On Friday I received my first ever delivery from the East London Steak Company – what a wonderful bunch! Free delivery for orders over £25 (and that’s not hard), a text ten minutes before they get to you, friendly drivers and the meat….oh, the meat. I ordered 2kg of short ribs, 2 rib eye steaks and 2kg ox cheeks. The meat is cut to order the day you receive it, and you get a little card with the provenance – the breed of beef, the farm and the owner of the farm. I will no doubt report back on the cheeks and steak in future posts but I am concentrating on the short ribs for this one.
I must admit I hadn’t had short ribs before but Mr Redding and I took Dad to the Bull’s Head at Strand on the Green, Chiswick for lunch a couple of weeks ago. It’s a Chef and Brewer Pub, so we were expecting competent but not outstanding food but we were pleasantly surprised. Dad’s pork belly was unctuous with great crackling and my short ribs were a revelation and I was determined to recreate it for Sunday lunch.
Short ribs are a classic slow cooking cut where all the connective tissue melts into gorgeousness. The recipe is simple, and it looks after itself. So grab yourself some ribs and get cooking….
Serves 4 hungry people
2kg beef short ribs, separated
1tblsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, finely sliced in half moons
2 large carrots finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
Can of chopped tomatoes
250ml beef stock
250ml red wine
Couple of sprigs of thyme
Teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C
Season the ribs with black pepper. Heat the oil in a large deepish roasting tray on the hob then brown the ribs on all sides. Add the vegetables, garlic, tomatoes, wine, beef stock, thyme and sugar, snuggle everything in together then pop in the oven and leave for three hours, when the meat should be falling off the bone.
Remove the ribs to a large warmed serving dish and gently mash the vegetables down into the sauce. Add a little boiling water if it’s too thick. Taste and season as necessary. Pour sauce over the ribs, sprinkle over the parsley and serve. I served mine with mashed potato with a little wholegrain mustard stirred in and spring greens, finely shredded and very briefly boiled.
PHWOAR! They look outrageously good. I must get myself some ribs. Been meaning to order from ELSCO for ages now and the sight of those ribs may just be the kick up the backside I needed.
ReplyDeleteThey are such a pleasure to deal with, especially for us who live outside the tube network...give 'em a go x
ReplyDeleteThis was dinner last night and it's a real keeper. Oh, soooo good! I changed it only slightly. I used "boneless short ribs" (yes, I know they aren't really short ribs), didn't add that sugar, used a can of fire roasted tomatoes and used both thyme and oregano. I cooked it all in my biggest cast iron skillet (11 inches) and served it with fresh porcini ravioli (store bought). There's enough leftover meat/sauce for lunch today, I just need to boil up some noodles. In fact, there's so much leftover sauce that I'm thinking about whizzing it in the FP to smooth it out, then adding some to the roast beef gravy on Christmas Eve. Don't hesitate to make this recipe, it's wonderful!
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