I had my mind set on making this Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine dish from Sass and Veracity. I picked up all the ingredients I needed on a late Sunday afternoon, and suddenly realized that the LCBO has already closed for the day! My boyfriend and I then went back to his parents place to see if they had any red wine lying around. This was the scene: his parents were out, nobody was home, we dashed right to the alcohol cabinet, and started pulling out each bottle frantically and checking the label. Thinking back, it was kind of funny...to think that we were doing all this for my short ribs, rather than sneaking out alcohol or something (we are about 10+ years too old for that). Anyhow, no luck - only ice wine, whiskey, brandy, and various kinds of hard liquor in pretty bottles or pretty boxes. I was sad and disappointed as we went back to my boyfriend's place. He asked if could skip the red wine or substitute it with something else. I told him there was no way I can omit the 2 cups of red wine in the recipe, I cannot imagine how tasteless the short ribs would turn out. And as for substitutes? Eh...the kind of liquor at my boyfriend's place consists of Pomtini, Strawberry Zinfindel, and Moosehead. Obviously, the Pomtini and Zinfindel are for my boyfriend, and the Moosehead for me (haha). But no, those definitely will not work. What should I do now with 6lbs of short ribs?
I felt pretty doomed. For some reason, I seem oblvious to any other way of making short ribs besides braising and using red wine; my knowledge about short ribs is obviously quite limited. Also, my boyfriend just moved into his place a few weeks ago, which means the cabinets are pretty much bare, with not much in the fridge. So even if I were to "raid the pantry" I would probably still come out empty handed (except for maybe canned soup, canned beans, canned sardines, chips, and oranges). Refusing to give up quite yet, I googled "short ribs recipe". And TA-DA! I came across this Bar-B-Q Short Ribs recipe:
Ingredients
- 3 lbs. short ribs
- 1/2 cup celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 cup catsup
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoon worchestershire OR tamari sauce
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 2 teaspoon salt
- Brown ribs in oil. Add onions and celery.
- Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over ribs.
- Bake at 350° F. at least 2 hours.
My veggie dish is the Grilled Asparagus and Cherry Tomato Salad from Dragon's Kitchen. I did not make any changes to it.
I honestly did not expect much from this recipe since it seemed so simple. But wow, was I wrong! The fall-off-the-bone meat was so soft and tender! I would definitely make it again if I wanted something simple for my short ribs. However, the salad was only so-so. It took a lot more work than I anticipated with grilling and cutting of tomatoes. I don't think I will make the salad again.
As I am writing this, I took out the 3 lbs of short ribs from the freezer to defrost over night since I will be attempting the Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine tomorrow night. Which reminds me, I need to get red wine...