Whenever I’m in NYC and not sure where to grab a bite (I’m sorry, I get overwhelmed with all the options!!), one of my go to places for yummy either on the go or casual sit down is Eataly. If you haven’t been to one (there’s also one in Chicago), you should go. It’s a mix between restaurants, farmer’s markets, patisseries, and more. AND it doesn’t hurt that Mario Batali has a hand it in. The first time I went for dinner was to La Pizza & La Pasta. I had the braised short rib ragu with cavatelli pasta. I’ve been on a ragu kick ever since. The wine enriched sauce with the tender beef and the sprinkle of parmesan… MMM!
Fun Fact: The French Ragout and the Italian Ragu are derived from the same French verb ragoûter, meaning “to stimulate the appetite.” The introduction of the French food was thought to be during Napoleon’s invasion of what is now Italy.
For this recipe, I used three different recipes/blogs: Bunky Cooks, The Paupered Chef, and Wine Country Eating. (FYI, The Paupered Chef actually has a really good explanation about braising short ribs on the linked blog post.) This is one of the more complex recipes I’ve posted, but totally worth it. This recipe serves a lot, at least 6 good sized servings. This is a great recipe for those of you that have people over for dinner and are afraid there isn’t going to be enough food. (^_^)
What You’ll Need:
- 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Really just enough to coat the bottom of your pan and to sear the ribs)
- 4-6 lb short ribs
- 3 Carrots, diced
- 2 Stalks Celery, diced
- 1 Medium Onion, diced
- 2 Medium Shallots, diced
- 1 TBSP All-Purpose Flour
- 1 6 oz Can of Tomato Paste
- 3 Cups Chianti
- 3 Cups Beef Broth
- Half a Head of Garlic, peeled
- 1 Dried Bay Leaf
- 4 Sprigs Rosemary
- 4 Sprigs Thyme
- 4 Sprigs Parsley
- 1 lb Mafaldine, or another type of pasta
- Salt and Pepper
- Parmigiano-Reggiano
Part 1: Prep the Beef
You want the short ribs to be at room temperature and dry on the outside so they sear beautifully. I usually rinse the ribs off, pat with a paper towel, and lay them out on a few sheets of paper towel. Salt and pepper the ribs well, I like to “massage” the salt and pepper into the ribs. In a heavy bottom, oven safe pot with lid (I used a Dutch Oven), heat oil until it is almost smoking. Sear ribs on every side, making sure to do multiple batches if needed so you don’t crowd the pan and end up steaming the ribs rather than searing them. You’ll want to sear the ribs around 4-5 minutes on each side. This is to seal in the natural juices of the ribs, so your beef will still be tender and juicy at the end. Set the seared ribs aside to rest.
Tip: I used a dutch oven because its really good at making sure the temperature is even in the pot. You can cook almost anything in a dutch oven, but it almost my top choice for deep frying.
Part 2: Bouquet Garni and Mirepoix
While your ribs are searing, you can start prepping the other ingredients. Most of the recipes call for you to make a bouquet garni with cheesecloth, but I just took the parsley, rosemary, and thyme made a little bundle to nestle the bay leaf inside, and tied it with some cotton kitchen twine. Dice the shallots, onion, carrots, and celery to make your mirepoix.
The lingo: A bouquet garni is a bundle of herbs tied together to add flavor to dishes, but is removed prior to serving. A mirepoix is usually a mix of chopped onions, celery, and carrots.
Part 3: Putting it all Together
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Saute your mirepoix in the leftover oil for around 7-10 minutes (this will depend on how big your dice is) and try to scrape some of the yummy bits off the bottom as you saute the veggies, then add the flour and tomato paste and mix until combined.
Add the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by around half. Add the bouquet garni, garlic cloves, and beef stock.
Add the ribs into the sauce, bring to a simmer and cover with the lid.
Place the pot into the oven for 3 hours. Take the pot out of the oven, remove the ribs from the liquid, and remove the bouquet garni. (Doesn’t it already look SOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!)
Boil your pasta as directed on the packaging. If you time it this way, the pasta will be ready once you’re done with the remaining steps.
Shred the beef from the ribs (the bones should be falling out of the meat at this point) and remove the larger pieces of fat. So for the sauce, you can do it one of two ways 1) Leave it chunky or 2) blend the sauce. If you blend the sauce in the blender instead of using an immersion blender, be careful, the hot liquid may burst out of the blender if you fill it too high!! Add the shredded meat into your sauce and toss with the pasta. Add salt if needed.
Place a portion into a bowl or dish and top with Parmesan. I might or may not have forgotten to add salt because I was in a rush, but I had plenty of freshly grated Parmesan for everyone to make their pasta to their salt-liking (^_^). Enjoy!!! Manjia!!
- ¼ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Really just enough to coat the bottom of your pan and to sear the ribs)
- 4-6 lb short ribs
- 3 Carrots, diced
- 2 Stalks Celery, diced
- 1 Medium Onion, diced
- 2 Medium Shallots, diced
- 1 TBSP All-Purpose Flour
- 1 6 oz Can of Tomato Paste
- 3 Cups Chianti
- 3 Cups Beef Broth
- Half a Head of Garlic, peeled
- 1 Dried Bay Leaf
- 4 Sprigs Rosemary
- 4 Sprigs Thyme
- 4 Sprigs Parsley
- 1 lb Mafaldine, or another type of pasta
- Salt and Pepper
- Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Preheat the oven to 325°F
- Heat oil until it is almost smoking in a heavy bottom, oven safe pot that has a lid (e.g. Dutch Oven).
- Salt and pepper the short ribs and sear the short ribs all on sides. Place seared short ribs to the side.
- Saute the onion, shallots, carrots, and celery in the same pot.
- Add the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduce by half.
- Add the garlic, beef stock, and a bouquet garni (parsley, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf).
- Add the ribs to the pot, cover, and place in the oven for 3 hours.
- Remove the pot from the pan.
- Remove short ribs from the sauce and shred the meat.
- Remove the bouquet garni and throw away.
- (optional) Blend the sauce.
- Add the meat back into the sauce.
- Boil the pasta and drain.
- Either add the pasta straight to the sauce or top the pasta with sauce. Enjoy!
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