Small Bites

Did you all catch the story a couple weeks back where we planned a dinner party using the recipes of chefs from new local restaurants? The short ribs recipe from Laurent Tourondel of BLT Steak intrigued me so much I had to make it for myself.

It’s not a complicated recipe, just a long one. Here are all the ingredients:

You start by chopping your carrots, onions, garlic and shallot:

15 cloves!

Tons o’ shallots:

Then I prepped the rest of my ingredients. Flour and tomato paste:

A bouquet garni of celery, bay leaf, rosemary and thyme wrapped in bacon:

Tomatoes. He called for plum but they looked like crap in the grocery so I used canned whole:

Chicken broth:

Beef broth:

Wine: Port:

So you start by browning the short ribs on all sides:

Pull them out and you’ve got all that delishy brown stuff on the bottom.

You add a little oil and saute your veg:

Then you add your tomato paste —

— and your flour:

You cook the flour down and add your wine. Tons of it:

Cook the wine down for like an hour, until it looks like motor oil:

Now you add your ribs back, along with the broth, the tomatoes and the bouqet.

You cook that for 4 hours on the stovetop in the oven. When it’s done, the pot looks like this:

And your ribs look like this:

I pulled out all the meat and the vegetables and reduced the sauce down further.

Meanwhile, I made some polenta and opened a nice bottle of cab.

A great winter supper.

Braised Short Ribs

For the bouquet garni:
1 large slice of bacon
2 sprigs rosemary
6 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 celery stalks, trimmed

For the ribs:
6 Beef Short Ribs (8 to 9 pounds)
Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 carrots, peeled and cut into1-inch pieces
1 large onion cut 1-inch pieces
15 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
6 shallots, peeled and diced
15 cracked black peppercorns
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups ruby port
2 bottles of dry red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
5 cups beef stock or low sodium beef broth
6 cups chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
5 or 6 plum tomatoes, halved

To make the bouquet garni, lay the bacon on a flat surface. Roll rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and celery stalk into bacon and tie to keep closed.
Season the ribs with salt and pepper, and sear them on the stovetop in an ovenproof pot, turning them until all sides are golden brown. Set aside. Remove all but 1/4 cup of the fat from the pan.
Add the carrots, onion, garlic, shallots and black peppercorns and sauté until light brown.
Stir in tomato paste, cooking for 2 minutes. Then add the flour, stirring well. Then add the bouquet garni, port and wine, and reduce by 1/3, about 45 minutes.
Return the ribs to the pot, add the stock, halved tomatoes and salt. Bring to a simmer, and cook in 350-degree oven for about 4 hours or until tender.
Remove the ribs from the pot, reserve the liquid, skim the fat off the top, and discard the vegetables. Cook the liquid over medium heat until the liquid is reduced to one quart. Return the ribs to the pot and reheat.
In a small saucepan heat the butter and garlic over medium heat, swirling until golden brown. Add the thyme at the end. Pour over the meat and serve in the cooking pot.

Yield: 6 servings.