Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
The weather is turning, and the slow cooker has come back into the kitchen. One of my all-time favorite slow-cooked dishes is short ribs. After several iterations of this recipe, tonight’s was good enough to write down.
For reference, I started with this recipe, from Williams-Sonoma.
5.5-6.0 lbs boneless beef short ribs, trimmed of as much fat as possible
Coarsely ground sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1-1.5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp grapeseed oil, plus more as needed (or switch to olive oil after browning meat)
2-3 large shallots, finely chopped or sliced
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks on the diagonal
1.5 tbsp minced garlic from the jar, or 4 fresh cloves crushed (more if you really love garlic)
1 cup coarsely chopped fennel (about one medium bulb)
1 bottle (750 ml) full-bodied red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
1 standard can (6 oz) tomato paste
4 fresh thyme sprigs or 1 tbsp dried thyme leaves
3 fresh rosemary sprigs or 1 tbsp dried rosemary
up to 1.5 cups unsalted beef stock
1 tbsp (or several big dashes) Worcestershire Sauce
Omaha Steak Natural Steak Seasoning
Directions:
Mix the flour and salt and pepper in a shallow dish and don’t skimp on the salt and pepper. Cut the short ribs into 3 to 4″ pieces and coat completely with the flour mixture, shaking off the excess.
In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm the 3 tbsp grapeseed oil until hot (grapeseed oil reduces the amount of excess smoke from the browning process). Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides, about 10-15 minutes total. Transfer to a slow cooker, then add the Worcestershire and sprinkle a tablespoon or so of the steak seasoning over the meat, if desired.
Add more grapeseed oil to the Dutch oven (or switch to olive oil here). Reduce the heat to medium then add the onions and shallots, carrots, fennel and garlic and cook until soft, about 10 minutes while stirring occasionally. Don’t forget to salt and pepper as you go while cooking. Transfer to the slow cooker.
Add the entire bottle of wine to the Dutch oven and heat, stirring to scrape up the browned bits. Add the tomato paste (mashing any large chunks with a spoon), thyme, rosemary and bay leaf, and add one more big dash of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook until thickened and reduced by half, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the wine mixture to the slow cooker along with enough stock to come three-fourths up the sides of the ribs.
Cover and cook on low for a minimum of 9 hours, but up to 20-24 hours for the most tender. If after 5 hours sauce is too thin, add a little corn starch to thicken, but not too much. A little goes a long way.
Discard the herb sprigs and bay leaf. Transfer to shallow bowls or plates, served over farfalle or shell-shaped pasta, or on top of any type of potatoes. Warm, crunchy fresh bread for dipping is a must.
ALTERNATIVE: add 2 cups of any type of sliced/diced potatoes under the meat in the slow cooker. No need to add starch at the end.
Serves 6 with plenty of leftovers.