Cook Like an Italian

Here's an easy meal that Allie and I have been loving lately. From your local grocery store you'll need the following items: beef short ribs (2-3 per person), a bottle of cheap merlot (nothing more than 10 dollars, but drinkable), chicken stock, a carrot, a small onion, a few stalks of celery, and a few cloves of garlic. These are pretty much the only ingredients you'll need.

Preheat oven to 350.

First, sprinkle your short ribs with salt and pepper. Next, in a large pot over high heat, cover the bottom of the pot with olive oil. Get the oil smoking hot (open a window before beginning the cooking) and gently place in two ribs (meat side down) at a time using tongs. Let the ribs cook for at least 3-4 minutes on each side, don't move them around, just let them sit in the oil. Let the meat get really brown before flipping the ribs to brown the other side. after another few minutes place the ribs into a large baking pan. After repeating the process for all of the ribs, set them aside.

In that same pot with all of the delicious meaty oil, add in the roughly chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic (peeled and left whole). Cook these for a few minutes. Next step is to add the red wine and chicken stock in a 3:1 portion wine to chicken stock. Depending on the number of ribs you're cooking, it could be the full bottle, also add a small can of peeled stewed tomatoes. Bring this mixture to a boil for a few minutes. Carefully pour the contents of this pot over the ribs in the baking pan. Sprinkle some rosemary and oregano over the top and then cover with foil. Pop it in the oven for 2 - 3 hours depending on the amount of meat you've cooked. When done the meat should have pulled away from the bone, this is a very good thing.

Next, pull out all of the ribs and set aside once again. Strain the broth (now more like a sauce) from the veggies back into the big pot that you'd been using earlier. Crank the burner up to full blast and let the broth reduce by half, it will become very dark and rich.

Pour this reduced sauce over your ribs and serve with a side of mashed potatoes if you're in America or with polenta if you're in Italy!

Side note, you can do this preparation with pretty much any of the tougher, more worked cuts of meat, just ask the butcher which is the best cut for braising. Should be rather inexpensive. You can also substitute water for the wine, but that's no fun!