Braised Short Ribs with Red Wine, Rosemary and Pancetta. Fall off the bone and smack your mama.

I know we're all tired of winter. I know we're ready for lighter meals outside with the summer breeze at our backs, pool parties and frozen drinks with tiny umbrellas in them.

But these are too good to wait to post until next year so I'm going to be unfashionably out of season and post them now.

Here's what gets me about short ribs prepared this way. The meat develops a crust on top as if you're biting into a delicious crispy meat chip. But the interior is tender and yielding dripping with all this red-wine-laced-butteriness. In fact I was shocked to learn this recipe actually has no butter in it (it was one of the reasons I could eat it with my baby's dairy allergy.) But that's the magic of short ribs, especially ones seared in pancetta fat. Mmm hmmm.

Anyway forget that this is literally one of the best things you'll ever put in your mouth. Forget the fact that it's company and special occasion worthy. What makes this recipe even more insane is that you can (and should) make it a couple of days ahead of time. The flavor and texture of the meat just gets better and better as it sits in the fridge getting drunk on wine and pancetta juice.

I also love that you serve them from the same big ole pot you make them in. It's rustic and chic at the same time.

So if you want to wish Old Man Winter farewell on one of these last chilly nights whip this up and invite friends around to feast and drink a bunch of red wine over plates of these short ribs (or even better make them for the Game of Thrones premiere in ten days. Woo hoo!)

Because before we know it we'll all be complaining about the heat and mosquitos.

*These can be made gluten free/Paleo by using coconut flour or alternative flour of choice to dredge the meat in before searing.
*The only thing I do differently than PW for this recipe is to sear the ribs for way longer than 45 minutes per side to really get the edges brown and crisp before turning. If you don't get them crisp and brown now, you never will and then you won't have that amazing contrast of textures later so sear them however long it takes you. I have a hunch she uses a cast iron pan or something that gets crazy hotter than my Le Creuset because mine always need way longer than 45 seconds per side - more like 5 minutes.

Braised Short Ribs with Rosemary, Red Wine and Pancetta
Recipe by The Pioneer Woman
Direct Link to Recipe/PW Site:

Ingredients

• 8 whole Beef Short Ribs
•  Kosher Salt and Pepper To Taste
• 1/4 cup All-purpose Flour or enough to coat (use coconut flour or other for gluten free)
• 6 pieces Pancetta, Diced
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Diced
• 3 whole Carrots, Diced
• 2 whole Shallots, Peeled And Finely Minced
• 2 cups Red Wine
• 2 cups Beef Or Chicken Broth (enough To Almost Cover Ribs)
• 2 sprigs Thyme
• 2 sprigs Rosemary

Preparation Instructions

Salt and pepper ribs, then dredge in flour. Set aside.

In a large dutch oven, cook pancetta over medium heat until complete crispy and all fat is rendered. Remove pancetta and set aside. Do not discard grease.

Add olive oil to pan with the pancetta grease, and raise heat to high. Brown ribs on all sides, about 45 seconds per side (FYI this always takes way longer for them to brown, more like 5 min per side.) Remove ribs and set aside. Turn heat to medium.

Add onions, carrots, and shallots to pan and cook for 5-7 minutes until onions are soft. Pour in wine and scrape bottom of pan to release all the flavorful bits of glory. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes.

Add broth, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add more salt if needed. Add ribs to the liquid; they should be almost completely submerged. Add thyme and rosemary sprigs (whole) to the liquid.

Put on the lid and place into the oven. Cook at 350 for 2 hours, then reduce heat to 325 and cook for an additional 30 to 45 minutes. Ribs should be fork-tender and falling off the bone. Remove pan from oven and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes, lid on, before serving. At the last minute, skim fat off the top of the liquid. (Can also refrigerate for up to 1-2 days, then remove solid fat from the top. Then just reheat in a 325 oven for 25-30 minutes until heated through.)

Serve 2 ribs on bed of creamy polenta or mashed potatoes or celery root puree, spooning a little juice over the top.

Home Wrecker's Ribs. Saucy, Spicy, and just Sweet Enough to be Dangerous.

Don't you just love when you become completely obsessed with something you thought you'd have absolutely no interest in whatsoever? This just happened to me with the HBO show Game of Thrones. I remember watching the pilot with my husband in the spirit of matrimonial harmony, feigning interest while secretly betting I'd wind up surfing Bluefly. But as soon as the first scene began, I was a gonner.

What is it with HBO? It's like they've shot a probe straight into my brain and created entertainment just for little old me and my perversities. I mean how else can you explain me liking a show that looks like a testosterone-injected version of Lord of the Rings? Jason Mamoa, perhaps...

Anyway, this same phenomenon happened to me with ribs (like that segue? I'll be here all week.) It still amazes me that I went almost three decades turning my nose up at them, thinking them fatty and greasy and messy to finally realize that's exactly what makes them the best things on earth (sorry, thighs.)

And while it's damn hard to beat Martha Foose Hall's Vinegar-Mopped Ribs, I'm afraid sister's got competition with this recipe. And they're even easier to make! Just throw the marinade ingredients into an oversized ziploc, drop the ribs in, marinate overnight and then dump the whole thing - ribs and all - into a roasting pan over a sliced onion for 2 hours. No dry rub, no basting, no grilling.

Just be sure to kick the heat up for the last stretch of cooking so the meat bronzes up around the edges and those bones become nice and pliable, pulling apart without any fight. As Dolly Parton says about ribs in the movie 9 to 5, "That just wrecked my diet but it was SO worth it!"

Home Wrecker's Ribs

Ingredients:
2 lbs babyback ribs
2 fat garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup red or white wine vinegar
Pinch red pepper flakes, or more for more heat
Good amount fresh cracked black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

1 large vidalia or Spanish onion, sliced thick
additional salt and fresh cracked pepper for seasoning, just before roasting

Directions:
Add the marinade ingredients - garlic through the olive oil - to a large marinading bag, squishing around with your fingers and giving a shake to help mix together. Once all incorporated, add the ribs and turn over a couple of times to be sure all sides of all racks have been anointed. Squish out the air, seal and refrigerate overnight turning over midway.

Remove one hour before cooking off.

Preheat oven to 325. Spray a large, rimmed roasting pan with nonstick spray and line with the onions (they don't have to completely cover the bottom - just provide enough lift so the ribs can sit on them and not on the bottom of the pan. Remove the ribs from the marinade bag and place over the onions, fat/meat side up (curved side down.) Pour the marinade all over and around the ribs getting every last drop out of the bag. Season the ribs over the top with a little more salt and pepper.

Transfer the ribs to the middle rack and roast at 325 for 2 hours, keeping an eye on the bottom of the pan so that it doesn't begin to burn/blacken. If it dries out, add a little water or chicken stock as needed but be careful not to flood the ribs.

After 2 hours, kick the heat up to 375, move the tray up to the top rack of your oven, and roast another 20-25 minutes until the top develops a deep, dark bronze color and the ribs separate easily when probed.

Happy BBQ Season! Martha Hall Foose's Glorious Baby Back Ribs

I have grill fever. The first day of March here in Texas is warm and sunny and not conducive to getting work done, though I am being forced to. But it's hard when you're having visions of sizzling steaks, juicy burgers, and beer can chicken sitting pretty on the grill.

My current obsession is ribs. I spent the first 30 something years of my life avoiding them, thinking them messy and fatty, and the last few years praising Jesus for those exact same traits. Now I'm making up for lost time with a vengeance, as if my whole reason for being on this earth is to try any and every iteration of them, from smoked to roasted and sauce less to those doused in thick, sweet goop.

After all, there are a lot of animals with ribs in them. And they should all fear me. I'm looking at a squirrel right now in my backyard thinking how adorable his tiny ribs would look on a plate. Just kidding - I feed possums cat food for crying out loud - but you get my drift. I'm temporarily possessed by a five hundred pound truck driver. It'll pass, I'm sure, though I kind of hope it won't.

Sunday I made baby back ribs (in the oven because I was out of propane, classic!) from Screen Doors and Sweet Tea (order this on Amazon now if you don't already have it) and they turned out flipping fantastic. So good in fact that they made me want to make more and more ribs. So stay tuned.

PS - my slaw recipe, though pretty, sucked. Anyone have a good, vinegary (cause that's how I like it, y'all) recipe to share?

Happy Grilling Season!

Martha Hall Foose's Mustard Rubbed Ribs with Vinegar Mopping Sauce
* There is nothing difficult about this recipe but it is a time sucker. Be sure to factor in the 24 hour dry rub and the 3-4 hours of actual cook time, with basting. The upside is the mop sauce doesn't need cooking - just mix and refrigerate.

* 1 slab of baby back ribs, rinsed and patted dry
* 28 oz low sodium chicken stock, only if roasting in oven
* 1 can or bottle of beer, only if roasting in oven
* ingredients for dry rub and mopping sauce below

Step 1 - Make the dry rub (whisk together ingredients listed below) and thoroughly coat your rack of ribs with it, pressing in and smearing around with your fingers. Cover the ribs tightly with plastic wrap and then foil and refrigerate overnight. Remove from fridge a good half hour before cooking.

Dry Rub:
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon black pepper (she uses a whole tbsln)
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Step 2 - whisk the ingredients below together for your mopping sauce and refrigerate until ready to use. Can be made a day or two ahead.

Mopping Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I halve this because I'm a wimp)

Step 3 - Grill or Roast!
If roasting, preheat the oven to 300. Prepare your largest roasting pan with a rack. Pour the can or bottle of beer in, then enough chicken stock to reach up the sides to 1/4 inch or so (you don't want the liquid to touch the ribs.)

Set aside a half cup of the mopping sauce for serving with the ribs. Place the ribs over the rack then baste thoroughly with the mopping sauce then continue to roast, BASTING EVERY HALF HOUR WITH THE SAUCE, for 3 1/2 hours, or until the bones move lightly when twisted. Also be sure to continue adding stock to the bottom of the pan to keep it from drying out/burning - if you run out of stock you can just add water.

Slice them up and serve with leftover mopping sauce.

If grilling, place coals on one side of the grill and set a drip pan on the other side. Set the rack 6 to 8 inches above the coals and light the coals.

When ready to grill, you should be able to hold your palm over the coals for about 2 seconds and there should be a light ash coating on the glowing coats.

Place the ribs on the grill opposite from the coals and cover.

Cook for 20 minutes, keeping the temperature at 200 to 225F. Brush with the sauce, cover, and continue to cook, brushing with the sauce every 30 minutes covering between moppings, for 3 hours or until the bones move slightly when twisted.

Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Martha Hall Foose's Vinegar 'Mopping' Sauce and Dry Rub

If you like to eat tasty food, cook tasty food, or ever ponder taking a road trip through the south to come head to head with the home of the blues (and incredible southern food) then go on Amazon this instant and buy 'Screen Doors and Sweet Tea' by Martha Hall Foose. And before you skip onto your next food blog or celeb gossip site thinking you have nothing in common with a woman cooking up southern food in Mississippi, think again. Martha got herself out of the deep South as soon as she possibly could flinging herself halfway across the world to Paris (where a bag of grits made her instant bff's with an artsy set that showed her parts of the city never seen by tourists.) And while she loved it, she eventually followed her heart back to that rich, culture-soaked Mississippi soil. Martha, it turns out, is proof that you can go home again after all.

The stories and recipes pull you in like quicksand but what I love most about the book are the deeply little southern things she introduces the reader to such as this vinegar-riddled 'mop' sauce. A mop sauce, it turns out, isn't like a BBQ or basting sauce exactly. It's meant to be thin and there's no need to boil it down for hours over the stove to thicken it. She includes it in her recipe for ribs (delicious) but I love it just as much basted over a double cut, bone-in pork chop or a whole chicken. It's an instant recipe booster as is her dry rub which I included below.

A final example of a southern wisdom from the book comes from a friend of Martha's on cleaning and prepping a turtle for turtle soup - "Drive it over to Louisiana and have someone do it for you."

Mopping Sauce:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I halve this because I'm a wimp)
Shake vigoruusly and refrigerate overnight. Baste ribs, pork chops, steak, or chicken frequently over a hot grill.

Dry Rub:
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon black pepper (she uses a whole tbsln)
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Mix all and store in an airtight container for up to a month. Pat thickly over cuts of meat (ideally the day before grilling) keeping wrapped in the fridge overnight to absorb the flavors.

Nigella's Finger-Lickin' Ribs

(To just see the recipe, please scroll to the bottom.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I have to admit something. In theory, I'm the biggest fan of Valentine's Day on earth, but in reality, it makes me nervous. I blame a lot of this trepidation on advertising - years of seeing cheesy commercials where women get everything from a diamond tennis bracelet to a new dust buster on the 'big day' followed by a night out on the town. Movies are even worse. The whole bedroom covered in rose petals thing? A whirlwind trip to Paris? Expectations are a dangerous thing...

But this year, I've promised to mellow myself and my expectations. I'm just thrilled to have the day off, for one thing. And for the other, I'm making a simple but fun meal. Something that seems humbly un-over the top at first glance, but whose powers I have a feeling, will slowly but surely infiltrate the meal.

I won't go into the descriptive detail that Nigella does for these ribs - I blush too easily. But let's just say that anything you eat with your hands is sexy in my book. I'll also say I've run the gammet of textures here - starting with a creamy, cool hummus with crunchy spiced pita chips, then onto the sticky ribs and a fresh citrus spiked salad with warm goat cheese rounds, and finally the volcanic little dark chocolate cakes. Come to think of it, that's the best Valentine's present I could ask for.

Growing up, I remember my parents being obsessed with ribs. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but it's the image my memory's held onto. I remember countless Saturdays bbq-ing ribs, scouring the back roads of Texas for the best underground ribs, and visiting the backyards and ranches of friends to compare bbq notes over a cold, frosty glass of beer (the parents - not me.)

So while ribs hold a fond place in my heart, I have to admit I've never liked them until recently. And now that I'm into them, I see exactly where the fascination lies. There are any number of ways to prepare them - from dry rubs to marinades to roasting to grilling to any combination there of. Falling in love with ribs is like diving into the rabbit hole, head first. There's no looking back.

This recipe comes from Nigella's book, Feast. And while she describes them as Finger Lickin' - I have to caveat that they're not actually the sticky, sauce-covered ribs that this description conjures in a Texan's mind. They're actually quite clean and sauce-free. It's the flavor that's 'saucy' with these guys - a zesty, sassy kick in the pants from the lime, ginger, and hot pepper. In fact, if you like things really hot, I'd up it to 2 peppers or add a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Finger-Lickin' Ribs
Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson
Serves 3-4.

Ingredients:
8 pork spare ribs, separated

Marinade:
1 small onion, peeled, halved, and cut into small wedges
1 star anise, or 1/4 teaspoon Chinese Five Spice powder
1 small cinnamon stick, broken into splinters and shards
1 jalapeno, minced (it's up to you to leave the seeds or not, depending on how hot you like - I leave half of them)
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1/4 cup pineapple juice (I had to sub apple juice)
1 smashed garlic clove

Chopped cilantro or flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Add all of the marinade ingredients - the small onion through the garlic clove - to a large Ziploc bag. Seal and squish around until all are well incorporated. Add the ribs and refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 10. (These are perfect to put together in the morning, then just cook that evening.)

Remove the ribs from the fridge and let come to room temperature before baking - at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the ribs and the marinade ingredients into a large roasting pan (one that can fit everything comfortably in a shallow pool of the marinade), trying to place the majority of the onions under the ribs to provide a bed and prevent the ribs from burning. Roast for 35 minutes, until the tops of the ribs have begun to bronze. Carefully flip the ribs to the other side, and roast another 30-35 minutes, until the other side has bronzed nicely. (If you haven't let the ribs come to room temperature before roasting, they may need a little longer, so adjust accordingly.)

Remove and let rest for ten minutes before serving, scattering with cilantro or parsley if desired.

Update: The husband wowed me - I got a beautiful pair of pearl earrings!!!