Where's the Beef?

Beef is a sort of tough finger food, literally.  Alex and I don't eat a ton of red meat but when we do it is most often in the form of a steak, remember this one?  Yum.  But as the twins are still working on the whole growing teeth thing, steak just doesn't work for them.  We have done burgers of course... but ground beef shouldn't be the whole of their beef experience!

Short ribs are usually something we do in the winter; a nice hearty beef dish with a risotto or potato gratin. However, we knew the tender texture of the shredded short ribs would be perfect for mashing between toothless gums so we decided to make them this past weekend despite the summer heat.  Instead of a heavy warm side, we made a light cucumber salad to go with them.  It was delicious, a great family meal.  We made the salad during the morning nap and the short ribs were cooking in the oven while we all splashed in the kids' new hippo pool in the backyard. (Sorry no pictures of that, the kids prefer to skinny dip and we don't need THOSE kind of pictures on the internet!)  All in all it was a great Sunday and we had a great Sunday meal.


Short ribs are something we've been making for a while so we don't use a recipe.  The key is just cooking them low and slow with a lot of red wine.  How could it be bad, right?

Braised Short Ribs
3lbs bone-in short ribs
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp butter
1 bottle of red wine
4 cups vegetable stock (or beef, use what you have!)
5 sage leaves
3 sprigs of rosemary
5 sprigs of thyme

Before

Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Season the short ribs on both sides with salt and pepper.  In a large dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt the butter.  Brown the short ribs on all sides.  Next add your bottle of wine and the rest of the ingredients to your pot and bring it to a boil.  Once it begins to bowl, transfer the pot into the oven and cook, covered, for about 2 1/2 hours.  The meat will be falling of the bones.  Transfer the meat to plates (or highchair trays!) and serve!  You won't even need a knife for this one; the meat will fall apart with just a fork.  So tender and juicy.  Enjoy!

After