What Katie Ate: Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs

I've always liked the meltingly delicious quality of good short ribs, but it seemed like quite a task to find a recipe that actually had some flavor.  I experimented with a recipe of Marcus Samuelsson's, which included Sriracha hot sauce, but everything just tasted muddy by the end.  And I felt like I had wasted $20 worth of meat.  It kinda scared me off of short rib recipes for a while.

Somehow I stumbled upon the blog What Katie Ate, and she had this amazing drool-worthy photograph of perfect short ribs resting on a bed of fluffy mashed potatoes.  Since I was practically licking the screen, I figured I should probably give it a chance.  I mean, with wine, tomato sauce, and Dijon mustard, there has to be flavor there, right?  Yes, yes there is flavor.  So much flavor that I was using my finger to scrape the last drips of sauce off the bottom of my bowl.  I'm so glad no one is around to see me when I'm being an all-out glutton.  I'd never live it down.

Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs
Adapted from the What Katie Ate blog

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced
1 bunch baby carrots with green tops, trimmed
3 celery stalks, sliced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 thyme sprigs
1 rosemary sprig
⅓ cup flour
8 beef short ribs (about 2 pounds)
2 cups red wine (such as Shiraz)
1¾ cups beef stock
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 bay leaves

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Cook the onion, carrots, and celery for 8 to 10 minutes, until just beginning to color.  Add the garlic, thyme, and rosemary, and cook for a further couple of minutes.  Remove from the pan and place in the bottom of a slow cooker.

Season the flour generously with salt and pepper.  Coat the short ribs well in the flour.  Heat the remaining oil in the pan and brown the short ribs in 2 batches until golden, adding any remaining flour with the second batch of ribs.  Remove the ribs from the pan and place on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker.

Add the wine to the pan to deglaze, and reduce it by half, scraping the bottom of the pan to release any sediment.  Add the stock, tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves, and stir to combine.  Pour the sauce over the ribs and vegetables in the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours, stirring occasionally.  Season to taste.

Makes 4 servings