Red wine braised beef ribs, rainbow potato mash, chives
The kind of dish you make on a sunday afternoon for someone you love and enjoy as an early dinner with a glass of red wine.
Ingredients:
The sear:
500-600g beef short ribs, pat dry with paper towel
1 tbsp black peppercorns, ground in mortar and pestle
pinch of salt
1 tbsp olive oil
The braise:
1 bunch of small dutch carrots, or 3 large carrots, rough chop
3 stalks celery, rough chop
1 leek, white and light green part only, rough chop
5 garlic cloves
2 cups red wine, heavy bodied like cab sav
2 cups chicken stock
5 bay leaves
few sprigs of sage
few sprigs of thyme
Rainbow potato mash:
4 cups chopped potatoes (I used a combination of japanese purple sweet potato, sweet potato, royal blue potatoes. The colors of purple and orange look really nice in this mash, so just use what you can find!)
3 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of salt
cracked black pepper
The garnish:
Chives, finely sliced
Purple chive blossoms
flakey salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150C/305F fan-forced.
To sear the beef short ribs, wash and pat dry the beef ribs. Grind black peppercorns in a mortar and pestle until a fine and crumbly texture forms. Pat into the beef ribs on all sides with a heavy pinch of salt. Bring a cast iron pan to high heat with olive oil. Once the ribs are seasoned on all sides, add to the pan and sear for 4-5 mins on each side, or until a golden brown crust forms. The fat should render out and you will have more oil in the pan than when you started! Yay. Remove the beef ribs from the pan once each side has developed a golden crust and transfer to a plate.
Lower the heat to medium-high, add carrots, leek, celery and garlic and saute for 4-5 minutes. Allow the veggies to get a golden crust as well by not stirring too frequently.
Deglaze the pan by pouring in the red wine. Nestle the beef ribs back into the pan, add the herbs (tied together) and chicken stock. Put the lid on and place into the oven to braise for 3 hours. Check halfway, making sure there is still plenty of liquid and nothing is drying out or burning.
To make the rainbow potato mash, roughly chop the potatoes into the same size, leaving the skins on. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a heavy pinch of salt, the water should taste like the sea! Add potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 30-40 mins. Drain, then mash in a mixing bowl. Add sour cream and butter and fold into the mash. Careful not to overmix, the colors can blend together if you do, and I think it looks nicer when the colors are still separated!
After 3 hours of braising in the oven, the beef ribs should be falling apart and easily sliding off the bone. Remove the ribs from the pan and transfer to a plate. Drain the veggies and liquid by pouring into a colander placed on top of a bowl, making sure to reserve the liquid. Discard the veggies and herbs. Add the liquid back into the pan and bring to a medium-high heat over the burner. Add the ribs back in and stir the liquid around as it reduces and becomes a jus for our ribs and mash. After 10 mins or so, it should have reduced halfway and thickened to become a spoon-able jus/gravy.
To assemble, add a few spoonfuls of potato mash to a plate. Press down with the back of the spoon to create a crater in the mash. Place a beef short rib on top and slide out the bone. Spoon over the beef red wine gravy, as much as your heart desires, (I love a lot of gravy on my plate), sprinkle chives and chive blossoms. Finish with a pinch of flakey salt and dig in.
