Braise
- 1 six ounce container beef demi-glace
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 medium carrots, washed, scrubbed, and roughly chopped (don’t bother peeling)
- 1 celery rib, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 8 veal short ribs
- instant flour
- fine sea salt
- 1 box Pomi chopped tomatoes, drained of their juice
- 1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 bottle dry red wine (I used an inexpensive but tasty Chinon; never cook with anything you wouldn’t drink)
Put demi-glace in a medium slow cooker set to high. Heat first tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook until they are soft and beginning to brown. Transfer veggies to slow cooker.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the same skillet and return to heat. Thoroughly dry short ribs with paper towels. Dust with instant flour. Sprinkle with salt. Sear on all sides. Transfer to slow cooker.
Add drained tomato pulp to slow cooker. Sprinkle with herbs. Add bay leaf.
Deglaze skillet with red wine and then add enough of the wine to slow cooker to barely cover all the other ingredients. Cook 2 hours on high. Reduce heat to low and cook another 2 hours.
Remove short ribs from slow cooker, transferring to a glass baking dish. Cover with foil and put in refrigerator.
Strain braising liquid through a fine sieve. Reserve liquid. Discard veggie pulp. Transfer braising liquid into a large fat separator. Put in refrigerator.
Service
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium carrot, peeled, and diced fine
- 1 large shallot, peeled and diced fine
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
- 5 white mushrooms, rinsed and diced fine
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried herbes de Provence
- 4 sundried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and chopped fine
- 6 ounces veal demi-glace
- 2 cups braising liquid separated from fat
- 1 tablespoon black truffle tapenade
- 2 tablespoons basil chiffinoade
- 1 tablespoon cognac
- 2 tablespoons good quality balsamic vinegar (at least 10 years old)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- chives
About 40 minutes before service, combine butter and oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. After butter stops foaming, add carrots. Cook 3 minutes. Add shallot. Cook 1 minute. Add garlic. Cook 30 seconds. Add mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Cook 2 or 3 minutes until mushrooms begin to soften and slightly brown. Add tomatoes. Cook 1 miniute. Add demi-glace and braising liquid. Raise heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and allow liquid to reduce to a glaze consistency. Add truffles, basil, cognac and balsamic vinegar. Return to simmer then reduce heat to lowest setting. Just before serving, add last tablespoon of butter and mix well.
About 30 minutes before service, transfer the baking dish holding the short ribs to a preheated 250° oven. When ready to plate, put some gnocchi in a large pasta bowl. Add 4 short ribs per bowl. Spoon sauce over. Sprinkle finely chopped chives over all and serve immediately.
Chive Gnocchi
- 2 russet potatoes (approx. 1-½ pounds), rinsed, scrubbed, wrapped in foil, and baked at 400° for 60-70 minutes until done
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons half-and-half
- pinch ground nutmeg
- 1-½ teaspoons fine sea salt
- ¾ teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
- ½ tablespoon dried chives
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1-½ cups semolina flour
Peel potatoes while still hot. Transfer to a large bowl. Mash well with a potato masher. Cool for 15 minutes. Add egg, half-and-half, nutmeg, salt, pepper, chives, garlic and onion powder, and mix well. Add 1 cup flour and mix well with hands. You want a soft, slightly sticky dough ball to form. You may need to use up to the full 1-½ cups semolina flour, but add the last ½ cup about a tablespoon at a time until dough ball forms. Divide dough into 4 pieces. On a floured work surface, roll each dough piece out until it forms a rope shape about ¾ inch thick. Reserve about half the dough ropes for another use tomorrow night, storing them in a plastic container in the refrigerator. Let tonight's ropes rest 15 minutes. Cut into ¾ long pieces. Roll each piece over the tines of a dinner fork to make the characteristic grooves.
Meanwhile, bring a large pasta pot of well salted water to a boil. When a rolling boil is achieved, add gnocchi pieces. In about 5 minutes, they should be floating at the top. Check one for doneness and then use a slotted spoon or spider to dish into pasta bowls. Add short ribs, spoon sauce over, top with chives, and serve.
