Braised short ribs

I wanted to make something fancy for our anniversary dinner. Braised short ribs came to mind. I followed a recipe from America's Test Kitchen cook book. A very similar recipe can be found online, but it's not quite the same. For one the recipe from my book didn't call for gelatin.

I bought about 4lbs of short ribs. For most of the pieces, there was a considerable layer of fat on one side. I trimmed them off with a knife. Be very careful when you do that. I sliced my hand when the knife slipped.

First step is to sear the ribs to give them nice crusts and also to help develop flavor. This would render a lot of fat off the meat as well. I did it in batches to not crowd the pan. 

After the ribs were all nicely seared and browned, I took out excess fat from the pan and sauted some carrots, celery and garlic to "mop" up the brown bits from searing the ribs. I then added tomato paste and flour to the pan, before pouring in red wine and broth to build up a sauce. Once the sauce is simmering, the ribs would go back in. The whole pan would go in a 300 degree oven for 3 hours until the meat is following off the bone tender. 

The entire house was filled with that intoxicating aroma the whole afternoon. Once it's done, take out the ribs and set aside. You are supposed to strain the sauce and use just the liquid. For reason of laziness, I decided to forgo that step and just use the sauce as is with all the cooked up veggie bits. You could serve this with mashed potatoes or egg noodles. We decided to go with a slightly healthier option, brown rice. It was every bit as delicious.

For those who don't like brown rice, try Sweet Brown Rice from Asian stores. They are nutty, tender with a hint of sweetness and occasionally bitterness, in a good way. It's my favorite kind of rice.