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
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
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Next add your tomato paste, and sautée until it is darkened.
- 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.
- Pour in the crushed tomatoes, beef stock, mustard, bay leaves and thyme and stir.
- 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.
- Place ribs on cutting board and shred with fork. Discard the bones and return shredded meat to ragu.
- Add salt and pepper to taste if necessary and simmer for an additional 15 minutes over low heat.
- 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!
