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Braised Beef Pasta Sauce
Difficulty Level Easy
I'm doing something I've never done on Planet Green before. I'm giving you a recipe that took me three days to make. You can do it faster, of course, but taking the time really makes a huge difference in flavour.
I had this idea that I wanted to take a really flavourful, cheap cut of meat and braise it slowly so that I would end up with a thick, chunky sauce that had a lot of depth to it. The actual active time for me was very little, the crock pot did all the work. In the end the pasta sauce was absolutely fabulous, rich and bursting with layers of flavours, going all the way back to the marinade.
I used beef short ribs and marinated them overnight. Then I cooked them for about 6 hours in the crock pot and let them sit for a whole day. On the third day I dug all the bones out and then cooked it for another 4 hours. By that time the meat had broken down to just the right size for the sauce. I'm afraid my photo doesn't really do it justice because I took it the next day when we had leftovers and it had broken down a bit too much by then. I put it over homemade pasta, and it was so rich that there was no need for cheese. Although the meal was inexpensive, this was definitely delicious enough to serve to guests, in fact I made it for my mother-in-law.
The key to this dish is patience. It really wasn't hard at all, you just have to give it the time it needs for all the flavours to blend together. I put half of the wine, tomatoes and stock into the crock pot on the first day, then I put the other half in before I cooked it the second time. I found the sauce had a bit too much liquid, so I cooked it for the last hour and a half with the lid slightly askew to allow some of it to cook off.
INGREDIENTS
| For the Marinade: | |
| 4 ‑5 lbs | beef short ribs |
| 2 cups | red wine |
| 6 | sprigs fresh thyme |
| 2 | fresh bay leaves or 1 dried |
| 1 tablespoon | freshly ground black pepper |
| 1 tablespoon | fennel seed |
| 1 tablespoon | mustard seed |
| 6 cloves | garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped |
| For the Sauce: | |
| 1 | onion, diced |
| 2 cloves | of garlic, minced |
| 2 tbsp | olive oil |
| 3 cups | red wine |
| 3 cups | beef stock |
| 1 28 ounce | can of tomatoes, chopped, with their juice |
| 10‑12 | mushrooms, thinly sliced |
| salt and pepper to taste | |
PREPARATION:
- Place ribs in a large re-sealable bag, or in a large pan and add the marinade ingredients. All to marinate for at least 8 hours and as long as 24.
- In a large skillet heat olive oil and brown ribs in batches over medium high heat. You want to brown them well, so that there is a lot of stuff on the bottom of the pan, because this is the flavour base of the sauce. Once all the ribs are browned, set them into the bottom of the stoneware of your crock pot. Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs from the marinade and pour it into the pan and deglaze it. Allow the marinade to cook down to half the amount you started with.
- Once the marinade has cooked down pour it over the ribs. Return the skillet to the stove and add a bit more olive oil if necessary. Saute the onion until translucent, about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add to the ribs in the crock pot.
- Add half of the wine, half of the stock and half of the tomatoes to the crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Refrigerate the ribs overnight.
- Remove the bones from the ribs, and break up the larger pieces of meat. Return the ribs to the crock pot and add the rest of the wine, stock and tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook over low heat for 4 hours. About 2 hours before serving, add the mushrooms to the sauce and stir. If there is too much liquid, put the lid on sideways and allow the liquid to evaporate until you have the consistency you desire. Serve over pasta.
The marinade was adapted from Gourmet, October, 2006.
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