Slow braising boneless short ribs in a tomato and wine sauce is one of my most irresistible ragu sauce. This recipe adds extra “zip” by adding Chinese Five Spice and Porcini mushrooms. Served over rigatoni pasta (or even polenta) this is a hearty meal that is perfect for a cool fall or winter night. Let’s be honest, this dinner is perfect for any night of the year!
I love my pressure cooker. I really do. There are times when I want to “braise” something in an hour or less, and my Instant Pot fits the bill. However, there are days when I like to slow braise meats in the oven. Nice and slow. No hurry.
I like that I can tidy up the kitchen, sit back and relax while dinner is cooking for a few hours. I love ragu sauces. You know. Sauces that have red wine and tomatoes with tender meat. Drool. I especially love short ribs.
I confess that I tend to keep a mini grocery store in my garage pantry. Why? Because I can be impulsive about making a new recipes, and I try to avoid making a special trip to the grocery store. I needed dried Porcini mushrooms for this sauce. Hmmm. My pantry surfaced a dried medley of mushrooms, including Porcini mushrooms. Good enough. I just picked them out.
These are lovely boneless beef short ribs, seasoned with salt and pepper.
There are a few other ingredients to make this flavorful ragu sauce: red wine, and tomato paste. There are two ingredients you’ll need to have on hand: Chinese Five Spice (easily found at your grocery store). and Anchovies. Yes, Anchovies! No, I’m not a fan of them straight from a can. I do, however, keep a tube of anchovy paste in my refrigerator. Anchovies, once cooked, disintegrate in texture and add so much “umami” flavor!
To build flavor, these ingredients are added to chopped onions and “bloomed” until a dark fond builds up on the bottom of the pot.
Before adding the short ribs, to the pot, red wine, beef broth and canned tomatoes are added. That’s it! Set into a 325F oven for 2-1/2 hours. Tidy up the kitchen and wait for it… the intoxicating aroma of dinner being cooked.
Shortly before removing the short ribs from the oven I started cooking Rigatoni pasta in salted water.
Remove the braised beef short ribs, and shred into bite-sized pieces. The meat is so tender. Yes, I popped a few pieces into my mouth. So good.
The shredded beef goes back into the pot of delicious sauce. It’s dinner time!
TASTING NOTES: Mmmmm. So good! So flavorful. The Chinese Five Spice adds to much flavor! We have cinnamon, star anise, fennel and a few others (depending on which brand you buy). You can’t really taste each spice, individually, but it adds so much depth of flavor. The beef short ribs are tender and flavorful.
Can I adapt this to a pressure cooker, to speed things up? Absolutely! I would pressure cook for an hour, and do a natural pressure release. However, now that I’m retired, I have more time on my hands to slow-braise meats in my oven. Either way, this recipe was a total success.
Rigatoni with Spiced Beef Ragu
Ingredients
- 1½ cups beef broth
- ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms rinsed
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion chopped fine
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 anchovy fillets rinsed, patted dry, and minced (I used anchovy paste)
- ½ teaspoon Five-Spice Powder
- ½ cup dry red wine
- 1 14.5-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes drained with juice reserved, chopped fine (I used petite diced tomatoes)
- 2 pounds boneless beef short ribs trimmed
- Salt and pepper
- 1 pound rigatoni pasta
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Microwave ½ cup broth and mushrooms in covered bowl until steaming, about 1 minute. Let sit until softened, about 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms in fine-mesh strainer lined with coffee filter (I used a fine mesh strainier), pressing to extract all liquid. Reserve liquid and chop mushrooms fine.
- Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomato paste, anchovies, and five-spice powder and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture has darkened and fond forms on pot bottom, about 4 minutes. Stir in wine, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until wine is almost completely evaporated, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and reserved juice, remaining 1 cup broth, reserved mushroom soaking liquid, and mushrooms and bring to simmer.
- Season beef with salt and pepper and nestle into pot. Cover, transfer pot to oven and cook for 1 hour. Uncover and continue to cook until beef is tender, 1 to 1¼ hours. Using pot holders, remove pot from oven. Being careful of hot pot handles, use slotted spoon to transfer beef to cutting board. Let beef cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces using 2 forks; discard excess fat. Using wide, shallow spoon, skim excess fat from surface of sauce. Return beef to sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot. Add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt and cook, stirring often, until al dente. Reserve ½ cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return it to pot. Add sauce and toss to combine. Before serving, adjust consistency with reserved cooking water as needed.
Notes
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