Braised Short Ribs - Illustrated!

Before heading off to Germany last week, I broke in my new Dutch Oven with a batch of Braised Short Ribs with Chocolate and Rosemary. Now that I've returned back to the States and downloaded photos from my digital camera, I decided to share the experience. Here were the results:

After rendering a couple of rashers of bacon (I suspect that pancetta is not an item in the Safeway inventory), I browned the short ribs in the drippings and removed them to a temporary holding location:


Then, I threw in the onion-heavy mirepoix, some finely diced shallots, and a few cloves of minced garlic into the pot and sweated down the vegetables:


I poured in some red wine (2000 Woodbridge Cabernet) and reduced the liquid until half of it was left. I then added chicken broth, a can of diced tomatoes, the meat (the ribs and bacon), and the aromatics:


Three hours of braising + Chocolate + Cocoa = Good Eats!:


The finished product, served on a bed of smashed russet potatoes:


The results were fantastic. Both my sweetie and I thought that the short ribs were very tender and the savory sauce, reminiscent of a chocolate mole (minus the chiles), complemented the beef perfectly. It was a very easy recipe to make and definitely one that I will use again.