Braised Beef Short Ribs

Fall is here and I want something hearty. How about short ribs? Cooking short ribs is not hard - just takes time. I cooked mine last weekend using the Girl and the Fig cookbook recipe as my guide but modified it to fit my preferences. You should allow 2 days for cooking short ribs - one day for ribs to marinade and another day to slow cook them. Here is how I made them.

Ingredients:

Marinade
3 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of black pepper
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh italian parsley
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup of red wine
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar

Ribs Braising Mixture
4 lb of bone-in short ribs (I got 5 ribs)
Olive Oil
1 cup of red wine
1 carrot, chopped
3 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 large white onion, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 cups of beef stock
few (3-4) sprigs of fresh italian parsley
few (3-4) sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Rinse short ribs and pat dry, lay in a large glass dish. Make marinade by mixing together the marinade ingredients in a bowl and pour it on top of short ribs. Cover dish with ribs with a plastic wrap and keep in a fridge for at least 12 hours or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 300F. This is where I diverge from the recipe in the book. I scrapped some of the marinade off the ribs with a fork. I then seared ribs on all sides until light brown color in a large pan. I used a little bit of olive oil for that. I transferred ribs to a plate.

3. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven (I use Le Creuset) and on medium heat saute carrots, onions and celery for about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes next and saute for another 5 minutes. Add red wine, beef stock and bring to a boil. 

4. I had too many ribs to fit in one dutch oven so I divided them between two pots and split braising mixture as well. Add few sprigs of parsley and thyme and one bay leaf to each pot, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. I left ribs to cook for 4 hours in the oven. I checked few times on them during that time. After 4 hours ribs were ready to be served. I served them with mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli. As expected meat was falling of the bones.