I close-out my ode to Italian Heritage month with a delicious dinner option. Most times you think of a weekend Italian meal, the first thing that comes to mind is Sunday Sauce. My wife was asking me about that the other day and when I reflected back, we typically had our pasta and sauce meal on Saturdays growing up. I loved those days, especially on cool fall days like today. Typically, I’d be out playing with my friends all day, then I’d come home and my dad would make a fire while he sat down with a bourbon and watched the news and evening political talk shows (anyone else remember The McGlaughlin Group and Inside Washington back in the 80’s?).
As I was sitting there bored, or playing with my toys, the smells from the kitchen upstairs started making their way downstairs and competing against the smokey smell of the fire. The sweet perfume of onions, garlic, olive oil, and tomatoes started to fill my nose and make me very hungry. Soon thereafter my mom would call down “dinner time” and we’d run upstairs to eat a delicious meal. Last month was my mother’s birthday, so we all got together at her house and made dinner for her. I had started these wine-braised short ribs at my house, and then finished them for about an hour or so over at my mom’s. Of course we had antipasti beforehand, my brother made a salad, and my sister brought some Italian pastries. It was a great evening. So, while I didn’t make a Sunday Sauce, I stuck with my typical go-to: #Braise Jesus
Wine-braised Short Ribs
Note: If you don’t have a 16 quart dutch oven (pot) split this among two cooking vessels.
7 lbs short ribs
2 large yellow onions
4 carrots
3 celery stalks
1 heaping tablespoon of tomato paste
¼ cup AP flour
2 bottles of red wine (Barolo or Cab Sav)
1 quart of beef stock
3 sprigs each of rosemary and thyme
Half a bunch of parsley
Garlic head, halved
Parmesan polenta (recipe below)
Liberally season the beef with Kosher salt and black pepper.
Pour a few tablespoons of oil in a large dutch oven (see note above) set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to ripple, place half of the short ribs in the pot and deeply brown on all sides. Remove the seared short ribs to a platter, and cook the remaining ribs.
While the meat sears, roughly chop all of the vegetables.
Once the second batch of meat has browned, remove them from the pot and reserve with the first batch of ribs.
Add the chopped vegetables to the oil and rendered fat, season with a little salt and pepper, and cook until starting to brown, about 7-10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Once the veggies have started to brown, stir in the tomato paste and cook for another minute until the paste darkens, then sprinkle the flour over everything. Continue to cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.
Pour in the bottles of wine, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add in the reserved meat, along with any accumulated juices, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer, reducing by half, about 20 minutes.
Add in the beef stock, herbs, and halved garlic head. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling rapidly, cover the pot and transfer to the oven and cook for 2.5 hours, flipping the ribs half-way through, until tender.
After 2.5 hours, remove the short ribs with tongs and transfer them to a casserole dish and cover with foil. If making the cheesy polenta (recipe below), start preparing it with about 30 minutes left in the braise cooking.
Set a mesh sieve over a large bowl and pour the remaining pot contents through the sieve. Press on the vegetables with a rubber spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the contents from the sieve. Let the liquid sit for 10 minutes.
Once the sauce has sat for about 10 minutes, use a wide spoon to spoon off the excess fat from the top.
Pour the sauce back into the dutch oven and bring to a simmer. Add in the short ribs to warm through and coat with the sauce.
Cheesy Polenta
3 cups whole milk
1 cup polenta
½ stick of butter
1.5 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Combine the milk and 1 cup of water in a pot and bring to a boil, reducing to medium. Then, whisk in the polenta and bring back to a simmer.
Cover, reduce the heat to low and whisk every 10 minutes to ensure proper texture.
After 30 minutes, and a final whisking, determine if it needs any more tightening up or if you’re satisfied with the consistency.
Once happy with the polenta's consistency, stir in the butter and cheese and off the heat.
To serve everything, place some polenta on a plate, place a short rib atop of the polenta and spoon the sauce over the meat allowing it to drip over the polenta and pool around the edge.
______________________________ Copyright 2023, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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