Short Ribs?

My girlfriend has been bugging me. . . I mean, urging me to write a second post, she even suggested topics. First, she suggested the place we stayed when I visited her in Singapore. We went to the Malaysian island Pulau Kapas, to a beautiful property called Turtle Valley. I thought yes, I would like to write/review that place

Then last night we were talking while I was cooking dinner for my mom and sister and she asked "what are you making?" I replied "Beef short ribs" . Mmmm she said, "You should write the recipe and post it in your blog, yeah!!.... and you could take pictures and...don't touch it before you take a picture!!...

Ok ! ok ! I replied and took the pictures, not knowing if I would write about them or not.

She is right,...this is one of the reasons for this blog and it's name "Mouthful" writing about things which interest me like cooking, eating, travel, living well, and of course my transition to ESL teaching expat.

I don't have a recipe for beef short ribs, Nor have I ever cooked them....That's how it all got started, I asked my mom if she'd ever cooked them before, and how to do it... she hadn't really either. A few days later she went to the local grocery and brought home short ribs.

So I jump online to scour the Food Network and Cooks Illustrated, oh and Chow.com for short rib recipes. Hundreds of ways to cook short ribs, from simply putting them in a slow cooker with a jar of barbeque sauce to complicated Korean style, Zinfandel glazed or honey vinegar concoctions.

Each recipe had some ingredient I didn't have or a laborious technique I wasn't prepared to endure. That's one of the reasons I like the social networking/foodie sites like Chow.com or Allreciepes.com, people post simple recipes or just the technique to cook it.

So I looked through the recipes and checked them against the fridge and pantry and I decided on a red wine braise.

I had;

• 2 pounds of beef short ribs
• 1 Onion (chopped)
• 3 Celery ribs (chopped)
• Red wine (about 2 cups)
• Boxed Chicken stock (about 1 cup)
• 2 Carrots(chopped)
• Garlic (minced in a jar)
• Canned fire roasted tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Russet potatoes (cubed)
• Salt and Pepper

Heat the the oven to 350 degrees F. ( I always wonder about pre-heating, how do you heat before you heat...)

A lot of the recipes read just like a pot roast, so that's how I would treat the ribs. I seasoned the ribs and let them sit and come to room temperature, I put some olive oil in a hot large skillet, then browned the ribs in batches. I let them brown real well to develop a good fond (that caramelized brown gunk left behind) that's braising gold. I took the ribs out, threw in the onion, celery and carrot and let them cook...I wanted to build some great layers of flavors, I didn't have any fresh herbs like Thyme, that would have been really nice. But I had some dried Oregano and Cumin.

After the root veggies cooked down a bit I tossed in the garlic about 6 cloves let them cook a little then deglazed with the canned Tomatoes and their liquid, then added the Wine and Stock to the party. I cooked it all on high for just a few minutes to heat through and combine, reduce and generally just get yummy.

I added the ribs, let everyone get acquainted, put a lid on and put it in the oven to cook low and slow for about an hour and a half. I was going to roast the potatoes but decided to mash them instead, to make a nice fluffy bed for the ribs and a sponge for the lovely sauce which would develop.

Now we wait....I know I know it will be worth it, but I am all about instant gratification..