It’s a sad fact of life that most men are hopeless at Organised Romance. “Valentine’s Day is just an excuse for Hallmark to sell more cards and for florists to hike the price of flowers,” they’ll say. “And anyway I’ve just spent four hours putting twigs through the chipper to make mulch for your flower beds.”
My man is more into red meat than red roses and has zero interest in the sort of sweet treats that fill magazine pages in the run up to February 14. So if your significant other is more Desperate Dan than the Cadbury’s Milk Tray Man, you might like to indulge him/her with this recipe for beef short ribs.
The ribs I got were enormous, even by Dan’s standards, so I allocated one per person and there was a gracious plenty. They’re incredibly good value and given the slow-cooked boeuf bourguignon treatment, they fall off the bone and melt in your mouth. The recipe is best begun a day ahead.
Burgundian Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients:
4 beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
20 baby onions, peeled
250g mushrooms, whole if possible, quartered if large
80g streaky bacon cut into lardons
300 ml red wine
500 ml beef stock (home-made is good, stock cube is fine)
Oil for frying
1 clove garlic, peeled
A bouquet garni of bay leaves, parsley and thyme
Beurre manié or cornflour, to thicken
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.
Heat some oil in a cast iron casserole and brown the ribs on all sides. Don’t rush this, you want a good, dark colour. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Using the fat in the pan, brown the onions all over. Remove and set aside. Now do the same with the mushrooms, but keep them separate as they get put into the stew later in the process.
Then fry the bacon in the same pan until it’s given up most of its fat. Remove and set aside with the onions.
Pour off the fat and de-glaze the pan with the red wine, letting it sizzle up, then put the beef, onions and bacon back into the pan. Add the stock, garlic and bouquet garni and check the seasoning.
Use plenty of ground black pepper but don’t go too mad with the salt because of the bacon. Give it a stir, making sure the ribs are more or less submerged.
Cover and place in the oven and cook for two to two and a half hours then carefully remove from the oven and skim off any fat, or if you’re eating it the next day, chill it and remove the fat.
Remove the ribs and keep warm while you thicken the sauce, to taste, with beurre manié or cornflour (mixed with a little water).
Stir in the mushrooms, or add them just before you reheat the casserole next day. Return to the oven for a further half hour or so, until the meat is falling off the bones and piping hot.
Remove the bouquet garni and check the sauce is to your liking, adding more seasoning if necessary. Try the ribs with a buttery but stiff mash and the veg of your choice and with plenty of the gravy poured over.
I love short ribs. Sadly my Dan is not such a fan
Shame! Not really the sort of thing you bother cooking just for yourself. Well, I might …
I too love short ribs but my Dan wouldn’t touch them. However, he IS having the strawberry pancakes tomorrow for brunch and I know he’s going to love them.
Oh dear, I now feel I’ve been guilty of male stereotyping! You’ll have to come to lunch at ours. Delighted to hear you’re making him the strawberry pancakes, hope he likes them. 🙂
Perfection!!! Valentine’s Day? What’s that?
Lol, darned if I know, Mimi. 🙂
Oh, these look amazing! I love this recipe, and will make these for myself, with or without a man for company! Thanks, Linda!
Ha, I have to confess that I would, too. You might also like the recent recipe for the ribs cooked in a tagine. Yum. Have a great weekend. xx
Now what a coincidence, I am really beginning to think that our husbands must have been separated at birth: I just wrote nearly the same sentence, my husband is more into steak than lobster, that’s why his Valentine’s Day treat is a big piece of meat resting in the fridge next to my wonderful lobster…
Wonderful burgundian treatment of short ribs – I am never one to push a boeuf bourguignon from my plate and using short ribs might make this a more frequent dinner in our house. Happy Valentine’s Day, Nicole
I think perhaps we were, too, Nicole. I’d choose lobster over meat, too, but Him Outdoors is less than enthusiastic. How lucky that I can eat an entire lobster unaided. 🙂 Thanks for the kind words and happy Valentine’s to you too. L
xxx
We must two of a kind, no problem with single lobster consumption, I think I might meet my match tomorrow, was a bit over enthusiastic when I bought this one. N xxx
Oh, it’s just a day. And those ribs would be great any day!
Yes, Valentine’s is when we usually look at each other and say ‘um, didn’t get you a card’. You know what they say here, ‘a dog isn’t just for Christmas’? Same applies to beef ribs and Valentine’s. 😀
This sounds like a great way to prepare short ribs, Linda. I’ve never seen them cut so large. What a treat! And I agree with Michelle. I’d serve these ribs any day and be very happy when I do. 🙂
Yes, they were huge this time, they looked like they’d been cut from a woolly mammoth. Thanks once again for the kind words. Lx
Short ribs are such luscious meat. This sounds like a great way to prepare them.
Thanks, S.A. Mammoths a speciality. Bring your own club!
I really like your idea of using beef short ribs in this classic recipe. Your photos certainly make it look enticing.
Thanks, Karen, so pleased you like it. Hope you give it a go some time! Lx