Braised Short Rib and Oven Roasted Butternut Squash

MY BEST PICTURE

STORY

I was seeing short ribs everywhere; on TV, in restaurants…that’s about all actually. Luckily, Taylor’s mom gifted us a NICE dutch oven months before. According to TV chefs, this was the ideal vessel to hatch the perfect short ribs.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 Bone-in short ribs
• Pre-chopped butternut squash (it was frozen)
• 2-4 Strips of bacon
• 1 Can beef broth
• 1 Can of diced tomatoes
• 1 Bottle of red wine (saved most for drinking)
• 12-15 Baby carrots
• 1 Sweet onion
• 2 Celery stalks
• 5 Garlic cloves
• 4 Tablespoons of butter
• Several springs of rosemary
• Several sprigs of thyme
• 2 Green onion stalks
• Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper (do NOT be afraid of salt and pepper)

HOW I COOKED IT

I took the short ribs out of the fridge. Crucial first step, this gave me more time to admire them, and more importantly let them “warm up.” I let them sit out for about 1.5 hours. I placed the dutch oven on the stove top (we have a gas stove top which is sweet), took out all of my veggies, sharpened my knife, and set down the cutting board. The lights were also on, made it much easier to see everything. I also poured myself a glass of wine.

I gave a ROUGH chop to the veggies. When I say “rough” chop, I mean that I cut them in big chunks. After all, these are for the flavor, and after 3 ish hours of sitting in a simmering pot they break down pretty well. The veggies I am referring to are: onion, celery, carrot. I put them to the side and smashed about 5 garlic cloves. After that I opened any cans that were in my way.

I turned on the heat for the dutch oven, I do not do the typical “turn on medium-medium/high,” nah, I let that dutch oven get hot. I waited maybe 7 minutes for the dutch oven to heat up, and in this time I salted and peppered the short ribs heavily, like a nice coating on there. Then I add some vegetable oil to the dutch oven and I would say I added about 3-4 tablespoons which was enough to cover the bottom. I placed the short ribs in there and listened to the beautiful sizzle. Each side got about 2 minutes (4 sides) and then I took them out and rested them in a “clean” bowl.

I turned the heat down on the dutch oven, good thing I did because it was getting nice and smokey in the house. I did not wash out the oven, duh, and I added 2 tablespoons of butter which melted almost immediately. Then I added my huge chunks of veggies and let them sweat down while I salt and peppered them quite nicely. After about 3 minutes of that, I threw in the crushed garlic, perfect timing so the garlic does not burn and get all bitter. The smell at this point in the cooking process was out of this world. I stirred often enough.

It was time to deglaze the hell out of that pan. I poured in about half the can of beef broth, no way I needed the whole things since the idea is just to cover the meat eventually. Once the broth was in I gave it a stir and placed the meat back in the dutch over. At this point, the heat is cranked back up to high. I poured in about half of the wine that was in my glass, realized it was not enough, and dumped in about a wine glass worth directly from the bottle to the dutch oven. I put in half of the can of diced tomatoes, not sure I needed to, but felt right. Quick Stir. Then I added my fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme) butter and cranked some salt and pepper in there. I covered that bad boy up once it started to boil and turned the heat to super low. I let it cook for 2.5 hours.

Really quick, I managed to make the roasted butternut squash side dish. The butternut squash was not roasted at all, but it sounds A LOT more fancy when I put “roasted” in front of most veggies. I microwaved the bag for about 4 minutes since my microwave is pretty sweet, and while that was going I chopped up my slices of bacon on a cutting board in small pieces. I put the bacon in the pan and fried it off until very crispy and there was plenty of fat in the pan. I dumped the “cooked” butternut squash in the pan and then added some green onion for color. I let that go with minimal stirring for about 5 minutes.

2.5 hours after this process, I removed the meat from the dutch oven, the bone fell right out while I was picking them up and plated. It was so tender. I put the squash on the side, and it was all done!

MY HONEST OPINION

The short ribs turned out amazing. The flavor was so good, and it was all there. They were tender, the fat had rendered almost all the way, and they were just so easy to eat. I bet with a longer cook time, it would be more tender and flavorful. The butternut squash was disappointing. Sounded good, but it was almost like it was not cooked for long enough and it did not absorb any of the bacon flavor and felt greasy. I still ate my share, though.

WHAT I WOULD TRY NEXT TIME

I would absolutely cook the meat for longer next time. I would also like to use fresh butternut squash and be more patient with that cooking as well. I would even consider actually roasting it.