Beef Short Ribs & Tomato Ragoût

In thinking about naming this dish, I was content to leave the word "sauce" in the title because that's what its original author called it. Published on an interesting site called The Pioneer Woman, I modified this recipe a bit more to my liking and decided that I wasn't really left with a tomato sauce. Originally intended to be served over pasta, which would be lovely, the original contained more liquid than my version, which was not intended to be served over anything (although the dish would be good on flat noodles, rice or even cornbread). So, I sat about going through my cookbooks for a better description.

I thought about relish, but that's wasn't really it, either. Then, I happened upon a cooking term seldom used anymore - a ragoût - a thick, rich, well-seasoned stew of meat, poultry or fish that can be made with or without vegetables. That's it exactly!

Stewing means braising, a method of cooking tough cuts of meat for long periods of time in liquid, and that is what I did with this dish.  The meat will be falling off the bone, which makes it easy to serve them on top of butter noodles with lots of the delicious gravy.

Ingredients

8-12 beef short ribs
4 tbsp canola oil
1 14.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes (like, Hunt's)
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 tsp minced garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1 to 1-1/2 cups beef stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
1 tsp ground thyme
3 tsp smoked salt
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
pepper to taste

The Recipe

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

In a heavy Dutch oven, heat the canola oil over medium high heat.  Using smoked salt, salt and pepper all sides of the short ribs, and then brown all sides of each rib, about two minutes per side, or eight minutes total.

Remove the ribs to a platter.  Add a bit more oil if necessary, and then saute the onions until they become slightly caramelized, about five minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the tomatoes and saute another five minutes or so.  Add the tomato sauce, wine, thyme and cayenne.

Return the ribs to the Dutch oven and finish with as much beef stock as you need to submerge all the ribs in the cooking sauce. Place the cover on the Dutch oven, and cook in the 325 degree oven for four hours.

Remove the ribs from the the oven and you'll notice that the sauce, or ragoût has cooked way down, and the ribs are deliciously browned on all sides.

Add more beef stock if the sauce has evaporated too far. 

You can either use a fat separator to remove the grease, or place the gravy into a container and refrigerator overnight, but refrigerate the ribs in a separate container..The next day, you will see that all the fat has risen to the top of the sauce in an orange "fat cap" which can be removed and discarded.

Return the sauce and the ribs to a casserole dish with a tight fitting lid and heat through in a 350 degree oven, about forty minutes.