Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

Whenever my husband and I dine out, Braised Short Ribs or Osso Bucco is usually what we catches our interest.  For us, there's something so comforting, and mouth-watering,  about a meat that is slowly braised in a tomato-based liquid, with red wine.  When it's served over polenta, it's a no-brainer that this is what we'll order.  But at a restaurant, these dishes can cost $25.00 and up!  I recorded an episode of  Chef Hubert Keller's cooking show, "Secrets of a Chef" (on a local public television channel) at least a year ago, and I wrote down the recipe.  (I haven't seen any recent episodes for his show, and I miss the way he demonstrates how to make his recipes).  This particular recipe intrigued me, because Chef Keller uses lemongrass and ginger, which adds a whole new layer of aromatics and flavor.  Best of all, he made a soup from the leftover short ribs and sauce-- and I did the same thing.  First, I'll show you how I made the short ribs:

9NOTE: A printable recipe card is at the bottom of this post.) First, heat olive oil in 5-quart sauté or casserole pan over high heat. Next, lay the short ribs out on a clean work surface and season all sides with salt and pepper.  When the oil is almost smoking, add ribs and let sear on high heat, 5 minutes per side or until well browned. Use tongs to rotate the ribs. Once browned on all sides, remove ribs with tongs and place on a baking tray.

Add onions, carrots, celery, ginger, and garlic to the same pan.  Smash the lemongrass stalk with the back of knife, slice, and add to pan. Sauté vegetables for 2 minutes, or until softened.  Over high heat, add red wine and scrape bottom of pan with wooden spoon as wine comes to a boil.  Add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, brown sugar, parsley, beef stock and sage leaves to pan and bring to a simmer.

 

 Add ribs back into pan and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

One of my favorite parts of braising is how the aroma wafts throughout the kitchen.  This smelled so good, that our mouths watered.

The short-ribs were very tender, and there was plenty of sauce...

You'll want to strain the sauce and thank the vegetables for flavoring it so well, because they will could be discarded-- however, I saved them for a soup recipe that is coming up very soon.  You could use the veggies, the the leftover strained sauce is going to make a delicious soup (recipe coming up on my next post).

Creamy polenta goes perfectly with this dish. You could serve it with mashed potatoes, if you prefer.

TASTING NOTES:  I confess, that I made this dish a year ago (I can now appreciate my newer camera,  after seeing the less than stellar quality of these).  The dish was delicious, and cost a fraction of what we'd pay in a restaurant.  While it took a little time to chop and prep the vegetables, plus some searing time, I could clean up the kitchen and relax while the oven finished the job for me.  The meat was falling-off-the-bone tender.  The sauce...oh, the sauce!  So far, this is my favorite braised short-rib recipe I've made.   For that reason, because our weather has been cooler and with some rain, I think a braised short rib dinner is in order-- and it's this recipe that will have an encore presentation at our dinner table.

For a while, it seems that I'll only be blogging once a week.  I have so many recipes I want to share with all of you, but my work schedule doesn't allow me the time it takes to edit photos and post recipes.  But, I promise, to share with you the Short Rib Soup Recipe.