Short Ribs
The snow is pounding down. I leave a meeting around 1pm and find out that not only is my board meeting scheduled to be a call instead of a face to face that our dinner plans are cancelled too. What to do? Go to Citarella and pick up four pounds of short ribs, trudge home, and begin a stick to your ribs kind of meal.
Four lbs of short ribs
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. kosher salt
In a dutch oven ( preferably your Le Cruset pot ) coat the bottom with olive oil. Take the flour, cinnamon and salt and mix together in a bowl. Dip each short rib into this mixture and coat. Then put in the pot until really browned on both sides. Once they are browned, take out and set aside and pour out the oil.
3 large carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 turnips peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
2 parsnips peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
3 leeks chopped
Put the dutch oven back on the stove. The old oil should be gone but don't wipe the pot down and pour oil in again and cover the bottom of the pot. Heat up and add the vegetables and saute for about 5 minutes or so until the leeks begin to brown.
1 large can of tomato puree
1/2 bottle of red wine
In a spice bag (or wrapped up in cheesecloth) put 3 stems of thyme, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 caradmon pod, a bay leaf and 1/2 tsp black peppercorns.
Add the tomato puree to the pot and stir over a medium heat. Let this really coat the vegetables and toss in a little salt for added measure. Now add the short ribs back into the pot. Cover with the red wine and add the spice bag. You might need a little more than 1/2 a bottle. Bring to a boil and then down to simmer, cover and let sit for about four hours or until the meat slides off the bone.
When the beef is done take out all the bones and beef and put in a bowl. Then drain the sauce into a bowl and put the vegetables on the side. Toss the spice bag. Use one of those containers that separate the fat from the sauce and pour the sauce back into the pot, obviously get rid of the fat. Add the vegetables and the meat ( no bones ) and put back in the pot.
1 head of Swiss chard
1 head of kale
Chop up both heads, leaves only. Heat up the sauce and add the chopped kale and chard. Stir just until the leaves turn a darker green. Now the dish is ready to serve. I turned this off for a few hours while I had my board call and just warmed it up again before dinner.
Separately I sauteed a bunch of mushrooms with olive oil and a little bit of truffle salt. Not necessary on the truffle salt but it is a nice touch.
Make polenta. I used chicken broth instead of water for the polenta.
1 cup corn meal mixed together with 1 cup chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add two more cups of boiling chicken broth and whisk. Add about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. I used a little truffle salt in here too. Serve immediately.
The dish has polenta on the bottom, the short ribs on top, then the mushrooms and a few pieces of shaved Parmesean. Seriously delicious.
Comments (Archived):
I braise all winter long (especially since I am working from home this winter). Do a little prep mid day and have an awesome dinner in the evening. It is really hard to overcook a braise. I find sticking the pot covered in the oven at 225 is easier to control and more even than leaving it on the stove top simmering.The cinnamon is interesting.
changes the entire dish. really nice. i like the low roast at 225 too.makes life so easy and yummy too.
I will try it the next time I braise ribs (probably this weekend)
let us know how they turn out!
ha! did the same thing, slightly different recipe–stuck them in oven at 300 for about 3 hours (so we could go out and play in the snow–) (oh and I trudged to whole foods..)
Made them last night. Followed your recipe except I used duck broth in the polenta instead of chicken broth (because I had some in the freezer).It turned out really well. Not my usual spice palette for a braise. The other thing thing I had never done before was to add greens to the braise late in the process. The Kale was terrific.Thanks.
what is your normal spice palette?
For a red wine braise I usually use salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary, sometimes a clove along with a mirepoix. The caradmon and cinnamon were a nice change of pace.For this week’s snowstorm I’m going to beer braise dry cured pork belly.
yum.
225 is perfect for slow roast.
So funny. As soon as I knew school was canceled, I was searching for good snow day recipe and remembered I had some in the freezer; they are defrosting now. In oven by 2? Happy Snow Day!
perfect!
Wow, the dish looks professionally prepared. ‘Tis the season for taking advantage of the dutch oven, I love short ribs braised in coffee (or soda). Definitely plan on trying this recipe!
its all in the presentation.
Beautiful. I love short ribs.It is amazing how differently they can turned out, braised fork tender in the winter, or sliced across the bone and grilled in the summer.
i love them too. they are super fatty but what the hell.
That’s why they’re so good, the fat!
exactly
Damn that looks good. Quiero ahora!I’m going to attempt Keller’s short rib stroganoff next week. You know, something nice and light. Ha.FYI: I’m up to two Creusets now. Probably the best cook item in my humble kitchen. Thanks for the tip.
I had three and paired down to two. I bought the largest one they makeyears ago, on sale, its fantastic
I use the enameled cast iron Lodge. It is a fraction of the price of the Creusets. I’m not sure you’re going to see big thermal performance differences in cast iron cookware.
Agree. You probably won’t see much of a difference
This recipe is fantastic!Here’s a trick for meats and legumes, that also works very well for stocks:once the contents have reached a simmer on the stove-top, place the dutch oven in the oven at 350F. the content will continue at a slow simmer, but the heat is distributed much more evenly. this is important if you have an electric stove where the burners cycle on/off to maintain temperature.BTW, I use the traditional Lodge Logic cast iron. I have many Lodge pots & pans from my Mother’s/Grandmother’s full skillet / griddle set and *giant* dutch oven(s) including specialized pans for breads and muffins. I’ve added the Lodge wok, and smaller dutch ovens and lids for different skillet sizes.The most versatile pan I’ve ever used is the Lodge 3 QT “Combo Cooker” (https://secure.lodgemfg.com….It’s the perfect addition to a small kitchen, and absolutely essential for anyone just starting out whether that’s college or that first studio apartment. Like all Lodge cast iron,virtually indestructible, and lasts for decades when seasoned properly.
I was wondering if you just had all the ingredients lying around then I checked out Citarella’s website. Wow! Place looks amazing. Being from the west coast it looks similar to Draegers in Palo Alto.
uhh….can i have some?LOL seriously looks awesome. love short ribs.
that looks like serious comfort food. In the words of fake grimlock (ask Fred if you don’t know who he is) “ME GONNA TRY THAT”
Wow, that looks delish…! We’re not snowed in, but I WANT this anyway! ;-)I hope you publish a cookbook sometime!
Yum. Love short ribs. Glad the snow put the kibosh on your meeting and dinner plans. Do you have a presentation tip for a kosher kitchen (i.e. no shaved parmesan)? Thanks!Dory
just bag all the cheese and you should be good to go.