Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary Risotto

Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary Risotto is a perfect weekend or for company dinner when you want the house to smell great, and your mouth and guests to say "Thank You!"

The making of Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary Risotto

During the cool weather months, Sunday dinner is generally slow-braised meat or other hearty dishes. We sometimes call it, Red Wine Sunday, as it's one of those days we have time for a long leisurely dinner, catching up with each other while enjoying a great glass of wine, or two, along with tender, falling off the bone meat. This recipe for Slow-Braised Beef Short Ribs with Rosemary Risotto certainly matches all the criteria for that. There is nothing better than being safe and warm inside while smelling wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. This recipe gives you cooking options depending on your time and schedule, these braised short ribs can be cooked either slowly in the oven, quickly with a pressure cooker, Multi-Function Cooker or all day in your crock-pot. The choice is yours.

Browning the meat well on all sides is the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but your patience will be rewarded with deep, rich flavor..

Browning the meat, your most important step

Braising meat is not hard, and regardless of which cooking method you choose, most of the time is hands-off. The main trick to a great slow-braise is to brown the meat well when you start. Be sure to pat the meat dry before adding it to the hot oil, wet meat does not brown, it only steams in its own juices. Also, remember to brown the meat in batches as necessary. Again, over-crowding the pan does not allow the meat to brown. Browning the meat well on all sides is the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but your patience will be rewarded with a deep, rich flavor. My grandmother used to say, take it to the edge of almost burning, that's where you get the best flavor. Burnt is NOT good, but do take it to a deep, rich brown color.

 Well browned meat = rich deep flavor

Don't Flour the Meat, Flour the Vegetables

Many recipes for both stews and slow-braises will tell you to flour and season the meat before you cook it. When you cook meat this way, you are only browning the flour, not the meat, and the flour will cook off into the sauce. I add the flour to the vegetables, to get that thickening effect, leaving the meat browned and flavorful. So season the meat but leave the flour off.

Rosemary Risotto

I have these rich, flavorful short-ribs paired with a beefy red wine rosemary risotto. This combination of flavors really stands up to the rich short-ribs. Some of you might be scared off by risotto, but don't be. While I've written the recipe for Rosemary Risotto using the "traditional" method of making risotto, where you heat the broth and add it slowly, a half cup at a time, stirring until each addition of broth has been absorbed into the arborio rice, this recipe is easily adapted to my easy method of making risotto using a pressure cooker. And here is how you do it Cooking Risotto in a Pressure Cooker.  See...easy. Or you might want to try my almost no-stir method that I used for my Black Pepper Risotto. Or use the risotto function on your Instant Pot. It works just like the pressure cooker, but the pot takes all the guesswork out of the timing.

Still not inclined to make the risotto? No worries, the short ribs will go very nicely with some mashed potatoes, noodles, or even just regular rice.

These ribs are a dinner party favorite. Because I generally serve many courses at a dinner party, including first course soups such as Roasted Corn Soup or Five Onion Soup with Garlic Croutons, I like to serve an "intermezzo" to help clear the palate and get my guests ready for the next big course. One of my favorite intermezzos to serve is this refreshing Limoncello Mint Sorbet. It makes a perfect palate clenser!