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Ribs braised in wine

“If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good?”—Cardinal Richelieu

  • 8 short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp plain flour
  • 10 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 8 large shallots, peeled and split
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and quartered
  • 2 stalks celery, peeled, and cut into small pieces
  • 1 medium leek, washed and roughly chopped
  • 6 sprigs parsley
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2.8l (3 quarts) stock
  • Freshly ground white pepper
  • 3 bottles dry red wine
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Pour the wine into a large a saucepan and heat. When it’s hot, light it carefully, allow to burn out, then boil. Keep boiling until the wine has reduced by half, then remove from the heat.
  2. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish. Season the ribs with salt and black pepper, and dust with flour. Sear the ribs in the hot oil for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Set the browned ribs aside, remove all but 1 tbsp of the fat from the pan, and toss in the garlic, shallots, carrots, celery, leeks, parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Cook these for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften and brown, then spoon in the tomato paste and stir for a minute to mix well.
  3. Pour the reduced wine into the pot, as well as the stock, and put the ribs back in. Bring to the boil, then cover and place on the middle shelf of the oven for 2 ½ hours, or until the ribs are tender enough to be easily skewered. Skim the mixture of excess fat every 30 minutes or so.
  4. After cooking, put the meat to one side and boil the liquid in the pan to reduce it further. Season to taste, and strain out the solids. Serve with vegetables, pouring the sauce over the ribs and sprinkling with celery.
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