Slow cooked Beef Short Ribs in a Simply Tweaked Bolognese Sauce

I apologize before hand because this post will not contain pictures of the final product. I have to say that the outcome of this recipe was a happy accident. I made a huge mistake, while grabbing the red wine in my pantry, I accidentally grabbed the red wine vinegar, and added a cup of that instead. Imagine my surprise! I thought I had officially ruined the dish. I quickly searched Google on how to take out the vinegary taste. They had three solutions a) baking soda, b)brown sugar, and c)soy sauce. So in my frenzy I thought HECK! lets try them all. I added and added until I felt the taste of the very strong vinegar was gone. And after stirring away I created something that was surprisingly delicious.

I dredged my short ribs in flour and browned them over medium high heat to get a nice crust on them, I made sure not to crowd the man because that can make your meat steam and not sear how you want it to. Make sure your pan is very hot before you put the short ribs on it.

Once the short ribs were removed from the pan, I used the remaining oil to brown my pureed veggies. This step take awhile so be patient. The pan should be pretty hot, make sure to just brown the puree, not burn it. The smell from this alone lets you know this dish is going somewhere good. After the 20 minutes are you it's time to add the remaining ingredients, let them simmer together for a bit, then add them to your slow cooker with the thyme, bay leaves, and 1 cup of water. And the best part I love about my slow cooker is setting it and forgetting it. I ran to class after this step, and when I came home my house smelled so delicious it just put a smile on my face.

I made this dish for my older brother who I invited to dinner, I was still skeptical about how it would taste to him because our palates are not the same. Lets just say this, his motto for the night 'If there is any food left I did not do my job!'

I am so happy he liked it, and yes there were no more short ribs left, and he left a happy extremely stuffed camper.

So if you dare to try my extremely simply tweaked bolognese sauce go ahead! and let me know what your simple tweaks are.

Slow Cooked Beef Short Ribs in a Simply Tweaked Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

Pound beef short ribs

Flour

salt and pepper

Olive Oil

1/2 red onion (diced)
2 large carrots, (diced)
3 ribs celery (dice)
4 cloves garlic
Kosher salt
2 cups tomato paste

1 cup red wine

1 cup red wine vinegar 
4 tablespoons brown sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 cup Water
3 bay leaves
1 bunch thyme, tied in a bundle

Directions

1. Salt and Pepper short ribs, and dredge in flour tapping off any excess flour.

2. Heat olive oil in a pan and add short ribs, browning, but not cooking through and all sides. Do this in batches you don't want to over crowd the pan. When done set aside.

3. In a food processor, puree onion, carrots, celery, and garlic into a coarse paste. In a large pan over medium heat, coat pan with oil. Add the pureed veggies and season generously with salt. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat and cook until all the water has evaporated and they become nice and brown, stirring frequently, about 15 to 20 minutes. 

4. Add the tomato paste and cook until brown about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the red wine, red wine vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and stir. When all is mixed in add in baking soda (It will fizz up, but that's ok. Keep stirring until all the bubbles go away. Taste sauce to make sure that the vinegar taste is all gone, if not keep adding in the soy sauce and brown sugar).  Cook until the liquid has reduced by half, cook on high another 4 to 5 minutes.

5. In the slow cooker add the beef and all the drippings, add in the bundle of thyme and the three bay leaves.

6. Add in the sauce, mix once or twice and leave the slow cooker on high for 4 hours.

For original bolognese recipe by Anne Burrell follow this link:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pasta-bolognese-recipe.html