Shakewell Short Ribs
The recipe is from a restaurant in the East Bay of San Francisco called Shakewell. Our kids gave us a cookbook featuring local Bay Area chefs last Christmas and we have been trying out a few recipes. Find the cookbook HERE. You may not know Shakewell but you might know the chef Jen Biesty, from shows like Chopped and Top Chef .
We wanted to make fresh Pappardelle and wanted to try something new over it on a cold winter night. The unusual flavors in the dish created kind of a mole sauce that sounded really good to us. On nights like this we call it “Test Kitchen", where we try something completely new, challenging our culinary skills.
The original version of this recipe does call for a Citrus-olive herb salad over the short ribs. We did not test this part of the recipe.
The short ribs were huge but after all that cooking they did fall off of the bone. We used 4 carrots vs the 2 called for in the recipe. The 4 carrots were not needed, as they are just part of the braising liquid. Finally, we could not find fresh ancho chiles so we used dried. This meant we used 4 in the sauce since dried chiles are much milder.
Work in batches.
This is where we could have used smaller (or fewer) short ribs. As they were so large, we used the maximum cooking time of 2 1/2 hours to braise.
Using just a single Dutch oven.
The original recipe calls to brown the short ribs in a separate frying pan. We chose to brown in the Dutch oven which created great brown bits that we were able to scrape up when pouring in the wine.
Such unusual flavors. We had the best mole of our lives at a restaurant in Puebla, Mexico. During our time in Puebla, we learned of the art of slow cooking, really allowing flavor to develop over a very long time. We also learned of many variations of mole, vs the heavy, chocolaty mole we find more commonly. This dish combining the wine, chocolate, chiles and coffee, cooked very slowly showed us how those flavors develop over time.
It smelled so good!
A really important step, which was new for us, was to simply let the short ribs sit for 2 hours off the heat inside their braising liquid. Following those 2 hours it was then time to strain the vegetables our of the liquid. We strained a 2nd time through a very fine sieve as we did want everything out of the liquid, in order to create a very smooth sauce.
After straining, then it’s time to put that beautiful liquid into a saucepan to reduce (and warm back up!). This should only take 5 to 7 minutes.
Since we made fresh Pappardelle we kept the assembly very simple. We placed sauce at the bottom of a shallow bowl, then placed our homemade pasta, then those beautiful rib! Finally, we drizzled more sauce over the top. In looking at the original recipe in the cookbook, I was pleased at the color and texture of the sauce as it looked very similar! We would definitely make these again.
We have not been to Shakewell in Oakland, CA, but next time we are “home,” in the Bay Area, we plan to make a visit. I just hope they are serving these short ribs so I can further see how we did.
We will share our Pappardelle on a later post. While we love our recipe we are still perfecting the texture and consistency. Pulled all together, it tasted so good!
Short Ribs from Shakewell
Ingredients
- 6 lbs bone-in short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 tablespoons canola oil (divided)
- 2 carrots, chopped,
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 bulb fennel, cored and chopped
- 8 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 bunch thyme, leaves picked
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (750 ml) bottle Zinfandel
- 2 quarts veal, chicken or beef stock
- 2 ancho chiles or 3 tablespoons ancho chili powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coffee
- 1/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate
Instructions
- Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the short ribs and brown for 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate.
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the carrots, onion, fennel, garlic and thyme. Sauté for 8 minutes, until vegetables are lightly browned. Add tomato paste, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in the wine and bring to a boil. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until the wine has reduced by half.
- Stir in stock, chiles (or chili powder), coffee and chocolate. Place short ribs in the braising liquid and simmer covered, for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until the short ribs are tender. Turn off the heat, uncover and set aside for 2 hours so the ribs retain their juices.
- Removed the ribs to a plate. Strain the braising liquid into a large saucepan, discarding, solids. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until the liquid is reduced by a third.
- Serve with pasta or potatoes, laying sauce in a shallow bowl first then the pasta or potatoes, then the ribs. Finally, add a drizzle of sauce over the top, serving the remaining sauce on the side. Enjoy!
