Red wine braised beef short ribs

I met Aussie chef Daniel Wilson at Huxtable, which he says gives him the opportunity to share his desire for designing food that is mostly for sharing as he feels this is the best way to eat. This is a recipe from his cookbook Huxtabook that I have slightly simplified by leaving the bone in on the ribs once cooked. Daniel's presentation is a bit more fancy than mine. Use a red wine you would be happy to drink. Daniel uses all red wine and no stock.

Ingredients

1 kg	Beef short ribs, cut into individual ribs (Main)
1 serving	Seasoned flour
3 Tbsp	Olive oil
1	Onion, roughly diced
1	Leek, white part only, sliced
2 sticks	Celery, roughly diced
1	Carrot, roughly diced
6 cloves	Garlic, peeled
250 ml	Red wine (Main)
250 ml	Beef stock
4 sprigs	Thyme, large
2	Bay leaves
3	Parsley stalks

To thicken

25 g	Flour
25 g	Butter, rubbed with 25g flour until it resembles breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 170C. Dust ribs with some seasoned flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan, over a medium heat. Add ribs and cook until golden and a crust is formed. Transfer to a casserole dish. Wipe out frying pan if necessary.
2. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the frying pan and add onion, leek, celery, carrot and garlic and cook until golden. Remove and poke in the gaps between ribs.
3. Pour wine and stock into the frying pan with the herbs and bring to the boil. Pour over ribs and vegetables ensuring ribs are covered in liquid. Cover with a piece of baking paper and the lid. Place in the oven and cook for 2½ - 3 hours until ribs are tender.
4. Remove from oven and strain braising liquid into a saucepan. Keep ribs warm. Whisk in butter mixture to thicken and simmer until flour is cooked out, then season.
5. Serve ribs with a parsnip puree or mashed potato and a bowl of steamed green vegetables.

Daniel’s presentation

1. Let ribs cool in the braising liquid. Strain braising liquid through a fine sieve into a saucepan and place over a low heat to reduce a little. Skim away any fat. Taste sauce then whisk in butter mixture and simmer until the flour is cooked out.
2. Slide bone from ribs, then place meat in the fridge to firm up. Trim gelatinous part from where rib hangs onto the bone and square up. Add ribs back to the sauce and warm through. Serve on a bed of parsnip puree, sprinkled with persillade.

Persillade

• Finely chop a good handful of Italian parsley leaves and 4 cloves garlic. Mix together with a dash of olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Here are more recipes that top Aussie chefs cook at home

• Korean beef and seaweed soup
• Carrot risone