Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

I made the of mistake thinking immersion blender-ing the veggies into the sauce would give it more body. Let's just say I'm not doing THAT again. 

Ingredients

1 large yellow onion

2 medium carrots

2 medium stalks celery

3 to 3 1/4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs

3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil

1 cup low-sodium beef broth (or reconstituted beef base)

2 bay leaves

4 fresh thyme sprigs (or some dried thyme)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 cups dry red wine

Instructions

1. Dice 1 large yellow onion, peel and cut 2 medium carrots into 1-inch pieces, and cut 2 celery stalks into 1-inch pieces.
    
2. Pat 3 to 3 1/4 pounds short ribs dry. Season all over with 2 teaspoons of the kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil in a large, high-sided frying pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of the short ribs and sear on 3 sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.
    
3. Transfer to a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. If needed, add the remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and repeat with the remaining short ribs. Transfer with tongs to the slow cooker. The short ribs will not be cooked through. Add 1 cup low-sodium beef broth, 4 fresh sprigs thyme, and 2 bay leaves to the slow cooker.
    
4. Add the onion, carrot, and celery, to the pot, season with the remaining 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the all-purpose flour and tomato paste, stir to coat the vegetables and cook until darkened in color, about 2 minutes. Pour in 3 cups dry red wine and stir to combine, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
    
5. Pour the hot liquid and vegetables into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on the LOW setting for 8 to 10 hour or until meat is fork-tender and bone easily pulls away.
    
6. Transfer the short ribs to a large plate with tongs. Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a large glass measuring cup or bowl and discard the cooked vegetables, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, and any loose bones. Serve the short ribs with sauce spooned over top.

Tip: If you have a fat separator, strain into that and pour leaving the fat behind. If you want to richen things up even more (which I barely recommend), transfer separated sauce to a pan and finish with 1 or 2 tbsp. COLD butter.

Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta. 

Sausage and Herb Stuffing

Standard fare sausage stuffing. This can be prepared in advance and reheated. Just thaw it in the fridge for 24 hours, then reheat it covered at 325 until hot. 

Ingredients

400 g of unseasoned stuffing cubes (sorry, but that's 1 + 60 g from a 2nd package)

1 stick or ½ cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cups diced yellow onion

1 cup diced celery

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed

1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage

2 ¾ cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 large egg, beaten

1 tbsp. fresh chopped rosemary (or ½ tbsp. dried)

1 tbsp. fresh chopped sage (or ½ tbsp dried)

¼ cup fresh chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsely

½ tsp. Kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 9" x 13" baking dish with unsalted butter.

Dump stuffing cubes into a large mixing bowl.

Sauté onions and celery in butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally for about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add vegetable mixture to stuffing cubes in bowl making sure to get all of it. 

In the same pan, brown the sausage till cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Break it up as you cook it. 

Add browned sausage to bowl with cubes and vegetables. 

Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix until bread is well moistened. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and bake for about an 65-70 minutes, uncovered. You should have a nice crispy top.