Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs

1 Drizzle your short ribs with olive oil and liberally season with salt and pepper. There are some cases where seasoning with just salt and pepper is all you need, and this is one of them. At least for the beef. Some people tend to forget that fresh onion, garlic, celery, etc all contribute to seasoning a dish. Anywayyyy...

2 Heat a high smoke point oil in a large pot. I prefer my dutch oven. Once hot, sear your short ribs for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until you have a beautiful crust going. Don’t overcrowd your pan and sear in batches if needed. The point of this isn’t to cook the beef through, but to build flavor.

3 When done, remove the short ribs from the pot and set aside. To the same oil, sauté the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. I let this go for a few minutes until the veggies just start getting soft and the onion develops a little color.

4 I like to push everything to the side and add in my tomato paste. Let it cook on its own for a minute before mixing everything together.

5 Pour in the red wine. I always use merlot, and it doesn’t have to be an expensive wine. You’ll notice this thickens pretty quickly. That’s normal. I like to let this simmer for a few minutes to cook out the alcohol, and then I pour in my beef broth.

6 Return your short ribs to the pot and top it with the rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, parsley, and garlic. Garlic I leave the skins on and just slice in half. If I’m making garlic mashed potatoes alongside this, I put extra garlic to squeeze in those later.

7 Cover and let this simmer a good 3 hours, by which your short ribs should be falling off the bone. Remove these from the pot and set aside. Strain the liquid and return it to the stove. We want to thicken this liquid. Increase the temperature and boil this until it reduces and thickens. This process does take some time, be patient. It’s worth it! Make sure to taste and adjust salt/pepper as needed.

8 Once your sauce is thick, return your short ribs. I like to roll them around and get them well coated. In my opinion, I only want these if there’s also mashed potatoes on the side. I usually serve with my short ribs sitting on top of a fluffy cloud of potatoes and then drizzle with extra sauce.