Short Ribs

On Thursday, we had dinner guests. I needed a recipe for beef, because one of our guests is an accomplished cook who often makes wonderful roast chicken and because I'm a little tired of chicken and pork. Plus, the cook's boyfriend likes beef (a lot), so I figured it would be a hit.

However, we had three important caveats. First, I had no interest in breaking the bank. Second, I had no interest in asking Charles to grill, because it's been cold and rainy here. Third, I had no interest in trying to cook something to a perfect stage of done-ness, because that kind of precision does not lend itself to my personality, especially when there's wine involved.

So I wanted something that needed little supervision, required no outdoor cooking, and was modest in cost. Enter short ribs.

I got the basic recipe here. It's like any other braise: you sear, then sweat, then deglaze, then slowly cook the seared meat in the veggie mix and liquid for a long time at a low heat. Eh voila! Yumminess ensues.

However, I tweaked the recipe a little bit. So here's what I did:

3lbs of short ribs, cut by the butcher into squares (that is, cut between the ribs. They sometimes come as a strip).
Oil
Mirepoix (small dice of carrot, onion and celery - 2 cups each according to the recipe. I used 4 large carrots, 4 sticks of celery, and one large sweet onion)
2 cups red wine (dry zinfandel is what it called for, and by some miracle we had some)
1 small can tomato paste
2T flour (I eyeballed this and probably added more. Whatevs.)
Herbs (8 sprigs of thyme, 2 of rosemary that I swear was hit with some kind of gamma rays because it was huge)
A bunch of garlic cloves, smashed with a knife but otherwise untouched.
Beef broth, one large box (32 oz.)
salt/pepper

What I did:
-heat oil in a large dutch oven on medium heat (mine is leCreuset enamel-coated cast iron). Season the meat liberally with salt and pepper on all sides. Sear the meat chunks on all sides (get them really brown and crispy). Do this in batches, and set aside the meat as you finish each piece.
-once done with that, toss the mirepoix into the pan and sweat it (cook at a slightly lower heat so it gets brown and yummy). This will take 10 minutes or so. Stir it once in a while.
- add the tomato paste and flour, stir. Cook 2 minutes (I have no idea why it's 2 minutes. But I did it and although it looked terrible in the end all was delicious, so do it.).
- pour in the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot. Put the beef pieces back into the veggie goo, and sort of settle them down in there. Like you, at the spa about to get a pedicure - push the tush down in that seat.
- Add the herbs, garlic and broth. Pour in broth until the meat is nearly covered but not quite. I had to switch to a wider, shallower pot for this, because there was so much mirepoix/wine that my ribs were already in there pretty deep. You want the meat sitting in, but not swimming in, wetness.
- Cover and put into a 300 degree oven for 3 hours.

Ok, now you have good stuff and your kitchen smells fabulous.

Take out the ribs (ha! good luck with that. I used tongs and even then it was a silly task. The ribs are falling apart. Do your best).

Strain the sauce and press on the stuff to squeeze out some of that flavor. Discard the goo that's left. Simmer the sauce (a bare boil) for a while and keep the ribs warm. I did this by putting the ribs in my slow-cooker and covering them. After the sauce was thick and had cooked down a bit (20m on medium?), I poured it into the slow-cooker and let the whole thing sit around warmly while I made the rest of dinner.

So that's not the quickest or the simplest recipe in the world. But the result is really, really good. My only complaint is that for 6 people I should have made more. Like half again as much (I bought 3lbs, if I could do it over I'd buy 5lbs). There was not a speck left over.

Best of all? You don't really need specialized skills. You just need patience and a capacity for doing dishes. In other words: the perfect dish for my needs. And it looks really tasty when it comes to the table all covered in gravy.

On the negative side, don't read the nutritional information on the recipe. I said don't read it! Oh, well. You can always work out tomorrow.