Red Wine Braised Short Ribs #SundaySupper

Wine is my adult beverage of choice to have in my glass. It naturally follows that wine finds its way into my dishes with some regularity. So it was nature for me to go with a recipe featuring wine for this “libational” themed Sunday Supper hosted by Crazy Foodie Stunts and A Mama, A Baby and a Shar-pei. I’ve had this Red Wine Braised Short Ribs recipe in my queue for awhile, so this seemed like the perfect time to share. In addition to tying into today’s theme, this is a great dish for feeding a crowd.

I came up with this Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs recipe for a wine club gathering this fall. A dish that can simmer until the group is ready to eat is perfect, but I needed something different than the variations of beef stew we’d had a few times this year, such as my Slow Cooked Tuscan Beef Stew. I had limited experience making short ribs, but thought this could be a tasty option. I was right!

These beef short ribs get cooked low and slow for the better part of a day, giving plenty of time to let that rich beef flavor get really intense. By the time the ribs are ready to serve, the meat practically melts in your mouth. “like butter” was a common refrain as folks dug into this savory dish. In developing my plan for the dish, I referred to this recipe Jeff from foodwineclick shared.

The short ribs get marinated overnight in a red wine based marinade. Now, you may have read the advice that you should cook with the wine you will serve with the dish. Let’s not get carried away that notion, people! We were sampling a lineup of impressive red wines as we tucked into this dish, including a great Australian Shiraz that is mentioned in my 15 Wine Picks for Holiday Giving post. and I sure don’t have the budget to sacrifice one of those bottles to cook with!

The piece of the “cook with what you’ll serve” advice I do subscribe is that I cook with a similar style wine to what we will drink with the dish. And you do what it to be something drinkable. For this recipe, I used an inexpensive Merlot that just barely qualified on the drinkability factor. I was happy to put it to work cooking!

a mirepoix style veggie mix flavors the short rib braise

This recipe serves 12. You could easily halve it for a smaller gathering, but with the holidays upon us I thought I’d leave the proportions fit for a crowd. Neither my slow cooker nor my dutch oven can readily cook 6 pounds of short ribs at once, so I divided the ribs in half, cooking some in the slow cooker and the rest in the dutch oven. This leads me to share both options; you can choose one or divide your ribs as I did.

You’ll have to forgive my photographs on this one if I promise to make it again soon and share tastier photos when I do! The ribs were cooked at home, so I was able to get a few daylight preparation shots with my “real” camera. I will share one below taken in the dim light where the dish was served, so you get an idea of what the final version looked like.

One other note before the recipe details. My original plan was to serve pieces of the meat topped with a mushroom sauce. As you can see by the photos of the ribs on the platter, you could certainly serve them that way. Because I was getting them cooked up early for a gather later, I had the beef simmering for an extended period of time. So I wound up just combining the mushrooms with the beef and serving it together. Presentation might have suffered a tad, but taste did not!

Wine Braised Short Ribs

★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

Beef short ribs slowly braised in red wine until they are melt-in-your-mouth tender, served with mushroom sauce for a delicious cold weather dinner.

• Author: Cooking Chat
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 4 hours
• Total Time: 4 hours 45 mins
• Yield: 12 servings
• Category: entree
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic (whole)
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 10 white peppercorns
• 6 cloves
• 8 juniper berries
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1.5 bottles red wine
• 6 lbs beef short ribs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 1 celery, finely diced
• 1 parsnip, finely diced
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tsp meat spice blend (optional)
• 2 tsp minced rosemary
• 1 large portobello mushroom, stem removed and chopped
• 10 oz package sliced button mushrooms
• 1 shallot, chopped

Instructions

1. MAKE THE MARINADE: Combine all the marinade ingredients–the garlic through the red wine–in a large pan. Bring the wine to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, and then let it cool a bit before combining with the ribs.
2. Let the marinade get to work: Divide the ribs, placing 1/2 of them in one large plastic storage bag, the other 1/2 in another plastic storage bag. Carefully pour the marinade in with the ribs, roughly equal amounts of marinade in each bag. Squeeze the air out, and seal the bags tightly. Place in the refrigerator overnight.
3. BRAISE THE RIBS: When you’re getting ready to braise the ribs, remove the short ribs from the marinade, reserving the marinade. Scrape off large bits of marinade ingredients that may be sticking to the ribs. Find the garlic cloves from the marinade, or at least a few of them, and mince for later.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large oven safe dutch oven, or a large skillet works if you are using a slow cooker. Or use both, so you can get both batches going at once.
5. Add half of the onions, carrots, celery, and parsnip to one dutch oven or skillet; add the other half of the veggies to your second cooking vessel, or hold aside to do in 2 batch. Cook the veggies until they soften, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Add the short ribs to the veggie mixture. Turn the meat over every few minutes to brown the meat on each site.
7. DUTCH OVEN METHOD: Have the oven preheated to 275. Once the meat has browned in the dutch oven, add the broth, rosemary, optional spice blend, minced garlic and 2 cups of reserved marinade. Bring to a boil, then cover and move from the stove top to the oven. Cook for at least 3.5 hours, until the meat is very tender. Check every hour or so to make sure you still have liquid in the dutch oven.
8. SLOW COOKER METHOD: Transfer the beef and veggie mixture from the skillet to the slow cooker. Add the broth, 2 cups of reserved marinade, rosemary, optional spice blend and minced garlic to the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 2 hours on high, 6.5 hours on low, or 10 hours on low.
9. PREPARE THE MUSHROOMS: Start this as you get within 30 minutes of finishing the beef slowcooking process. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet on medium. Add the shallot, sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, cook until they sweat, about 5 minutes.
10. PREPARE THE RIBS: Remove the cover from the beef. You should have some excess liquid. Scoop a ladleful of the broth from the beef into the mushroom skillet. Cook the broth down until it is mostly absorbed. Remove the short ribs from the crockpot or dutch oven, and place on a platter. Cut the meat off the bones–it should slide off very easily and some meat will have come off the bone during the cooking. Cut the beef into smaller chunks.
11. FINISH THE DISH: Put the chopped beef back into the cooking vessel, and stir it into the broth. Stir the mushrooms in with with beef. The beef can be served at this point, or kept warm on low heat until you are ready to serve.
12. Serving: Serve the beef and mushrooms over buttered noodles, scooping a bit of extra broth over the beef if you like. And of course, serve it with a glass of red wine!

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Be sure to check out all these tasty libational creations from the rest of the #SundaySupper crew!

Libations

• Big Easy Milk Punch by The Weekend Gourmet
• Blue Sparkling Star Cocktail by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Boozy Iced Spanish Coffee by Nosh My Way
• Campari Mint Spritzer by eating in instead
• Cranberry Moscow Mule by Ruffles & Truffles
• Creamy, Loaded Eggnog by La Bella Vita Cucina
• Malibu Breeze by Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Merry Berry Spritz by Amee’s Savory Dish
• Minty Lime Rum by A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei in the Kitchen
• Pomegranate Panache by Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
• Rhubarb Fool Cocktail by Food Lust People Love
• Southern Pomegranate Sparkler by Noshing With The Nolands
• Sparkling Pomegranate Berry Punch by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
• Vanilla Bailey’s With A Twist by Momma’s Meals

Savory and Sweet Libational Dishes

• Apple Bourbon Pulled Pork Sliders by Curious Cuisiniere
• Beerberry Pancakes by Brunch with Joy
• Beet Relish by What Smells So Good?
• Belgian Beef Stew with Belgian Ale by Cooking On The Ranch
• Brandied Triple Cheese Ball by Magnolia Days
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• Cornish Game Hens with Sausage Red Wine Sauce over Polenta by The Texan New Yorker
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• Eggnog Dutch Baby Pancakes with Cranberries by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Hot Buttered Rum Balls by Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen
• Lentil Soup with Wine Braised Shallots by Pancake Warriors
• Red Wine Braised Short Ribs by Cooking Chat

Libational Desserts

• Amaretto Coconut Biscotti with Amaretto Salted Caramel Drizzle by Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Amaretto Cranberry Swirled Cheesecake by The Life and Loves of Grumpy’s Honeybunch
• Baked Pears with a Warm Tequila-Citrus Espuma by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Bourbon Cranberry Compote by Pies and Plots
• Caramelized Banana Upside-Down Rum Cake by Wallflour Girl
• Chocolate Stout Beer Brownies by The Perfect Brownie
• Dumante Frozen Espresso Creams by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Honey Chamomile Hot Toddy Tea Cake by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Kahlua Bundt Cake by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Red Wine Poached Pears with Ricotta and Balsamic Glaze by Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Rum Glazed Cookie Cream Buns by NinjaBaker
• Tiramisu Biscotti by The Redhead Baker

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