THIS IS GENIUS AND SOOOO EASY. It’s a Gordon Ramsay.
I always thought his recipes would be complicated, but they are generally super simple! Slow-cook meals are perfect for when you don’t have too much prep time…. Or if you’re not particularly mobile, as I found:
I was inspired by Ramsay’s recipe, listed here.
HERE’S MY TAKE:
INGREDIENTS:
Serves 4.
- Olive oil for frying
- 12 thick-cut meaty beef short ribs
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 large head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
- 3 cloves of garlic crushed
- 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
- 1 x 750ml bottle red wine
- litre beef stock
- 250g small chestnut mushrooms, trimmed and halved
- 3 rashers of turkey bacon or pancetta
*Don’t forget to scroll down for your Savory Sounds cooking soundtrack.
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/350°F.
- In a deep-sided roasting tray, heat a glug of olive oil.
- Season the short ribs generously with the salt and pepper
- Fry each rib fry in oil, brown well on all sides. (If your pan can’t take all the ribs at the same time, brown them in batches. Be sure to return all the ribs to the pan, once ready.)
- Add the halved garlic head, cut side down, pushing it to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the tomato purée to the oil heat for a minute or two.
- Pour in the wine. Bring to the boil and then simmer until all the alcohol evaporates (you won’t be able to smell the alcohol once it’s evaporated). It usually takes about for 10–15 minutes. The liquid should also reduce by about a half.
- Add stock to nearly cover the ribs (you’ll need more/less stock depending on the size of the pan).
- Bring to the boil again.
- Cover the roasting tray with foil and cook in the preheated oven for 2.5-3 hours. Chuck the whole lot in the oven for 2.5-3 hours (the longer, the better), and get on with your life until it’s ready!
- About 10 minutes before the short ribs are ready to come out, fry the turkey bacon/pancetta for 2–3minutes until crisp and golden.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes until tender. Drain off any excess fat.
- When the short ribs are ready, remove from the oven and transfer to a serving dish.
- Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and pass through a sieve. Spoon off any excess fat from the beef cooking juices, then strain it through the sieve and mix with the garlic. (If the sauce is too thin, reduce the cooking liquid by heating for 10–15minutes more after straining.) **For a casual family dinner, I don’t bother sieving the garlic and cooking juices. I just spoon them over the beef, straight from the pot.
- Serve the short ribs topped with turkey bacon/pancetta and mushrooms and the sauce poured around.
This is definitely one of my faves. It’s a great dinner party meal and looks very impressive!
SAVORY SOUNDS
WHAT ARE MY SONGS OF CHOICE FOR THIS HEARTY DISH? I’m not sure why, but this meaty meal inspired me to listen to songs from down under, including this FAB remix of Down Under:
Speaking of new takes on old songs, I love the bass in this:
And one more. A Jay-Z classic remixed:
