Tag Archives: red wine
Braised Beef Short Ribs
I’m guessing it is the cold weather or maybe it’s the extra days off over the holidays but there is nothing like having something cooking on the stove, in the oven or even in a crockpot all day long that just brings a smile to my face.
I think I would be lost without my Dutch oven; I fry, brown, stew and braise in it. I feel very strongly that every kitchen needs to have one or if you are really lucky maybe two of them. There is just so much you can create with it and it can stand up the long hours in the oven.
I think the first time I tried braised short ribs was in a local restaurant and that was it, I had to make them and I have several times since, they do take some time on the stove top but the rewards are well worth it and it makes the house smell just amazing. They end up super tender; no knife need, and surround them with flavors you love, you just can’t go wrong.
I do love braising short ribs to use up the leftover red wine, I know right how does that happen; on occasion we do have leftover red wine and this is a great way to use it up. While you don’t HAVE to braise in red or white wine you will need some liquid an acid and lots of flavor. You can use beef or chicken stock, you can use tomato sauce or vinegar or even lemon for acid and flavors can come from herbs, spices or even fruit, plums would work for instance. Just be creative as you want with things you have at home.
Braised Short Ribs
6-8 whole beef short ribs
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 cup flour
diced pancetta
2 tbs olive oil
1 large onion diced
3 whole carrots peeled and finely diced
2 shallots, peeled and minced
2 cups red wine (your choice of acid here)
2 cups beef broth (your choice of flavor here)
2 sprigs thyme
2 springs rosemary
2-3 cloves minced garlic
Salt, pepper and flour ribs set aside
In a large dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium heat until crispy and all the fat is rendered. Remove pancetta leaving the grease in the pan and set aside.
Add olive oil to the pan with the grease, and raise heat to high. Brown ribs on all sides; about 1 minute per side. Remove ribs and set aside. Turn heat to medium.
Add onions, carrots, garlic and shallots to pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Pour liquid, in my case my leftover red wine and scrape up all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add broth, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and some fresh cracked black pepper. One thing to remember that flavors will intensify while it cooks down, so be careful not to over salt. Add ribs to the liquid; they should be almost completely submerged. Add whole thyme and rosemary sprigs to the liquid.
Put the lid on and place in the oven. Cook at 350’ for about 2 hours. Then reduce heat to 325’ and cook for additional 30-45 minutes. Ribs for be fork tender and falling off the bone. Remove pan from the oven and allow to sit at least 20 minutes, with the lid on before serving. Make sure to skim off the fat from the top of the liquid. You can also refrigerate so the fat becomes a solid and is a lot easier to remove.
Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta or even noodles. Spoon the liquid gold gravy over the top
Braised Short Ribs
I’m going to start with you have GOT to try these!!! If you do have any leftover they taste amazing re-heated. Now that we have that out of the way, they do take a planes trains and automobile kind of route to get where they need to go but the end result will be worth it and I hope it doesn’t deter you from attempting this recipe.
The weather has been super cold here in the North East; my guys have been working outside on a couple of roofs and there is nothing like a hot shower and a warm comforting meal to warm your bones. The last couple of weeks I have put my slow cooker to work, plus my new cookbook is very inspiring plus I do like prepping two meals at one time and then taking a night off to relax.
For this particular recipe the microwave helped in making the dish a little less fatty, short ribs are notoriously greasy and we all want to have the most flavors but not all the extra grease in our dishes. I still had to let the sauce separate before I turned the juice into gravy. You do have a couple of options to keep the juice as such or make a roux and turn it into nice thick gravy which is the route I chose.
Firstly separate the bones from the ribs, slice as close to the bone as possible. Take the bones and put them in a microwave safe dish, microwave for about 10 minutes, they should be nicely browned and a lot of fat left in the dish. Transfer the bones to the slow cooker.
Now to brown the ribs in a hot skillet by drying them, then salt and pepper and adding them to the skillet with a little oil. Brown about 7 minutes a side and add to the slow cooker. In the same skillet add onions, carrot, celery, tomato paste, and thyme to the fat in the skillet. Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for another minute. Slowly whisk in the wine and vinegar, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 6 minutes then add to the slow cooker. Stir in the broth and bay leaves into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 9 to 11 hours or on high for 5 to 7.
Transfer ribs to a platter and tent loosely with foil. Either let the braising liquid settle and skim off the fat or use a fat separator; whichever you prefer. Strain the liquid discarding the solids and season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the parsley or sprinkle over the top just before serving. Spoon about a cup over the ribs and serve with the remaining sauce.
Serve over your favorite mashed potatoes.
5 lbs. bone-in short ribs – meat and bones separated
Salt and Pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2 onions chopped medium
1 carrot peeled and chopped medium
1 celery rib chopped medium
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 tsp dried thyme
3 Tbs flour
2 cups dry red wine
2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 Tbs minced fresh parsley
Cooking with Red Wine
I mentioned last week I would talk a little about how I cook with red wine. I don’t recall ever using red wine for anything that didn’t have some sort of beef product.
I frequently use red wine to make a delicious au jus, just brown the beef and deglaze the pan with red wine, some crushed garlic. Boil down till half add some salt and pepper to taste.
My husband refers to this beef stew as my “quick one” which actually kind of irritates me because though it cooks relatively quicker than most, it still has the same amount of prep and chopping. Maybe one of these days I will have him just whip this up!
3 pounds of stewing beef (trim and cut to 1 inch pieces)
Kosher salt and Fresh cracked black pepper
Olive oil to brown the beef
3 Cups diced yellow onion (about 2 medium)
3 large cloves garlic, mined
2 bay leaves
2 Tsp dried thyme
3 TBS flour
2 Cups red wine
2 Cups water
Carrots
Potatoes
Turnip (or whatever veggie you like if you don’t like turnip)
Adjust rack to lower middle of oven, pre-heat to 450’F
Heat oil over medium heat in a heavy based Dutch oven or like. Shoot for a 9 to 11 inch in diameter pot that can also go into the oven at high temperature
Salt and Pepper beef and brown all over – the brown is where all the flavor comes from
Work in batches, you do not want to crowd the pot.
Once all the beef is browned, set aside in bowl to capture all the liquid as you will add it all back in the pot.
Add the onions and garlic to the pot; season with salt and pepper; if it looks dry add more oil a tablespoon at a time. Cook till they are softened about 5 minutes. Add the thyme and bay leaf, stir cooking for about 30 seconds; add the flour and stewing liquid (wine and water). Return the beef and drippings to the pot. Cover tightly and cook – what cuts down on the cooking time is that you are going to use tinfoil to get as close to the beef as you can. Lay a sheet of heavy-duty foil over the pot, and being careful press down (preferably using a towel) so it just about touches the stew. Press against the sides of the pot; crimp the foil around the rim for a tight seal. Turn up the stovetop until you hear the juices bubbling; add the pot to the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
Cook the veggies separate; I tend to boil all three together to save on dirtying dishes, you can sauté or steam if you would rather. You know how most beef stew recipes have you cook all ingredients together for several hours. The veggies tend to lose their identity. Cooking them separate and adding them later to meld they truly keep their flavor. It is a nice change you should try it.
Remove the pot from the oven, carefully remove the foil and stir in the veggies. Cover again with the foil and lid; remember the pot and cover are super-hot. Let stand so the meat rests and the veggies meld with the stew about 15 minutes. If needed you might need to add a little more water or beef stock if it is too thin. I just made this today and I had to add more liquid for our liking.
