minutes, while scraping up flavorful brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add all vegetables to the Dutch oven and cook until slightly soft, about 5 minutes.

Add bay leaf. Return beef to Dutch oven with any accumulated juices. Pour in the chicken stock until the beef is above three-quarters covered.  Cover Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid and place in oven. Check after 15 minutes to make sure liquid is simmering lightly; adjust heat as needed. Continue cooking for a total of three hours.

Allow the meat to cool in the liquid. When cool, degrease (either by using a degreasing pitcher or by chilling in the refrigerator and removing most of the hardened fat from the surface of the liquid).

To serve, place a colander oven a large bowl. Remove meat from liquid. Strain the liquid, pressing down on vegetables to remove all the juice. Discard vegetables. 

Return the meat to the liquid and reheat. Cut meat into portions and place each in a pasta dish; spoon a generous portion of the braising liquid around the beef. Top with a spoonful of roasted carrots. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with creamy horseradish sauce. 

Yields 6 to 8 servings.

note: you can ask a butcher to denude a short rib explaining it is a single piece without bones or exterior fat. Alternatively, Costco and some other stores sell boneless short ribs. 

updated 3/2023 to include some additional pictures of the process:

sear the ribs a couple at a time depending on the 
size of your dutch oven. don't crowd them or they
won't brown as nicely. 

add sherry to the pot and scrape up flavorful bits. 
note 3/23 I didn't have sherry and substituted
white wine, still delicious!

add veggies to the reduced sherry/wine

I make the dish the day before serving so it has time to 
chill in the fridge and the fat hardens into a thick
layer. The next day I remove as much of the fat as I can.

I'm spooning off the fat and putting it on a piece of 
aluminum foil that I then roll up and discard. 

what's left after removing the meat and hardened fat.

strain the liquids over a big bowl press down
on the cooked vegetables to remove all the juice. 

the pot is a mess after baking the meat, so I like to clean it
before putting the meat and liquid back in and reheating. I serve
the meal from my Dutch oven so I like it to be cleaner than the above pic!

I always buy the boneless short ribs at Costco, 
I don't really know what a 'denuded short rib' is!