Short Rib Ragu

By bronxie

Ingredients

• 5-6 pounds bone-in short ribs
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon bacon fat, lard or oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
• 1/2 bottle big red wine
• 14 ounces fire-roasted whole tomatoes and juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 3-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large sprig rosemary, leaves chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• chicken stock or water
• gremolata, recipe follows
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 large lemon, zest only
• 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from food52.com

Preparation

Step 1

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You soak the dried mushrooms in hot water and then add both them and the soaking liquid to the braise.

Once the short ribs are back in, you add just enough stock to cover them, bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 3 hours.

An immersion blender renders the sauce thick and almost creamy.

Polenta makes the perfect soft cushion for the rich, buttery shreds of meat.

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This is a hearty, earthy ragu that we’re confident would be just as satisfying over pasta as it is over polenta. The mushrooms, which get pureed with the rest of the sauce once the short ribs are fall-apart-tender, make the liquid cloaking the shredded short ribs nice and meaty, and the wine, anchovy, tomato paste and mustard make it sing. Gremolata is an nice, bright touch at the end. On a frosty winter evening, this would be perfect with a big, green salad and the other half of that bottle of red wine. – A&M

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak dried mushrooms in 2 cups boiling water.

Season ribs well with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large, heavy pot (I used a 5-qt. enameled cast iron dutch oven) over medium heat until shimmering. Brown ribs in batches for 2-3 minutes per side, then set aside. Pour out all but 1 tablespoon of accumulated fat from pot, then sauté onion, carrots and celery until soft. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.

Create a hot spot in the pot by moving vegetables aside and leaving about a 3-inch radius bare. Add tomato paste and anchovy paste to the hot spot and stir vigorously until caramelized, then stir into the vegetables. Add red wine to deglaze and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add tomatoes, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms and soaking liquid (minus the last 1/4 inch to keep sediment out of your dish), plus herbs.

Add ribs to pot and fill with chicken stock or water until ribs are nearly covered. Bring liquid to a boil, then cover tightly and braise in oven for at least 3 hours or until ribs are fall-apart tender.

Remove ribs from liquid and set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove bay leaves and discard. While ribs cool, purée the braising liquid with an immersion blender until thick and set over medium-low heat to reduce if the sauce seems thin. When ribs have cooled down, discard bones and large pieces of fat, then shred the beef and return it to the pot. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature, skimming any large pools of fat from the surface.

Refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove additional fat from the surface before reheating. Serve over polenta, sprinkled with gremolata.

Mix ingredients in a small bowl and let sit at room temperature for an hour before serving.

Pour la tourtière d'Annette Stoneware Pie Plate

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Made the ragu this week and followed the directions to the letter -- it was delicious. I did have to add additional water to keep the short ribs submerged but the sauce was still thick and flavorful. There was quite a bit of fat to skim off, both after refrigerating and again after re-heating. I served my ragu with Parmesan mashed potatoes, also made in advance and reheated, and a Caesar salad. Enjoyed the gremolata, would not have thought to serve that but it did add a nice brightness to the dish. Can't wait for leftovers tonight!

What temp and for how long do you recommend reheating?

I like to reheat, covered, in the oven at about 250 degrees F. Time depends on how much you're reheating, so check at 30 minutes and go from there.

Love this with polenta. Here is the easiest polenta recipie. Heat oven to 350. Place 1 cup polenta, 4 cups water and 1 tsp salt in a gratin dish. Stir. Put in oven for 45 min. Then stir in 2 TB butter and bake for another 15 min. Remove and stir in parmesan cheese. Fabulous and oh so easy.

I just follow the first recipe on the bag of Golden Pheasant Polenta, adding 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese at the end, and really try to keep it thin, in that way it absorbs the juice from the ragu. When I double it, I add more warm water when it is cooked, 1/4 cup at a time, in that way it keeps thin and i don't have to add as much butter at the end...no that there is anything wrong with that!!!

MI, have you ever made these and then frozen them? if so, how do they reheat? thanks!

I haven't frozen this dish, but I've frozen many other braises and they've all reheated very well. I think this would as well.

This was fantastic! Definitely a keeper. Nice blend of flavors:))

I hope you try it. Kathy! The ingredient list is long, but it's not difficult at all to make.

I've made it in the crock pot, I sautéed and braised the garlic and onions with a drizzle of olive oil in a cast iron pan, I added the herbs and then the meat. While this was cooking I chopped the dry mushrooms and soaked them in warm water.

I took the whole thing out of the pan and pour it directly onto the crock pot.

added all the juices including the mushroom and their flavourful water. I cook it all day and added the wine towards the end I was Amazing! ( no anchovies).

I've made this a few times and the flavors are wonderful - specifically, the umami flavors from the dried mushrooms and Worcestershire are genius. I don't usually have anchovies around so I've used fish sauce to great effect. The only problem I've had with this recipe is letting it go in the oven for the full 3 hours without checking it - the one time I did this a lot of the sauce evaporated and the remaining liquid burned. It may have just been a fault of my pot, but I'd recommend checking on the short ribs periodically while they are in the oven and adding more broth if the sauce seems to be drying out.

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I have a question about step 6 on the recipe "Short Rib Ragu" from Minimally Invasive. It says:

"Refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove additional fat from the surface before reheating. Serve over polenta, sprinkled with gremolata."

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