Hearty Paleo Braised Short Ribs

After seeing lots of recipes for braised meats, I really wanted to give it a try. I had my heart set on oxtail, but I couldn’t find any in stock so I settled for short-ribs. Well I’m glad I had to settled because this was one of my favorite beef dishes I’ve ever made. The meat literally fell off the bone. It was so tender. After finishing this dish I couldn’t wait to make bone broth. Too bad I should have read a recipe for bone broth before I dumped all the extra delicious broth down the sink. Whoops! So a tip, if you want to use the broth for later simply spoon off the fat from the top and store. It is that easy! 

This card pretty much sums up my feelings about wine. I know it isn’t strict paleo, but I am not willing to give it up. If you don’t want to use wine, you can substitute it for 2 more cups of beef broth. When cooking with wine one of the best tips I’ve come across is make sure the wine tastes good enough to drink. Makes sense, right? You wouldn’t want to flavor your dish with a bad wine.

Ingredients

8 lbs beef short ribs (approximately 12 ribs)

6 pieces thick-cut applewood bacon, diced

2 tbls olive oil

1/2 large sweet onion, diced 

3 whole carrots, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

2 shallots, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups dry red wine, preferably a nice merlot* use 2 cups of beef broth for whole30

2 cups beef broth

1 tsp sea salt

1 bay leaf

4 thyme sprigs

2 rosemary sprigs

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions 

Salt and pepper all sides of your short ribs and set aside. In a large oven-safe soup pot or dutch oven, crisp bacon over medium heat. While bacon in cooking, prepare veggies. I love using my hand chopper because it significantly cuts down the dicing time. Once bacon in crispy, remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel. Turn the heat to high and add the olive oil. Using kitchen tongs sear each side of the short ribs and remove onto a plate. You can do this in two batches to prevent over crowding. Now add in the onion, carrot, celery, shallots and garlic. Cook for two minutes. Pour in the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan by running a wooden spoon along the bottom. Bring wine to a boil and cook for two minutes. Add in the beef broth and a teaspoon of sea salt. Return the short ribs to the mixture. The ribs should be almost submerged. Throw in the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 2 hours. Reduce heat to 325 and cook for another 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 20 minutes before serving. Meat will literally fall off the bone. This pairs great with braised mushrooms. PS: You can sprinkle the bacon on top of your serving or save it for breakfast the next day! Serves 6. 

Enjoy! 

x vanessa