Braised Short Ribs

Braised short ribs are a rich and bold dish, easy to prepare and even better if you make it the day before and so they rest overnight in the refrigerator.  The fat will form on the top, which is easy to scoop out and discard.  Just reheat and serve, which makes for more time for the chef to enjoy the dinner.  You can do a lot of with the meat, from short-rib pasta to adding the meat to the toasted cheese sandwich mix, which is amazing.  You can also use as a pasta sauce, meat filled raviolis or make an amazing short rib taco.

Ingredients

• 8-10 beef short ribs, cut 4 inches long with the meat tied to the bone or just do boneless (I usually buy double the amount of ribs needed and freeze the meat and some of the sauce after it is all prepared)
• 4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
• 8 sprigs of thyme
• 6 sprigs of rosemary
• 4 carrots peeled and rough chopped
• 2 stocks of celery rough chopped
• 4 cups yellow onions, rough chopped
• 6 shallots rough chopped
• 6 garlic cloves rough chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• 1 4.5 oz tube of tomato paste
• 1 28 oz can of San Marzano peeled whole plum tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 bottles of cabernet wine
• 2 cups of Ruby Port, divided
• 1 pound of roasted veal stock reduction (comes frozen) heated in a sauce pan with 4 cups of chicken stock
• 5 cups of frozen pearl onions
• 3 cups of blanched chopped carrots (or smaller carrots)

Making It

• Turn the oven to 325 degrees, and put the rack in the lower 1/3
• Put the ribs on a baking sheet and liberally season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Heat the dutch oven with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil on a high heat until it just begins to smoke
• Brown all of the short ribs on the very high heat, about 3 minutes each side and place back on the baking sheet
• Lower the heat to medium and add sliced onions, 4 peeled and rough chopped carrots, shallots, garlic, hot pepper flakes, rosemary and thyme. Sauté until translucent and lightly browned, around 5 minutes
• Stir in the tomato paste and stir in with a wooden spoon, cook for a few minutes
• Add the flour and combine
• Add the wine, port, bay leaf and tomatoes w/ juices
• Bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer for 25 minutes
• Add the veal stock reduction and chicken stock mix, a teaspoon of kosher salt and a half teaspoon of freshly- ground pepper to covers the ribs.  Turn the heat up until it simmers (bubbles), cover and put in the oven for 3 hours.  Stir every hour.
• Take the dutch oven out of the oven and remove the beef ribs, strain out all the vegetables and return the sauce to the dutch oven
• Bring to a rolling simmer for an hour to reduce the ‘gravy’
• Add the pearl onions and blanched carrots, cook for another 15 minutes and finish with 1 cup of ruby ret port, kosher salt and pepper to taste
• You can serve at this point or if you planned ahead, let sit in the refrigerator overnight, skim off the fat the next day, reheat and serve

I always make double the about of short ribs for left-overs and not just any kind, we make amazing short-rib raviolis, pasta sauce or tacos. They are all amazing.

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