Slow Cooked Short Ribs with Buttery Mushroom Sauce

I  remember the first time I found Half Baked Harvests blog. I was brand new to cooking and I was going to have some friends over for dinner and The Holland Farmers Market posted one of her recipes for a peach and polenta stacks. This was probably 8 or so years ago and I didn’t even know what polenta was. I became pretty obsessed with it though after my friend Dann made it one night for dinner with a hanger steak and browned mushrooms. In my opinion, grits or polenta are a wonderful lighter substitute for mashed potatoes and I think I like my ribs, steak and meatloaf best on a bed of either. For this recipe I used grits which soaked up the sauce and juices from the short ribs to perfection.

My dad does this awesome thing everywhere at work where he purchases a bunch of 4H animals and divides the meat amongst the management team. This year I was lucky to snag a few short ribs. Over the course of my home cooking career it’s taken me sometime to get the hang of getting consistent results out of slow cooker cooking. 1. ALWAYS braise your meat and 2.) no matter what the liquid content of the recipe says make sure your meat is submerged. Because if you are slow cooking pork shoulder or any braised meat of the like it will be dry as a cork if it is sticking above the liquid.

I slightly modified this recipe from half baked harvest based upon what I had available. I will say for recipes like this one of the best things I ever asked for for Christmas was the 3 in 1 slow cooker from cuisinart. It has a steam, sauté and slow cook option all in one. This way you don’t have to sear the meat on the stove and transfer to the slow cooker. Instapot? Meh this is the best gadget in my kitchen.

Joe said that these were in his top five favorite meals of the last year so I printed it off and saved it while writing down my adjustments. The only thing I wish I would have done differently is waited to make the sauce, mine got a little too thick as I reheated and also used polenta instead of grits. I think polenta is a bit more creamy but the grits were fantastic with it as well.

Ingredients

• 4lbs of short ribs
• salt n pepper
• 1 large sweet onion sliced
• 4 cloves of smashed garlic
• 2 cups of riesling (she suggested pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc but I had riesling)
• 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth
• on fist full of fresh thyme stems + 1 tbsp chopped for the sauce
• 4 dry bay leaves
• 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1/2 of fresh torn mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon of chopped sage
• 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 3/4 cups of parmesan
• pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 cup of 2% milk to thin out sauce if needed
• I made with these grits

1. Pat ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. heat skillet and sear on all sides about 1 minute per side.
2. In the slow cooker toss the seared ribs, onions, garlic, 1.5 cup of wine, broth, thyme and bay leaves. stir to combine. set on low for 7 hours. When cooked, remove garlic, thyme stems and bay leaves.
3. To make the sauce melt the butter and add mushrooms with a bit of salt and pepper. Stir in the sage and remaining thyme with the mushrooms and cook until fragrant and browned. The smell will be absolute heaven. Set mushrooms aside on a different plate.
4. Start the grits in a separate pan and finish your sauce by adding remaining 1/2 cup of wine and simmer for about 3 minutes. Carefully whisk in the cream and mustard and bring to a gentle boil. My sauce got very thick so I thinned it out by adding in just a tablespoon at a time of 2% milk. Once it is the consistency you  like remove from heat and season with S&P and add in parmesan and mushrooms. Serve the ribs over the grits and top with the sauce.

To view the original recipe and everything else wonderful that the Half Baked Harvest has to offer visit here.
My other favorites of hers are:
Spicy Peanut Noodles 
Buckeye Cake 
Butternut Squash Lasagna