Short Ribs are seared and then slow braised in vegetables, ginger, lemon grass and red wine and herbs. The beef short ribs are tender and very flavorful, and especially good served over polenta. Any leftover sauce can be repurposed into a delicious beef soup.
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 $45.00 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:
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.
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.
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 4 pounds short ribs boneless
- Salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 small onions peeled, sliced
- 2 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled, sliced thinly
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- 1 stalk lemongrass
- 1 1/2 cups red wine pinot noir
- 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cups beef stock
- 1 sprig fresh sage
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Heat olive oil in 5-quart sauté or casserole pan over high heat.
- Lay the short ribs out on a clean work surface and season all sides with salt and pepper.
- When 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.
- Place casserole in pre-heated oven for 1.5 hours. Remove cover and continue cooking for an additional 1 hour.
- When rib meat is very tender, remove ribs from oven, using tongs to place on baking tray. Cover with aluminum foil to keep warm.
- Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer into a saucepan, removing all of the vegetables. Over medium low heat, simmer the sauce for 5 minutes until darker in color and thicker. Add the ribs to reheat.
- Serve ribs with sauce over polenta or other side dish of your choice.
Notes
Your short ribs look fabulous. I think Heller is a stellar chef. I've made quite a few different preparations of short ribs this winter–that cold weather spurred me on. Like you, I will order them or osso bucco whenever I see them on the menu. I look forward to the recipe for short rib soup.
My dad's favorite dish is also osso bucco but I'm willing to bet he would fall head over heels for this dish! I could totally see this being the dinner I make him for his next birthday!
Comfort food at its best Debby! I like the flavour profile here.
Holy cow!!! Give me a good bottle of red zinfandel and let me at this meal. This looks absolutely soul satisfying. Wow.
Velva
Yum! Comfort food….love it!
Oh, Debby! Your short ribs look so beautiful – they are one of my all time favorite things to make. I always like to try new recipes for them and am looking forward to trying yours. I also loves me some osso bucco – YUM! Thanks for this delicious post:)
This looks super unctuous and amazing! Here in Austria it's still cold enough that rib sticking stuff is a must.
The recipe sounds delicious and your plated shot really makes me hungry and I just ate breakfast.
Oh! It's snowy and cold out and this dish looks like the perfect comfort food!
Wow that looks super mouthwatering, I better do short ribs once more this year before Spring hits! p.s. I made your lemon cake last week and it was gone in one day! LOVED IT
yum! they look delicious.
My mouth is watering just looking at the pictures, Debby. Fork tender meat, rich sauce and creamy polenta make a dish made in heaven.
I love braised short ribs. I left the house this morning to find that winter isn't gone even if Feburary is over. It was so chilly and sleety and short ribs slowly braised would have been so perfect – espeically with polenta under them. They really do take on all kinds of flavoring well too. I did a great version once with beer and hoisin sauce from Dave Lieberman.
I like the different twist on these short ribs, and they look scrumptious by the way. Great idea to make a soup for the second go-round.
Oh my Gravy! Made these for dinner tonight and I think I could have poured the gravy in a cup and sipped the liquid gold. These short ribs were amazing to say the least.Well worth the time and effort. Even my picky little munchkins love them.
This looks amazing- I also love the way braised dishes fill the house with delicious smells all day….
Giving you a standing ovation for such an awesome recipe and presentation! Kudos, Debby! Simply outstanding!
Hello! My name is Meggs,I'm 15. I am a recent follower of your blog. I think it's awesome! You have lots of wonderful photo's of your food (which definitely makes a blog more fun to look at, after all we eat with our eyes first). I also wanted to say that I love how you display your recipes on your site. Could you share with me what program you use to do that?
Meggs♥
urbakinmecrazyy@aol.com
urbakinmecrazyy.blogspot.com
I saw this post and went to the supermarket to get short ribs.
I am such a fan of braised short ribs! This dish looks absolutely delicious!
I love osso buco and anything braised. These ribs looks delicious. Thanks for sending your "stew"to Souper Sundays. 😉
I don't normally cook meat but my man really love it. This recipe caught my eye, looking forward to making red wine braised short ribs!
Looks great…hoping to try making some momentarily : )
Ps…your pic seems to suggest THYME was used and not sage…probably affects taste, so thought I would mention for your peeps.