Braised Short Ribs over Penne

So, girl's night book club was moved to Sunday night this month.  We're out of work and life is good.  I decided to make my friends a special dinner. I'll be honest though, I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted.  We had quite a busy morning bringing the dogs to the mobile vaccination center.  I usually bring them to the posh vet, but after the $500 bill last year, I thought I'd save a little money this year.  And save we did, but at another cost - we had to bring Capone in public.  I know - he's an adorable dog - INSIDE my house.

Needless to say, it was a stressful morning.

Nikko can confirm that!

Anyway, back to the book club and wanting to do something special...it's important to note that our book club did NOT read Fifty Shade of Cheesy Writing, er, I mean Gray.  We read The Fault in our Stars by John Greene.  This book was recommended to me by my good friend's daughter, Becca (good choice, Becca).  The Fault in Our Stars is actually a teen read, but it is beautifully written AND incredibly sad. What I like the most about the book, though, is that the main character, Hazel, is such a strong female role model; she's witty, intelligent, and knows what she wants.  This gave us plenty to discuss.

Braised Short Ribs over Penne

What You'll Need:

Bone in Short Ribs (I used 5 big, meaty ones for 6 people)

Salt an Pepper

Olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large can San Marzano tomatoes, crushed

1 cup red wine

1 cup beef broth

1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 pounds penne pasta, cooked according to directions

Heat the oven to 325.

Rinse the short ribs and dry completely with paper towels.  Salt and pepper the short ribs on all sides.  Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottom pot (I used a cast iron pot). Add the short ribs and brown on all sides.  Remove the short ribs and set aside.  

Add more olive oil to the pot and add the onions.  Cook about 5 minutes and then add the garlic.  Then add the tomatoes, wine, broth, and mustard.  Bring the mixture to a slight boil and scrape up all the juicy bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.  

Put the ribs into the pot and stir to cover the ribs.  Cover an place into the oven.  Let cook for 3 hours.  If the meat falls off the bone, it's cooked.  Otherwise, keep cooking.  

If finished, remove the pot from the oven.  At this point, your house will smell amazing, and you'll want to eat before your company even gets there!  

This is the hardest part, AND it's really not that hard.  Remove the ribs from the pot.  Shred the meat into small pieces - it should just fall apart.  You'll need to separate the fat and remove the bone (the bone may have just fallen out).  Once the meat is shredded and de-fatted (yeah, I just made that word up), set to the side. 

Use a spoon and gather the oil that has settled on top of your sauce.  You can use a separator here as well.  Then, add the meat back to the pot.  

Pour cooked penne into a nice, large pasta bowl and add short ribs and sauce.  Toss to coat.  Add freshly grated parmigiana cheese and parsley.

I served this with a Caprese salad.  It was the perfect compliment. 

For dessert, I made homemade black cherry and nutella frozen Greek yogurt.  If you haven't bought the Cuisinart ice cream maker, I suggest you get one. NOWWWWWW! I got mine at Costco.