Braised Short Ribs

Recently dear hubby was gone for a week and I wanted to make a nice dinner for his first night back.  But, I had to plan ahead since I was going to be out of the house the whole day before he returned.  So down to the freezer I go and the Short ribs from the happy pig we purchased last year jumped out at me.

What to do next?  Head to the Internet to look for the perfect recipe!  What should I find but a Braised Short Rib recipe from Tom Colicchio on the Food and Wine website.  Now I've seen Tom comment on short ribs multiple times on the Top Chef show, so I think, surely this is an excellent recipe!  It has many steps, but that's ok, I had the time throughout the week, just not the day of dinner.

You can find the Braised Short Rib recipe from Tom Colicchio by clicking on the link in this line.

You must start this recipe at least one day in advance.  First, brown the short ribs - they already look and smell yummy!

Next, saute the vegetables and mix with wine and thyme.  Pour over the ribs and refrigerate overnight.

Next day, add the chicken stock and cook in the oven.  I followed it through this step (step 3 in the recipe) and then refrigerated it again.  Also, before refrigerating it again, I took the sauce without the thyme sprigs and pureed all the vegetables into it.  Yum!

Finally, I baked it again until the meat was falling off the bones and the sauce had reduced (maybe a little too much), but it was amazing.  I set this out with a bottle of red wine, a salad with homemade blue cheese dressing, and egg noodles with buttered breadcrumbs.  A great way to catch up after a week apart.

What's your favorite relaxing "catch up" meal?