The Long And The Short (Ribs) Of It

Last Friday, I confessed to lusting after a recipe
in the current issue of Country Living magazine.

 I said I'd make it.  And I did.

I've never made short ribs -- or any kind of ribs -- before.

Ribs always struck me as what you throw away after you've finished cutting up the cow.

Kind of like wings from chickens.  

I don't see the point.

But something about this picture caught my fancy.

It just looked so wintry-good, like an old fashioned stick-to-your-ribs dinner.

:-P

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A few pictures of the process:

 I am not even sure we bought the right kind of meat,

although the package did say "short ribs."

 Meat is very unattractive when raw.

Garlic looks better:

 Wine and coarse mustard, into the pot.

 Ribs back in, cozied up with the wine, garlic, mustard and dried apricots.

Am I nuts or does this look like Hermann Munster is cooking dinner?

 Several hours later, things are looking better.

Still those bones scattered around.

Chow time!

  I roasted baby carrots and added them to the plate.

At the end of the meal, my plate was pretty clean, except for bones, and piles of stuff

I'd cut off the rib meat.  Howard's plate was totally clean, except for a couple of bones.

"Why did you leave all this stuff on the plate?" he asked me.

"Because it's fatty," I answered.

"So?" he said.

And this may explain why he eats ribs, and I don't.

The meat was delicious; fall-off-the-bone tender.

I was less pleased with the braising sauce and apricots.  Very tart.  Puckery tart.

If I were to make this again, I'd use a sweeter wine, or fiddle around with adding some

sweetener -- brown sugar, molasses, something like that -- to temper the tart.

And maybe prunes instead of apricots.

And add onions or leeks. 

We got several dinners out of this.

 It was delicious with Brussels Sprouts and baked potato.

 

We didn't share it with company; hosting a dinner with a cold?  Not a good idea.

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If you are moved to try this recipe yourself, here's it is, courtesy of the January 2011 Country Living.

Red-Wine-and-Apricot-Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 pound(s)   short ribs
• 4 clove(s)   garlic, chopped
• 3 cup(s)   dry red wine (such as Syrah)
• 3 tablespoon(s)   coarse-grain Dijon mustard
• 2 cup(s)   (11 ounces)  dried apricots
•   Salt
•   Freshly ground pepper

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Directions

1. Season short ribs with salt  and pepper. Working in batches, brown ribs in a large Dutch oven over  medium-high heat, about 4 minutes per side. (Cass' note:  I browned them for 6 or more minutes for a good dark "crust.")  Transfer to a plate and set  aside.
2. Add garlic to pot and cook  over medium heat until browned, about 2 minutes. Add wine and mustard  and stir, scraping up browned bits from bottom of the pan. Add apricots  and reserved ribs and increase heat to high, bringing liquid to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot, and simmer until ribs are so  tender that the meat falls off the bone, about 3 hours. Skim excess fat from braising sauce.  (Alternatively, after step 1, add browned ribs and all other  ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low, following manufacturer's  instructions, until ribs are so tender that meat falls off the bone,  about 8 hours.) Serve meat and apricots in a shallow bowl with braising  sauce.

Or, you can access the recipe online, by clicking here!

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You can find many, many more recipes and food stories

today, at Michael Lee West's Designs By Gollum blog.

Go visit Foodie Friday by clicking here!

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Howard and I will be visiting wedding venues;

Alida and Josh's summer wedding is closer than we think!   -- Cass