Braised Short Rib Ragu Pasta – Perfect Dinner For a Special Occasion

If you are looking for a flavourful ragu to eat with your favourite pasta or gnocchi, look no further. This is a perfect fall meal and after prepping, you can sit back, relax and wait until it is ready to serve. I like to cook my ragu low and slow for many hours until the short ribs are tender, fall off the bone and shred perfectly. It is a cozy meal for a cold fall evening and is sure to impress friends and family. If you are looking for a way to cook short ribs and an excuse to head to your local butcher, keep reading.

Braised Short Rib Ragu Pasta

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 hours hrs

Servings: 6

Course: dinner, lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

Ragu

• 2 pounds bone-in beef short rib cut into 2-4 inch pieces
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt divided
• 3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup yellow onion finely diced
• 1 1/2 cups carrot finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 28 795 grams ounces crushed tomato, 1 can
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup water as needed
• Choice of pasta to serve

Garnish

• Grated Parmesan
• Chopped Parsley
• Chili flakes

Method

 

1. Use paper towel to pat short ribs dry. 2 pounds was about 4 large short ribs but your butcher may cut it differently. Depending on the size of your short ribs, cook time will vary. Season with 2 teaspoons of salt and pepper.
2. In a large heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven, add olive oil and sear your ribs. Searing is very important to develop flavour so you want to make sure each side is a nice deep brown. This step is not meant to cook the ribs. Set aside ribs.
3. After searing remove most of the fat except for about 1 tablespoon. Add the diced onion, carrot, salt and pepper and sautée until vegetables are soft and start browning. This may take anywhere from 5 minutes to 10 minutes depending on your pot.
4. Next add your tomato paste, and sautée until it is darkened.
5. Add your red wine and make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot to remove all the browned bits. This is where a lot of the flavour comes from. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until liquid is reduced by half.
6. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, beef stock, mustard, bay leaves and thyme and stir.
7. Place your short ribs in the pot and submerge. Simmer on low covered for about 3 hours. Simmer for an additional 2 hours on low with the lid partially covered. Alternatively, you can place Dutch oven in crock pot at 250°F for 5-6 hours until the short ribs are tender. Discard any fat on top of the ragu if necessary and add up to 1 cup of water if ragu gets too thick.
8. Place ribs on cutting board and shred with fork. Discard the bones and return shredded meat to ragu.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste if necessary and simmer for an additional 15 minutes over low heat.
10. Cook your pasta as per cooking instructions, I used paccheri which is similar to rigatoni and serve with the sauce. Reserve a bit of pasta water to help coat the pasta in ragu and serve hot. Add chili flakes, fresh chopped parsley and grated Parmesan to finish!