Braised Short Ribs
Braised Short Ribs is one of my all time favorite comfort meals! This is a dish that I’ve made for years during the fall and winter months. It definitely calls for some time, so your best bet is to tackle it on a weekend afternoon. Prepare to be in awe from the wonderful smells that will fill your house!
I love this dish because the meat is fall apart tender and when served over mashed potatoes or polenta, you can soak up all of the incredible flavors in the sauce. Adding a sprinkle of crispy pancetta & fresh parsley or chives over the top gives it an extra burst of crunch and freshness. Put this elegant dinner together for company before they arrive and let it do the cooking for you. You can enjoy time with friends and family & won’t be stuck in the kitchen all night. When it’s time for dinner, you look like a rockstar without even breaking a sweat! Win-Win!
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
3 hours
Total Time
3 hours 30 minutes
Course
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
6 servings
Ingredients
5 lbs. Short Ribs 3"-4" length
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
6 oz. Pancetta diced
1 Yellow Onion diced
3 Carrots diced
2 celery stalks diced
1 Leek diced
8 oz. Mushrooms Button or Cremini
2 Tbs. Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Red Wine to deglaze
2 cups Beef Stock
4 sprigs Fresh Thyme
2 sprigs Fresh Rosemary
2 Bay Leaves dried or fresh
Instructions
Pat the short ribs completely dry, salt & pepper generously on all sides.
Add EVOO to a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Sear the short ribs in batches, a few minutes on each side. Remove.
Add diced pancetta to the dutch oven and cook until it's nice and crispy, light brown, about 5-7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove from the dutch oven and set aside to use as a topping later.
In the same dutch oven, add diced onion, carrots, leeks, and celery to the pancetta drippings and saute for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the mushrooms and stir to combine. Salt and pepper all vegetables.
Add tomato paste and stir to coat the vegetables, cook for another 2 minutes.
Deglaze with red wine and reduce to about 1/2 the liquid level. Add the beef stock, so that it comes about half way up the dutch oven, you don't want the short ribs completely submerged. Add short ribs back in and beef stock to cover halfway.
Tie together the fresh rosemary and thyme using kitchen twine, it will be easier to remove the stems later. Add the bay leaves.
Cover and simmer for 3 hours.
When finished cooking, remove the bundle of herb sprigs and bay leaves. At this point, remove the short ribs to a platter. You can either strain the delicious cooking liquid for a thinner sauce to ladle over when serving or you can use an immersion blender to blend the veggies all together and make a thicker, delicious sauce.
Serve with some sauce and a sprinkle of fresh parsley and crispy pancetta.
Notes
Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta. I also added some roasted garlic cloves as another optional topping.