Hoisin Braised Short Ribs

This was a great recipe for New Year's Eve. Yes, that's when we made these short ribs and I'm just getting around to blogging them. Anyway, this dish was the perfect recipe for what we wanted - could start it early, it braised for a few hours, and then was ready to eat when we were ready - after the baby was in bed. And the fact that it was absolutely delicious helps, too.

I found the recipe for these short ribs in the How to Cook Like a Top Chef cookbook - it was Hosea's recipe. There are so many things in that book that I would love to cook! The short ribs recipe can be found online here.

I have to admit that Jon did most of the work while I took care of the baby and put her to bed. He did a great job!

We followed the recipe almost exactly - changes noted in italics below.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs boneless beef short ribs (we used bone-in short ribs)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• 1 c peeled and chopped carrots
• 1 c chopped celery
• 1/4 c tomato paste
• 1 c dry red wine
• 2 c beef stock or low sodium beef broth
• 1 1/2 c hoisin sauce
• 1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 c fresh orange juice (sorry, we didn't squeeze our own juice! Used store bought)
• 2 c water
• Leaves from 1 bunch fresh time, a few sprigs reserved (we used dry, worked fine, but we didn't have the sprigs to use as a garnish at the end)

Directions

• Pat the short ribs dry and season with salt and pepper.
• In a Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed ovenproof pot, heat 1 tbsp of the oil over medium high heat. Sear the short ribs to brown them on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side, and then remove them from the pan. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
• Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil to the pot.
• Add the onions, carrots, celery and saute until caramelized, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Push aside the onion mixture, add the tomato paste, and brown for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Mix in the onion mixture, add the red wine, and stir to scrape up brown bits from the bottom of the pot.
• Reduce the sauce until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the beef stock, hoisin, brown sugar, orange juice, water, thyme leaves, and bring to a simmer.
• Put the ribs back in the pot, cover, and transfer to the oven. Braise the ribs until they are very tender, about 3 hours, checking the pot and stirring every hour.
• Transfer the ribs to a platter and keep warm.
• Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve into a medium saucepan. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then reheat the sauce.
• To serve, divide the short ribs among 4 dinner plates. Top with the sauce and garnish with the thyme sprigs.

We served the short ribs over mashed potatoes and with garlic sauteed spinach. The sauce on the ribs was so delicious that I could have licked my plate. I loved everything about this meal!

We enjoyed dinner with a bottle of Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine really stood up to the beef, and the peppery hints paired perfectly with the dish.