Mmm…this was the cover recipe from the October (2007) Bon Appetit magazine.
Hubby LOVED this. It would really be better once the weather’s colder, but we live in Texas, so we could be waiting for a while for that to happen. I buy my short ribs at Costco and they don’t have them all year – they arrive when the weather starts to get colder. When I first saw this recipe, they didn’t have them yet, so I’ve had this recipe in my “want to try” pile for a while now.
I cut the recipe in half, because the Costco short ribs come in a smaller package than the recipe calls for. They are also boneless, but they substitute just fine. Since they didn’t have bones, I sliced them to serve them, but they were so tender, they almost fell apart when I pulled them out of the baking dish. Everything else, I followed to the letter. I did use the “bake ahead” instructions, which was helpful, because after the ribs were refrigerated a while, the congealed fat could be picked right up off the surface. I know – ew- but it did make things easy – none of that skimming with a spoon and not catching it all. Don’t be tempted to skip the gremolata; it really does add just the right fresh, bright note. I reduced my sauce a bit too much and it was a bit thicker than it should have been. Other than that, this was fantastic! I added some green beans, but a salad would have been nice, too.
I used a pretty good quality Cabernet – Souverain Alexander Valley ($30+ per bottle) – better than I would normally use just for cooking – but it was really yummy and I had it left over (I’ve been saving it for a meal that I deemed “worthy”) from our Christmas Prime Rib dinner. I meant to get to the grocery store over the weekend and buy a “lesser” Cabernet to cook it in, and then I was going to serve it with the Souverain, but that didn’t happen, so I went with what I had on hand…. Of course, that meant that I had to buy a second bottle of the Souverain today to drink with it – we couldn’t cook the meat in something fabulous and then drink something inferior with it when we ate it! But this did mean that we had over $60 tied up in tonight’s dinner, just for the wine (not to mention the beef, gorgonzola, fresh herbs, etc.)! The really sad thing is that Hubby (who has no idea what the wines cost that I normally buy – usually around $12 – $15) noticed the difference in the wine quality instantly: “Mmmm… this is really good wine.” I guess you really do get what you pay for.
This is how we made the kid’s plates (food separated – very important). Girl liked the sauce and the gremolata. Boy preferred his meat plain.
