Braised Beef Short Ribs with a Horseradish Gremolata

Beef Short ribs are one of the most rewarding and flavorful cuts of beef if you are willing to put in some time and attention. And most of the cooking time is passive once you get all the ingredients in the pot!

A good red wine is key: despite the common lore that it doesn’t matter what quality of wine you use in cooking since the alcohol will be “cooked off” there is a real difference between a bland jug wine and one that is made with care and provides a lively acidity and lots of red fruit: Chianti, Rioja and Burgundy styles are great in this dish.

Course: Main Course

Servings: 4 people

Author: Katy Sparks

Ingredients

For the Short Ribs

5-6 lbs Grass Fed Beef Short Ribs
2 Tbsp olive oil or bacon fat
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 cup Crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 750 ml bottle Good red wine (Chianti, Rioja, or Burgundy)
4 cups beef broth or 2 cups of veal demi glace plus equal amount of water
1 bay leaf
Salt, pepper, and freshly ground coriander for seasoning

For the Gremolata

2 cloves garlic, minced
zest of one lemon
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients just before serving

Instructions

Braising the ribs:
Season the ribs on all sides with salt and pepper and a little freshly ground coriander seed. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a dutch oven and brown the ribs on all sides. Remove the ribs and sauté the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the pan. Add the wine and simmer 5 minutes. Add the ribs back in to the pot and add the heated beef stock or (veal demi glace with water).
Add bay leaf, bring to a simmer and then turn down the heat and cover. You want the ribs to stay at a gentle simmer the entire time. You can place the dutch oven in a 300 degree oven if your stove top is a little hard to monitor. Turn the ribs once per hour and let them cook gently for 3 ½ hours. You will notice that many bones come out of the ribs which is also how you can tell that the ribs are nice and tender.
Transfer the ribs and the sauce into a large and shallow container and once cooled to room temperature put them in the refrigerator overnight. This achieves two things.
First, it makes the fat easy to remove as it will congeal on the top of the container and there will be fat!
Second, the overnight aging will help deepen the flavor of the dish in a wonderful way.
Reheat the meal in the oven until warmed through. Serve with horseradish gremolata.
Consider serving the meal with mashed potatoes or anything else that will pair well with the rich gravy from the pan.

Notes

There's a hidden bonus to cooking short ribs. The meal keeps on giving. You can save the bones for another round of slow-cooking to make a bone broth for the foundation for another meal. And all the fat your skimmed? Try saving some and substituting when roasting diced potatoes in place of oil. Potatoes roasted or fried in beef tallow are quite a treat!