Slow braised short ribs – a delight to me. Although a very cheap cut they come out delicious when done with a little attention, time and some patience.

There’s no magic to it – on the contrary, you’ll have about half an hour of work and will then be able to laze around for 2 1/2 hours! Here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:

(For the ribs only, sides not included. 2 Servings.)

1 lb. beef short ribs
1 medium onion
2 shallots (or just 1 BIG onion)
6-8 cloves garlic
1 heaping tbsp. tomato puree
400ml (1 3/4 cups) red wine
400ml (1 3/4 cups) beef broth
2 bayleaves
Your favourite dry rub
Cooking oil, or – as I prefer for dishes like this – clarified butter
Salt & Pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat your oven to 160 °C (320 °F). Roughly chop the onions/shallots and peel and smash the garlic cloves. Pat the short ribs dry and remove any unwanted fat caps. They’re marbled enough so that you won’t need any fat on the top for them to stay juicy. Season them liberally with your favourite dry rub.

In a pot over medium-high heat cook the onions and garlic in a tbsp. of clarified butter until soft and lightly browned. Season with a little salt and pepper as you go. Take out and set aside.

Turn up the heat, add in the short ribs and sear them aggressively on all sides, adding more butter as needed. When browned and seared, take them out and set them aside as well.

Add a very generous tbsp. of tomato puree and stir to dissolve and let its flavour build up. Then add the red wine (IMHO there’s no need to use the expensive stuff) and the bayleaves. Bring to a boil while scratching off the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the alcohol evaporate and let reduce the sauce by 1/3. Then add in the beef broth and do the same: Bring to a boil and let reduce significantly (to about 1/2 of all the liquids altogether). Give this a final taste now – you might likely want to add salt and pepper and you won’t want to be too cautious with it!

Make a bed of onions in an oven save casserole and place the ribs on top. Pour in the sauce and cover. Shove into your 160 °C oven for 2 1/2 hours.

Take them out of the oven and arrange the ribs and some onion chunks (along with any sides – I had potatoes and green beans with mushrooms and bacon) on a plate. Strain the sauce through a sieve, making sure to squeeze all the delicious garlic-onion-meat-mash through thoroughly. Pour over the meat and serve.