Invite yourself to Sunday dinner: Braised boneless short ribs

It is a glorious Sunday in June and since I like to cook on Sundays, I defrosted one pound of boneless short ribs yesterday to make today. The only problem is, they're small and most recipes on the internet are for large ribs with bones, or large boneless ribs, or large quantities of ribs. You get the picture.  So I decided to wing it.

I first browned the ribs in hot olive oil in a Griswold cast iron dutch oven (Bouckville antique show purchase one year) after salting and peppering them.  Once I discovered cast iron, I can't imagine braising with anything else.  Brown the ribs about four minutes per side. Once they're brown, remove the ribs from the pot and set aside.



 Add one onion sliced thin and saute it until it is soft but not brown.

In the meantime cut up a carrot or two in two inch pieces, mince some fresh ginger, slice two or three button mushrooms and peel one large and one small garlic clove. And heat your oven to 350 degrees.



  


When the onions are soft, add about a tablespoon of tomato paste and mix it all up for a minute or two.  Next, add 1/4 cup of red wine letting it simmer and release the alcohol.  Pour in about 1/2 cup of beef broth and then put the vegetables in the pot along with some thyme and a small bay leaf.  You can use fresh or dried thyme - just adjust the quantities (1/3 less if dried).  Put the meat back in the dutch oven on top of the vegetables, cover and bring it to a simmer then plop it in the oven and braise it covered for a couple of hours.

Ready to go into the oven.

About half way through turn the meat over.  If it needs more liquid, add a little more beef broth or water. I kept adding more liquid because I wanted lots of gravy to put on mashed potatoes.



Time to cut up some swiss chard from a local CSA.  It's important to me to know where my food comes from and to support local farms in Central New York. I  like the imperfections that you get with organic produce as it's easy for me to relate.




Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the chopped swiss chard and when it starts to wilt, throw in some minced garlic.  You don't want the garlic to burn so you need to add it towards the end.  Once the chard is cooked to your taste, sprinkle some really good balsamic vinegar on it and voila - a delicious and healthy addition to your meal.

Wish you could smell and taste this.  It's heavenly. You can cut the beef with a fork but I think I'll thicken the gravy a little for leftovers.  As Julia would say, "Bon appetite."

P.S.  I had some leftover steamed potatoes that I nuked and mashed, otherwise I would have made some mashed.