Braised Short Ribs and Celery

One of my favorite winter meals is short ribs. They’re hearty, filling and rich and I absolutely love them.

I’ve made them a few different ways including the slow cooker and a pot on the stove. While one cooks for a few hours longer than the other, the cooking techniques are quite similar. Both require covering the short ribs in liquid, and then cooking them for hours. No matter which technique you use or what kind of sauce you cook the meat in, ideally you get the same result: tender meat that falls off the bone and melts in your mouth.

This recipe comes from Fine Cooking and uses celery as part of its liquid. The benefit with using celery is that it’s pretty much available year round. I use celery all the time: as bases for stocks and stews, as well as adding it to salads and tuna for crunch. Sometimes I’ll even eat a stalk for a snack. But I’ve never used it as the main flavoring in a braise before. See, as the celery cooks, it flavors the beef and the sauce while at the same time absorbing some of the beefy flavor of the meat. The whole meal makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Yes, it’s a braise so it needs to be cooked on the stove which means you really can’t leave your house for a few hours. But the end result is so delicious, and the smells that fill your house are so amazing, you won’t mind being stuck inside. Besides if there’s a storm brewing outside (it is winter after all), you really don’t want to leave your house anyway.

Braised Short Ribs and Celery

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoons celery seeds
• 1 head celery, ribs peeled and cut on the diagonal into 3-inch pieces
• 8 oz. shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Generously season the ribs with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add half of the ribs, and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate, and repeat with the remaining ribs, adding more oil if needed.
3. Reduce the heat to medium, add the shallots and butter, and cook, stirring, until the shallots begin to brown, 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Stir in the broth, wine, mustard, and celery seeds.  Return the ribs to the pot, cover, transfer to the oven, and braise for 2 hours.
4. Stir in the celery, mushrooms, thyme, and lemon zest. Re-cover and continue to braise in the oven for another 40-50 minutes, or until the beef is very tender.
5. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ribs, celery and mushrooms to a serving platter.
6. Transfer the pot to the stove. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium heat. In a small bowl, whisk together a 1/4 cup of the braising liquid with the cornstarch. Stir the cornstarch mixture into the liquid in the pot until thickened to your liking for a sauce (you may not need it all). Return the ribs, celery, and mushrooms to the sauce. Serve immediately with rice or polenta.