Recipe: Braised Beef Short Ribs by Mark Hix
This is a great weekend recipe when it’s rainy and cold outside, the meat will fall off the bone once cooked low and slow. Serve this with a nice buttery mash, creamy polenta or lightly buttered root vegetables.
Recipe courtesy of Mark Hix
Ingredients
- 4 large beef short ribs, cut to about 10cm
- 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
- 2tbsp flour
- 1tsp tomato purée
- 300ml red wine
- 2 litres beef stock
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- A few sprigs of thyme
- 5 black peppercorns
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
-
Step 1
Pre-heat the oven to 220C/Gas mark 7.
-
Step 2
Place the ribs in a roasting tray, season and scatter 1tbsp of the flour on them. Cook them in the oven with the onion and celery for 30-40 minutes, turning every so often until nicely browned.
-
Step 3
Transfer the vegetables and ribs to a heavy-bottomed saucepan, leaving any fat in the pan. Add the rest of the flour and tomato purée to the roasting pan and stir over a low heat on top of the stove for a minute. Gradually add the red wine and beef stock, stirring well to avoid lumps forming. Bring to the boil and add to the pan with the ribs and vegetables. Add the bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns, season and cover.
-
Step 4
Turn the oven down to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Place the pan in the oven and cook for 1.5 hours, or until the meat is tender. Check it by removing a piece from the pot, it should be almost falling off the bone without being too soft.
-
Step 5
Remove the ribs from the sauce, strain the sauce through a fine sieve and simmer it until it thickens to a rich gravy-like coating consistency. Return the ribs to the sauce to reheat.
-
Step 6
Serve the ribs and thickened sauce with mashed potato and seasonal vegetables.