Short Ribs - Without my Secret Ingredient

So, since I've been making short ribs, I have always had one secret (and secretly awesome!) ingredient: the magic braising liquid. It was a lovely gift from one of my favorite friend-cooks, Lee. He gave me the braising liquid he had perfected over the course of six braises. And, man, you could not go wrong with it!

Well, when I moved to Harrisburg, I sadly had to leave it. That's actually how it came to me. Lee was moving, and it just doesn't travel well. So, now after being in Harrisburg for a few months, I'm taking a stab at my first braise without the magic ingredient.

Here's what I used:
3 boneless short ribs (another thing I've never used before, usually I do bone-in)
1 cup of chopped carrots
1 cup of diced onions
1.5 tsps paprika
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 cups beef stock (low sodium)
1.5 cups red wine (separated)
1 cup water
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Oil for browning

What to do:
Salt and pepper the short ribs. Heat the oil, and when its hot, brown the short ribs on all sides (about 3 minutes per side) in a heavy bottom pan. I used a cast iron skillet. Set the short ribs on a plate. Pour out some of the oil, add about a tablespoon of fresh oil, and toss in the carrots and onions. Add about 1/2 tsp salt. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are a little soft, scrapping up some of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, paprika, and thyme. Cook for another minute. Add 1/2 cup of the red wine to the skillet, and make sure all of the bits are scraped off the bottom of the pan. Let the liquid reduce a little, about 2 minutes.

Preheat a slow cooker on the low setting. Once the wine is reduced, put the short ribs on the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the reduction to the slow cooker, then add the beef stock, red wine, and water. Mix thoroughly. Put the lid on the slow cooker, and set the timer for 5 hours. Once every hour, turn the short ribs. At 4 hours in, I taste teseted, and decided to cut all of the large chunks in half. I think this ended up being a good decision.

After 5 hours, I took the meat out. I took 2 cups of the braising liquid, strained out the veggies, and then put the liquid on the stove top. I added some salt, a pat of butter, and then reduced it by about 50%. I served the short ribs (to myself!) with plain couscous, roasted asparagus, and the strained vegetables, all topped with the reduction. Delish!

Even without my secret ingredient, the braise still turned out delicious. Thanks, Lee, for introducing me to short ribs!

Braised Short Ribs

This is going to be my new go to dinner party recipe. Simple, inexpensive, and absolutely delicious. I'll admit, it doesn't plate too pretty, but, hey, you can't have everything!

Since the braised short ribs didn't plate pretty, I went with a salad I thought I could make look fancy and sophisticated. This is an endive salad with blue cheese and spicy candied pecans. Recipe is here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/endive-salad-with-candied-pecans-and-maytag-blue-cheese-recipe/index.html. Honestly, I don't remember the recipe for the spicy candied pecans. I toasted them on the stove top, then coated them in a mixture of brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, and maybe 1/4 tsp cayenne. Popped them in the oven at 250 for ten minutes, and poof! Sweet but majorly sassy crunch on the salad! And making the candied pecans was honestly a snap.For the braise I cheated. Lee bequeathed me his super amazing braising liquid, which the last time it was used had a stick of butter added to it. Yes, Paula Dean, yes. A whole stick! So I had a major advantage when making these. I got the cuts of meat at the Organic Butcher, which was really reasonably priced.

Here's what I did:

1. Preheat your oven to 250

2. Brown the meat in the braising pan on the stove top until it smells good. This won't take long.

3. Remove meat from pan, deglaze the pan (I used red wine).

4. Add aromatics. I used onions, carrots, and celery. You could also add some bay leaves.

5. Add the meat back in. Add braising liquid to almost cover the meat. Cover (I used foil).

6. Place in oven and cook between 225 and 275 for approximately 4 hours. Your meat is done when it is literally falling off the bone. The meat should be so tender that you don't need a knife.

While the meat was braising, I prepared additional vegetables to combine with the aromatics. Sweet potatoes, garlic, and parsnip. Just cut it, coated in olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper, and a little rosemary. I eventually put them in with the braise and let them cook slow for a while, then removed the braise and cranked up the oven to 400 for 20 minutes. They turned out much better than my last attempt at root vegetables.

I thought that the meat needed a little salt when it was served, so I think next time I try this recipe I'll salt the meat slightly after it comes out of the oven before I serve it.

Really, the reason this is the perfect dinner party meal is that it is very (veryveryvery) low intensity, so you can make an amazing meal and still have time to interact with your guests. Normally I end up all frazzled because I'm running around my kitchen (okay, there isn't really any running in my 5 foot kitchen) trying to get everything done, and neglecting my guests. Not with this meal!

Also, shout out to Katie. How do you say "delicious dessert" in Hawaiian? Don't ask me, but her Hawaiian delicious coffee brownies (okay, that's not the name, but it was something like that!) were really good. Brownie. Coffee ice cream. Toasted coconut. Chocolate Syrup. 'Nuff said.