redacted recipes: Beef Short Ribs Braised with Red Wine

A few years ago my daughters spent a year in an international school in Genoa. Jack and I flew over to visit as often as we could and spent many a day exploring both Liguria and the Piedmont. Until then it had just not occured to us to add the area to a travel itinerary, previous visits being limited to Rome, Florence and Naples with one quick side trip to Venice.

With locally grown or produced ingredients like arborio rice, truffles, cheeses, game, beef and veal, and big powerful red wines like Barolo and Barbaresco, Piedmontese cuisine is sophisticated and always freshly prepared. Interestingly, the "slow food" movement was founded in Piedmont in 1986, and Piedmont was the first region in Italy to prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified organisms.

I'm not picky about where I find recipes, and I'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that this one came from the latest Williams Sonoma catalog, which features food of the Piedmont.

Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine
Adapted from Williams Sonoma
serves 4 - 6

3 lb beef short ribs with bones
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup flour
3 oz. pancetta or lean bacon, cut into small cubes or strips
2 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 T tomato paste
1 bottle Barolo or other full-bodied red wine
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 " piece of parmesan cheese rind
polenta for serving

Season ribs with salt and pepper, dredge in flour.

Saute pancetta or bacon 3 -5 minutes, remove from pan and set aside.

Brown the ribs in the same pan and transfer to a plate.

Pour off the fat and add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onion, carrot and celery for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste-- cook about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup of wine to deglaze the pan, then add another cup of wine and bring to a simmer. Pour half of the simmering wine and vegetable mixture into your crockpot or slowcooker. Arrange the ribs in the slowcooker over the sauce.

Return the skillet to the heat and add half of the remaining wine to the vegetable mixture. Heat to a simmer and pour half of the mixture over the ribs into the slowcooker.

Return the skillet to the heat again, and add the rest of the wine, the pancetta or bacon, the rosemary and the cheese rind. Bring to a simmer and pour over the ribs, cover the slowcooker and cook on high for 4 hours.

Before serving, skim the fat off the sauce and transfer the ribs to a serving dish. If you want to be really fancy you can run the sauce and vegetables through a food mill and into a frying pan-- simmering the sauce for 10 minutes to reduce. Serve ribs and sauce over polenta.

I'm thinking I'll use the leftovers as outlined (and beautifully photographed) in this eGullet post.