Food Nirvana

I had been meaning to cook up the short ribs that I purchased from Amy's Meats a few weeks ago, but we left to go out of town and I had forgotten about them. While going through the freezer the other day, I decided it was time to pull out the four pounds that were chilling in there. I had originally thought about making Korean short ribs, but the ribs were cut differently then what are required for the Asian dish. Not knowing what to do with them, I scoured my collection and came across a wonderful sounding dish called Succulent Braised Short Ribs in one of my magazines.

You see not only do I have a huge collection of cookbooks, but I have a huge collection of cooking magazines. One of these days, I'll try to go through them and weed them out. But I am always thinking that I am going to get rid of the one issue that has that amazing recipe (kind of like that pair of pants that you didn't really want to get rid of and are still kicking yourself for doing so). Anyway, this recipe comes from an issue of "The Best of Fine Cooking"--the comfort issue from 2004 (I told you). These special editions of this magazine are wonderful. I haven't purchased one in awhile, but they have minimal ads and really do have the best recipes. I have at least five of these issues and everything that I have made has been delicious. The problem is these are pricey little magazines (the price was $6.95 in 2004, so I could only imagine what it is now. I am guessing at least $9.95), but worth it if you want a little splurge at the grocery store.

I had read the recipe earlier and I forgot that it took so long to cook, so I didn't start this till 6 PM last night. Chris and I were salivating by the time it was done and the house smelled amazing while this was cooking in the oven! Chris actually said that he gave it a two thumbs up with an extra two thumbs up if he had two more thumbs....which would be weird.




Succulent Braised Short Ribs
serves eight (I halved the meat and it would have easily served four. Don't halve the rest of the stuff)



8 lbs bone-in short ribs (must have bones or your meat will disintegrate into nothing...ok, maybe not, but it won't be good)

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large carrot, diced

1 rib of celery, diced

1 large onion, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (please don't used dried parsley!)

2 cups red wine (drink the rest while this is cooking--at least, that's what I did!)

1 1/4 cups water



(I am going to shorten the magazine's very lengthy instructions a bit on the blog.)



I didn't salt my ribs overnight (because I am lazy and forgot), but if you want to salt them and cover with plastic wrap in the fridge for 8+ hours.



Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Season both side of the ribs with pepper (and salt if you didn't do the overnight step). In a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat, brown the ribs in little oil on all sides, a few at a time. Once all are browned, set them aside and pour all but 2 tbs of fat out. Add the carrots, celery and onion. Reduce heat and cook until soften, while scraping any residue from the ribs. Add a little water to deglaze the pan thoroughly.



Spread the veggies on the bottom of a baking or roasting pan that will accommodate the ribs neatly (I used my very large roasting pan which you would definitely need if you were to cook all 8 lbs). Set the ribs on top of veggies. Sprinkle parsley all over and pour in wine & water. Cover the pan tightly with foil and cook in oven until the ribs are tender (about 2 to 2 1/2 hrs). Test by inserting the tip of a knife into the thickest part of the meat. It should be very tender without falling off the bone. Keep ribs warm in a low oven until ready to serve.



Pour the braising liquid through a sieve into a measuring spoon and spoon off all visible fat. Pour into a saucepan, simmer and reduce the liquid to about 1/3 of it's volume for concentrated flavor.



Serve ribs with sauce. (P.S. Pic is without sauce. My food stylist...aka Chris...is still learning!)