Valentine's Day recipes - grace grits and gardening

Looking for something special to cook that special someone? This recipe for bone-in short ribs made my husband swoon during the Christmas holidays, so it may just work for your romantic Valentine’s Day dinner.

Since I had never made bone-in short ribs, I read various recipes before coming up with my own—not that I thought I could improve upon greatness. I simply wanted to use what I had on hand (like shallots and apples) instead of making another trip to the grocery store for additional ingredients (like pancetta). I’m ~~lazy~~ resourceful that way.

My bone-in-short ribs turned out amazing. Falling-off-the-bone-tender. I’ll be making this again soon!

Bone-in Short Ribs. Amazing.

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Ingredients

8 bone-in short ribs
2 tablespoons bacon drippings or olive oil
3 carrots diced
1/2 medium white onion chopped
2 shallots chopped
2 cloves garlic diced
1/2 Honeycrisp apple diced
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 cups red wine
2 cups beef broth
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Step 1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously salt and pepper the ribs. Spray a dutch oven with non-stick spray and heat bacon drippings on high. (You do have bacon drippings, don’t you? If not, fry up a few pieces of bacon or use olive oil…) Brown ribs in hot oil about 2 minutes per side. Brown in batches if necessary to avoid crowding. Remove and set aside.

Step 2

In the same pan with the oil, cook onions, shallots, garlic, apple and carrots on medium-high heat. (I love Honeycrisp apples and happened to have one so I threw it in. It added a nice sweetness to the mix.)

Let the veggies hang out in the pan and caramelize. This step will take a few minutes. Your kitchen will already smell amazing. When the carrot mixture is softened and caramelized, add the fire-roasted tomatoes and cook another few minutes.

Step 3

Add wine and bring to a boil. Let reduce five minutes or so then add broth, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves. Simmer another 10-15 minutes so all the flavors blend together.

Step 4

Add ribs to the dish and pop it in the oven (covered) for 2-2.5 hours. Turn meat a couple of times during roasting, otherwise leave it in peace to quietly roast.

Reduce heat to 325 degree and cook another 30-45 minutes uncovered to thoroughly brown (almost char).

Step 5

Let the meat rest (covered) 20-30 minutes before serving. This allows all the juices to redistribute back into the meat, otherwise it will spill out onto your plate leaving the meat dry. Spoon the juicy bits on top to serve.

In short, amazingness.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Bone-in Short Ribs. Amazing.

Ingredients

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