The ribs in this dish are among my husband's favorite food. He is a voracious carnivore and the rub on them is wonderful. They can stand on their own, served with whipped potatoes or fries, or you can make the entire recipe with the stroganoff and pasta. This morning, my husband ate the leftover ribs with eggs... Like I said, he likes meat. This recipe is a modification of Tyler Florence's Beef Stroganoff with Buttered Noodles.
The recipe calls for three pounds of boneless beef short ribs. Sometimes I have trouble finding them and use country style ribs instead, but I think the short ribs are better for the recipe, if you see them at the market. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
We are going to rub the ribs down with a paste of garlic, olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.
I LOVE garlic, so I start by taking a handful of garlic cloves
and roughly chopping them up. If you think this is going to be too much garlic for you, only use about 4 cloves to my 10.
Put the garlic in a bowl and grind about a tablespoon of fresh black pepper over it.
You want to use a course grinder so you have lots of big chunks.
Next, add a a generous tablespoon of Kosher salt to the garlic mixture.
You want to use Kosher salt because the big crystals have a large surface area. This makes it excellent for rubs.
Add enough olive oil to the bowl
to make a nice paste. I used several tablespoons.
Lastly, add the herbs to the mixture. I one sprig of rosemary and several springs of thyme.
I removed the leaves from the herbs and coarsely chopped them before adding them to the garlic.
Now you are ready to put the rub on the meat. I always line a jelly roll pan with foil when making these ribs because it makes for easy clean up.
I use my hands to coat the top of each rib with the paste and then put them in the preheated oven.
The ribs will cook for 2 1/2 hours total, but after an hour, I pull them out and cover them with another piece of foil
before cooking for the remaining hour and a half. If you don't do this, I think they get too dry and I like them tender and moist. You can pull the foil back off for the last 10 to 15 minutes if you like to make sure the ribs are nicely browned. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I forget.
While the ribs are cooking, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients for the stroganoff.
Dice two shallots and two cloves of garlic.
Then take 1 1/2 pounds of crimini or white button mushrooms and quarter them. You could slice them, but lately, I've become enamored with the quartered mushroom because it just seems more substantial in a dish.
Keep chopping until you have a very large pile.
For the rest of the sauce, you will need brandy, whipping cream, Dijon mustard and sour cream.
Prepare and set aside a bowl with 1/2 cup of sour cream and 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
Also chop and set aside 3 tablespoons of butter, 1/4 cup of Italian parsley and 2 green onions.
Totally off topic, when I took this picture, I realized that it was one of my favorite times a day, when the sun shining through our leaded windows works its way across our kitchen.
Funny how you notice things through the lens of your camera that you can completely miss otherwise...
Back to cooking... When the ribs have about 15 minutes left to go, add several tablespoons of olive oil to a large saute pan with the mushrooms. At the same time, bring a sauce pan of salted water to a boil for the egg noodles.
Cook the mushrooms for about five minutes or until nicely browned.
Add the shallots and garlic to the pan and toss to combine, seasoning with salt and pepper.
Continue to cook for several more minutes and then add 1/4 cup of brandy to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the saute pan
and then add 2 cups of heavy cream.
Season again with salt and pepper and simmer until the cream is reduced by half.
Once reduced, remove from the heat and add the sour cream and Dijon mustard. Stir to combine.
When the ribs come out, they should be nicely browned and tender.
They will fall apart if you press them with the side of a fork.
Drain the egg noddles and mix with three tablespoons of butter. Top a pile of buttered egg noodles with stroganoff, two to three ribs and garnish with the Italian parsley and green onions.
Now take just a little bit more of the stroganoff and pour it over the ribs.
You really can't have too much cream or butter in your diet! Enjoy, preferably with a nice glass of red wine.
10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped, plus 2 cloves, minced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 T olive oil, divided
1 spring fresh rosemary, leaves removed and roughly chopped
3 springs thyme, leaves removed and roughly chopped
3 lbs boneless beef short ribs
1 1/2 lbs white button mushrooms, quartered
2 shallots, diced
1/4 cup brandy
2 cups heavy cream
1 T Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lb egg noddles
3 T butter
1/4 cup Italian parsley, roughly chopped
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Mix 10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped with about a tablespoon of freshly ground pepper and a tablespoon of Kosher salt. Add enough olive oil to the bowl to make a thick paste. Add the chopped rosemary and thyme to the mixture. Lay the ribs on a jelly rolls pan covered with foil and cover with the garlic rub. Cook uncovered for an hour and then tent the ribs with foil and continue to cook for another hour and a half, removing the foil and cooking uncovered again for the last 10 minutes.
Add several tablespoons of olive oil to a large saute pan with the mushrooms and cook for about five minutes or until nicely browned. Add the shallots and garlic to the pan and toss to combine, seasoning with salt and pepper. Continue to cook for several more minutes and then add 1/4 cup of brandy to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the saute pan and then add the heavy cream.
Season again with salt and pepper and simmer until the cream is reduced by half. Once reduced, remove from the heat and add the sour cream and Dijon mustard. Stir to combine.
Prepare the egg noodles as directed, drain and mix with three tablespoons of butter. Top pasta with stroganoff, two to three ribs and garnish with the Italian parsley and green onions.
This is one of my favorite Italian meat sauces, because it is just a little bit different than a traditional dish. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of my husbands signature spaghetti and meatballs, and someday soon, I'll share that recipe, because they are out of this world, but today, I'm going to show you Pork Ragù. I'm pretty sure that I modified this recipe from one I found in Food and Wine. I did a quick search online, and this looks like the original, but I do it a little different.
Start with a big hunk of meat. You have some flexibility here. I usually use about 3 1/2 to 4 lbs of boneless pork shoulder. Today, because it is what came home with my husband from the grocery store, I'm using a 4 lb bone-in pork sirloin roast. You can also use a veal shoulder.
You want to cut the meat up into large chunks. You can also cut off the big hunks of fat that might be on there and, if you have 'em, throw it at your dogs. They love me when I cook!
Here is my meat all cut up. The big piece in front actually is this large because my cut was bone-in, but it is all good. If you are using a bone-in cut, just remember to pull out the bone at the end of cooking the sauce. The meat will literally fall off.
You want to pat your meat dry so that it will brown nicely,
lay it out in a single layer, and season with salt and pepper.
Top it with a sprinkling of flour,
flip it over and season the other side.
In a large enameled cast-iron skillet, heat about 1/4 cup of olive oil and brown the pork in batches over medium high heat.
You want to get all sides of the meat nice and brown
and then transfer the meat to a plate. Make sure you set the meat far enough back on the counter that the dogs, whom you have lured into the kitchen with the promise of fat, can't reach it. Our sauce had a little less meat than originally intended. (Insert your favorite swear word here)
Back to the cutting board. Take one medium sweet onion
and dice it up.
and take 5 (or so) garlic cloves
and mince them.
Finally, take a nice spring of rosemary,
remove the leaves from the stem and coarsely chop it.
Now, add another 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pan you browned the meat in and stir in the onion and garlic.
To this, you want to add about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of coriander seeds and 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of fennel seeds.
I have this really cool grinder that I got from my mother in law that grinds whole spices beautifully, but you can use spices that you have bought ground from the grocery store just as effectively. Stir the spices into the garlic and onion mixture and cook over low heat for about five minutes.
Measure a little over 1 1/2 cups of red wine
and add to the onion mixture. Boil for about 5 minutes, until reduced to roughly 1/3 of cup.
While the sauce is reducing, open two 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes.
Drain the tomatoes in a colander
and then very roughly chop.
When the wine is reduced, add the tomatoes to the pan.
Stir it all up and cook over medium heat for another five minutes.
Next, you want to find four cups of some sort of stock. You can use chicken or veal. I had beef and chicken stock frozen in my freezer, so I grabbed four. I think that I used 3 cups of chicken and 1 cup of beef. You can use canned stock or reconstituted stock.
Since mine was frozen, I just broke it up and threw it in the pan. It is hot. It will melt. I added the chopped rosemary to the top and stirred it all together as the stock thawed.
When it was boiling again, I add the meat back into the pan
moved it back the simmer burner, partially covered and left it alone for a two hours. However, I have a disclaimer. You want to check the pot every thirty minutes or so to make sure that your liquid hasn't evaporated. If it looks like it is getting dry, add some more stock or wine. I didn't have to add any today, but I often do need to.
After two hours, when you pick up the meat with your tongs, it should literally fall apart. In fact, you want to pick up all the meat and break it up, removing any bones you find if you were using a bone-in cut. While you are breaking it up, boil some salted water and prepare, according to the directions, your pasta of choice. I have found a tubular pasta works best for holding the liquid in the sauce.
When you are ready to eat, grate a nice pile of Parmesan cheese
and chop up some Italian parsley for garnish.
Usually I plate my pasta and put the sauce on top, but for this dish, you want the sauce to really coat the pasta,
so I mix it up in a bowl
before putting it on individual plates.
And now, see all that liquid at the bottom of the bowl, you don't want to miss that. It is absolutely yummy when sopped up with a piece of crusty bread,
so use a spoon to drizzle it over each serving of pasta. Top the pasta with a little Parmesan and parsley and enjoy!
2 28 oz cans of whole tomatoes, drained and roughly chopped
4 cups chicken stock
1 spring rosemary, coarsely chopped
2 lbs pennette
1/2 c Parmesan, grated
1/2 c Italian parsley, chopped
Cut the pork shoulder into large 3" chunks and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper and dust with flour.
Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large enameled cast-iron skillet and brown the pork in batches over medium high heat. When all sides of the meat are nice and brown, transfer to a plate.
Add the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pan you browned the meat in and stir in the onion, garlic, coriander and fennel. Cook over low heat for about five minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of red wine to the onion mixture and boil for about 5 minutes, until reduced to roughly 1/3 of cup. When the wine is reduced, add the tomatoes and cook over medium heat for another five minutes. Add the stock and rosemary and bring to a boil. Add the pork, cover partially and cook over low heat until very tender, about 2 hours, adding more wine or stock as needed.
When the meat falls apart when picked up with your tongs, break it up into the sauce.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pennette until al dente. Drain and return to the pot or a bowl. Add the ragù and toss until the pasta is coated. Serve with cheese and Italian parsley at the table.
