Oh what fun! I started Saturday night with the browning of the meat, then let it cook on the stove-top for just over an hour before I needed to sleep (it was 1am alright?). I stuck the pots in the fridge and then woke up bright and early to skim the fat
and start the slow-cooking process in the oven before heading to yoga. I cooked these puppies in the oven at about 225 for 4 hours and then raised the temperature to 350 for about 2 more hours. I also learned that tinfoil works wonders below the lid in terms of keeping additional steam in.

Yes, before I turned it to 350 I started to panic as the ribs felt more boiled than tender. My sister, a professional beef braiser, thankfully had just returned home from Argentina in time to help me save the beef with her sound advice- keep cooking!

I loosely based this recipe on my mom’s braised short rib recipe from, Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook version of this dish. This was a huge amount of meat and yet it fed 13 people with leftovers for ONE lunch. Scratch that, 12 people (1 is a vegetarian).

Here we have Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine

approx 9-10 pounds short ribs
4 ribs celery, finely diced (I trim the ends but leave the leaves)
3-4 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 small yellow onions
1/3 c chopped parsley
3-4 bay leaves
1-2 large portabello mushrooms
5 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups red wine (plus more)
1 can diced tomatoes
4 T minced sun-dried tomato
3 slices pancetta, diced

Buy delicious meat from your local farmer.

Short Ribs from our friends at Green Gate

Brown the beef by heating a large, wide pot over medium heat. Season the ribs with kosher salt and add them to the pot. I leave them for about 3-4 minutes on each side until nice and browned. Make sure there is plenty of room for the meat in the pot, so work in batches if necessary.

 
When the meat is done browning, remove to a plate. “Deglaze” the pan with a little of the red wine, just to clean it up a bit. Turn heat down to low-medium and add pancetta. Get the pancetta a little brown and crispy and then add all chopped vegetables, bay leaves, and 1/2 of the parsley. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are pretty soft. Add the garlic (all except 1-2 T) and saute another couple of minutes.


Add 4.5 cups of the wine, the diced tomatoes, and the sun-dried tomatoes. Raise the heat and bring this to a boil. Cook the liquid mixture until it’s reduced by about 1/3.

Put the beef back in the pot. If it’s too crowded (if you don’t have a roasting pan like me), use 2 pots so that there’s enough room for the beef and so the liquid reaches up about 1/2 way up the meat. Cover the meat and cook on low heat for about 2 hours.

Here’s when I put the pot in the fridge and went to sleep. I would do this again, as it’s the easiest way to skim the fat when it firms up. Once firm, skim the fat off the top and preheat the oven to 225. Put the pots in the oven, covered in foil and their lids. Turn the meat over after an hour and again 2 hours after that. Check to make sure there is plenty of liquid all along, add more wine, water, or broth, if it goes below covering 1/3 of the meat. I checked every 2 hours. After 4 hours of cooking, raise the oven temperature to 350 and cook for another 1-2 hours. At that point, add the remaining parsley and garlic.

When the meat is falling off the bone and very tender, it’s done. I seem to have missed taking pictures of the final product. Imagine it looks tasty.

Mashed Cauliflower and Potato

2 medium cauliflower, de-stemmed and cut into large pieces
6-8 medium white or other thin-skinned potato, peeled and cut into chunks
small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup olive oil

Boil cauliflower in large pot of salted water. Drain when tender. Boil potatoes in large pot of salted water and drain when very tender. Saute onion in a large pot on medium-low heat. When onion is soft, add garlic and saute another 2 minutes. Season with salt. Add potatoes, cauliflower, half of the olive oil and 1 cup of the broth. Mash the mixture up until it is thoroughly mixed, but not mashed like mashed potatoes. Add more oil and broth as necessary to your taste. Add salt to taste.

I have no picture of the finished product. I DO have a picture of some very full people though.