A few weeks ago, we sent out an exclusive email to members of our mailing list with a complete plan for a perfect Sunday dinner. The email contained everything needed to pull of a full menu without even thinking about it, including suggested wine pairings and even an organized shopping list!
The star of the show was this gorgeous pan of braised short ribs. We started with a beautiful cut of boneless short ribs from our favorite butcher. They had fine, perfectly distributed marbling so we knew they would be fall-apart tender. We added some basic mirepoix, fresh seasonal herbs, and plenty of red wine and let them braise in the oven for 2 hours. We opened the pan to find perfectly cooked meat and an amazing sauce!
When we braise anything – meat or vegetables – we like to use either a large saute pan or a dutch oven, depending on how large of a braising pan we need. For a whole roast, we’d use something like our favorite dutch oven, but these short ribs were the perfect size for our copper sauce pan (c/o). Copper conducts and distributes heat so well that searing these on the stove was a breeze.
When your short ribs come out of the oven, put them on a platter to rest, then return the pan to the stove to reduce and thicken the braising liquid a little. Strain it through a chinois or large mesh strainer (a kitchen staple!) and spoon over the short ribs after slicing. If you cannot find short ribs, a shoulder or chuck roast will also work perfectly for this. If you want to learn more about cuts of beef, we recently found this book but haven’t had time to read it yet. It has great reviews and it’s on our to-do list.
This is part of our “Sunday dinner” because it’s perfect for a weekend, but you could make it any night of the week if you have enough time to let the meat braise a few hours. It doesn’t need a lot of attention, so you can do other things while it’s cooking.
We’re putting the finishing touches on our Brazilian dinner email that will go out later this week. Make sure to sign up so you don’t miss it!
- 2-3 lbs Short ribs, or other cut of beef for braising
- Olive oil
- 1 cup Mirepoix
- 2-3 sprigs Italian Parsley
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2-3 sprigs Marjoram
- 2-3 sprigs Thyme
- 2 cups dry red wine
- Salt
- Pepper
- 4 cups Beef stock
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Heat a sauté pan and add a drizzle of olive oil, enough to just coat the bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper the beef on all sides, then add to the hot sauté pan and sear on all sides.
- Remove the beef from the pan and put it aside on a plate. Add the mirepoix and cook until golden.
- Deglaze the pan with a generous amount of red wine, 1-2 cups, then add the herbs to the pan.
- Return the meat to the pan and add enough beef stock to cover about half of the meat.
- Cover the sauté pan and transfer to the oven. Braise for 2-3 hours, or until the meat easily comes apart when pulled with a fork.
- To serve, remove the meat from the sauté pan and slice. Keep the pan sauce warm and adjust to taste with salt. Drizzle the pan sauce over the meat and serve immediately.