Short Rib Bolognese

A few years ago, I saw short ribs on sale at Whole Foods and I picked them up thinking I'd figure out what to do with them when I got home. This dish immediately became a favorite. It was originally a Giada De Laurentis recipe from FoodNetwork.com, but if you've ever watched Giada's show on TV while trying to eat healthy, you know she's not afraid of the calories. I modified this recipe a bit to bring down the fat, and added a few ingredients of my own for a dish that when I tasted it, I said "holy crap, I made this?? Ideally this would be served with homemade pasta (tagliatelle or fettucini), but penne, rigatoni or farfalle all work great. Best of luck eating just one serving. :) NOTE: Short ribs take a long time to cook, this recipe calls for 3 hours, so this is probably best as a weekend dish

Ingredients: 3 TBS Olive Oil 4 slices raw Bacon, chopped 2 1/2 pounds Short Ribs, trimmed of any major exterior fat ribbons Salt & fresh ground Pepper 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour 1 medium Onion, chopped 1 Carrot, chopped 1 large Celery Stalk, chopped 1/2 cup fresh Parsley or 1/4 cup dried 2 cloves Garlic 2 (14 oz) cans Hunts Diced Tomatoes in Sauce (just sauce, not the garlic, seasoning, etc ones) 2 TBS Tomato Paste 2 tsp chopped fresh Rosemary 1 tsp dried Thyme, or 2 tsp fresh 1 tsp dried Oregano 1 Bay Leaf 2 1/2 cups reduced sodium Beef Broth 3/4 cup dry Red Wine (I used Zinfandel and it was great. Shiraz or Cabernet, would work well too) Pasta of your choice (preferably fresh) Fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or soup pot, and heat over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until brown, about 4 mins. When cooked, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside

2. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper and dredge in flour

3. Add the short ribs to the pan and brown on all sides, for a total of about 7 minutes (make sure they get nice and golden brown, not just grey...this will add extra flavor as they braise)

4. Meanwhile, combine the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, and garlic in a food processor and blend until finely minced (should only take a few seconds). Then add the tomatoes and tomato paste and pulse once or twice

5. Once the shortribs are browned, add the mixture from the food processor, along with the cooked bacon and stir.

6. Add the rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, beef broth, and wine, bringing the mixture to a boil.

7. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

8. After the 1hr 15mins, carefully remove the short ribs from the pot to a cutting board. Trim as much excess fat as you can. Some of the fat will be rendered and easy to remove, some will be gristly and not yet cooked, just trim as much as you can.

9. Put shortrib meat and bones back in the pot and simmer, uncovered, for another 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally

10. Toward the end of cooking, heat water and cook pasta according to directions. When you drain the pasta, reserve about a cup of the cooking liquid

11. When time has elapsed, remove the meat and bones from the pot and shred with two forks

12. Return meat to the pot along with 1/2 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp pepper

13. Add the pasta liquid to the sauce about a 1/4 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached (I like it to be just a little saucy, but still thick).

14. Toss the pasta in sauce (I do this back in the pasta pot so that if you don't use all the sauce, you can save it for leftovers and just cook more pasta the next night).

15. Top with fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano and enjoy!

#Mains #Pasta #Beef #SlowFood #OneDishDinners