Slow cooker beef short ribs. Yum!

Since Monday night is John and my RCIA class, I need to have food prepared early so we can eat and be out of the house by 7:15.  Because of this, Monday night has unofficially become slow-cooker night.

I was happy to see Bon Appetit getting on board with the whole slow cooker thing.  October’s issue featured a family menu with slow-cooked short ribs- the link to the recipe is here.

This recipe is a keeper. I love short ribs, and have made other Bon Appetit recipes involving braising- which while not too labor intensive, isn’t nearly as easy as throwing a bunch of ingredients in a slow cooker. I think my changes made the recipe a little more complex.  Next time I might add some thick-sliced carrots as well. Make sure you salt the short-ribs generously.  I don’t think I was generous enough as I had to add quite a bit of salt at the end of the cooking time.

I served the short ribs with a green salad and brussel sprouts that I cut in half and roasted in the oven at 450 degrees with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 4 1/2 pounds 3-inch-long beef short ribs
• Coarse kosher salt
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (I used fire-roasted tomatoes for extra depth of flavor)
• 1 6-ounce package sliced button mushrooms (I used sliced baby bellas)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 6 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
• 2 bay leaves
• Crusty bread

PREPARATION

• Sprinkle ribs with coarse salt and pepper. Place in even layer in slow cooker. Add next 7 ingredients, cover, and cook on low heat until meat is tender, about 8 hours (for me, it took about 9)
• Using slotted spoon, transfer ribs to serving bowl. Discard parsley and bay leaves. Spoon fat off top of sauce and pour sauce over ribs. Serve with bread.