Wine Braised Short Ribs

You’ll need a bottle of red wine for this- don’t go over the top expensive but don’t buy crap either. Why would you cook with it if you wouldn’t drink it? A full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec would go great with this rich dish as would a spicy Shiraz/Syrah or Zinfandel. Have another bottle on hand to serve with this meal.

This dish takes a while but is very well worth the wait. A wonderful and hearty comfort food on a cold day.

Put flour, a few grinds of black pepper, dried mustard, cayenne & most of the dried chillies (saving a pinch for later) in to a ziplock and shake to completely coat ribs. Melt butter & oil in oven safe pan/dutch oven over med/high heat- add ribs & brown all sides- once it has nice colour, pull them out and set aside. Add chopped carrot, onion, turnip & celery (roughly chopped- all about same sized pieces) to dutch oven and stir for a few minutes. Add thinly sliced garlic, mushrooms cut into quarters, and tomato puree. Cook until mushrooms start to shrink down a bit- about 5 min. Drop ribs back into pot, dump in the bottle of wine, the fresh thyme, bay leaves and remaining pinch of chilies. Bring to a quick boil then cover with lid and pop that little pot of heaven into the oven. Let it cook at 300 for 2-3 hours or until meat pulls off with little effort. Right before serving stir in dijon & grainy mustard and a good dose of salt & pepper and serve.

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Total time: 3 hours 25 minutes

Yield: about 6 servings