We Climb the Short Rib Because It's There

Hello & Merry Christmas from not-so-snowy Baltimore. I know some of you reading this up north - and down south - are rather snowed in, but the Christmas blizzard of 2010 was a bit overstated 'round here and we didn't even get enough to play in. Boo! I know, I know...a lot of you have been severely inconvenienced by the holiday snow and I am sorry for you, but I was really looking forward to getting cozy and vegging out a bit now that the Christmas rush has slowed. Ugh! And what a rush it was! Helping Santa is a busy, busy job and we had a lot of fun with friends and family, but now that it is over, I was all about being snowed in, having the husb build a fire and making something warm and comforting, like this ragout you're about to hear all about. But now I'm told that we're expecting temps in the 50's in a few days. Freaking global warming!! Al Gore was right...it really does ruin everything.

So, I say screw it. I'm making short rib ragout anyway. Join me, won't you?

This recipe came about in my favorite way possible; it came to me when I encountered an ingredient so impressive and fresh that I had to purchase it and come up with something to do with it. Specifically, I was in my favorite Italian market (Ceriello's at Belvedere Market, neighbors), buying something completely unrelated when I came across the biggest, most impressive beef short ribs I have ever seen before in my life. They looked like they were from a Brontosaurus. I had to buy them. But as wonderful as short ribs are, I sometimes find a plate of braised short ribs to be overwhelming. At worst, they can be greasy and heavy. At best, they are rich and delicious and, well, heavy.

But there they were, just like the Mt. Everest of short ribs. And, you know, whenever you hear that someone has perished on the way up Mt. Everest, you think "Why? Why would someone climb Mt. Everest?" And the answer, of course, is, because it's there. They climb it because it's there. Food is a bit like that. Sometimes we must cook because the food calls us to it. I think this is actually the best reason to cook something. We should always be looking for ingredients that are perfect, whether it be tomatoes at their seasonal, bright red, juicy peak or fresh tuna taken immediately off of a fishing boat along the Atlantic coastline. It's a European ideal that cooks should enter a market without preconceived notions of what they might cook tonight but instead, let the products available to them that day dictate what's for dinner. Unfortunately, it's the furthest thing from how Americans eat. We'd probably all be a bit healthier and a lot more satiated if we could teach ourselves to eat ingredients at their peak and not because we think we should have everything we want exactly when we want it. We are a bunch of entitled so-and-sos, aren't we? We should really get over ourselves. OK, lecture complete. Moving on to deliciousness.

So, if I want to eat the short ribs because they are perfection, but I don't want a plate of short ribs, what do I do with them? I braise them, of course, and I make thick, satisfying, savory pasta sauce and serve it over pappardelle (wide, rustic pasta). Duh. This is an all-day sort of recipe that cooks low and slow for quite some time in a dutch oven (ooh lala. Bonjour Le Creuset. Joyeux Noel.) but it's worth it and it's not at all hard. No mountain climbing required. If you'd like, begin the recipe the day before you'd like to serve it to allow the flavors to marry overnight. This will also allow you to easily skim a lot of the fat resulting from the ribs out of the sauce. Please enjoy it, and please, please have a happy, healthy 2011!

Beef Short Rib Ragout over Pappardelle

Ingredients:

3 - 3.5 lbs. beef short ribs (bone-in)

4 oz. really good bacon, chopped into 1/4" dice (it helps to freeze bacon slightly before attempting to chop it)

2 - 3 T. olive oil, divided

1 medium onion, finely chopped (I used a food processor)

1 large or 2 small carrots, finely chopped (ditto)

3 (or more, to your liking) cloves garlic, crushed

2.5 cups good red wine

2.5 cups beef or veal stock

1 T. tomato paste

2 bay leaves

2-3 stems each, fresh thyme, fresh oregano, tied in a bunch with cooking-safe string, to make bouquet garni

1 large can whole peeled tomatoes

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh grated parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano cheese, plus more for garnish

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

Fresh parsley

12 - 16 oz. pappardelle pasta, or other broad, flat pasta, or rigatoni

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Pat short ribs dry with paper towels and season liberally with salt and pepper. Heat about 1 - 2 T. olive oil in dutch oven on stove top. Sear short ribs on all 4 sides and remove from dutch oven. Set aside. Heat remaining oil and sautee bacon until well browned, but not burned. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside. Sautee carrots and onions in resulting fat until onion becomes translucent and carrots begin to soften. Return short ribs to rest on top of vegetables. Cover with wine & stock. Add tomatoe paste bay leaves, herbs and garlic, plus the reserved bacon. Open the can of whole tomaotes and coarsely crush tomatoes with your fingertips. Add tomatoes and juice to the dutch oven. Stir carefully. Cover and place in the oven for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours, remove dutch oven from your oven. Remove bay leaves and bouquet garni. If you're working a day ahead, at this point you would allow the whole thing to cool a bit before placing it in the fridge overnight. Then, the next day, remove the fat solids from the top of the sauce and proceed by removing the ribs and bringing the sauce back up to a simmer on the stove top. If you are working within one day, remove the ribs from the sauce and use a serving spoon or ladle to skim as much fat from the surface of the sauce as possible and proceed by bringing the sauce to a simmer on the stovetop. Remove the meat from the bones and separate fat from the meat. Discard fat and bones. While you are dealing with meat, bring the sauce to a simmer on the stove top and add the diced tomatoes and parmigiano, stirring to loosen any bits stuck to the bottom. Return the beef from the ribs to the pot and simmer sauce until slightly thickened. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook pasta according to package. Turn sauce off and add ricotta cheese. Stir to incorporate. Drain pasta thoroughly and add it directly to the sauce, tossing gently to coat. Serve immediately with grated cheese, a sprinkle of fresh parsley, and a big, fat glass of red wine. Enjoy!