Costolettine Di Manzo Brasate

Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 1 (750 ml) bottle dry red
• 3 cups hot chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
• 6 lbs short rib of beef, cut into 5 to 6 oz. pieces
• salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups chopped onions
• 1/4 cup minced bacon or 1/4 cup pancetta
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary (i used about 1 tbsp. dried)
• 4 bay leaves
• 6 whole cloves
• 1/3 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups crushed italian plum tomatoes, and their liquid

Recipe

• 1 bring red to a boil in a saucepan then lower the heat and reduce to 1 cup; set aside.
• 2 in the meantime, pour 1 cup of the hot stock over the mushrooms in a bowl and let stand until softened, about 20 minutes.
• 3 drain the mushrooms in a sieve lined with a coffee filter or double thickness of cheesecloth and reserve the soaking liquid.
• 4 rinse the mushrooms briefly then chop them coarsely and set aside.
• 5 season the ribs generously with salt and pepper and brown them evenly on all sides in the oil, in a couple of batches if necessary.
• 6 pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat from the pan and cook the onions and bacon together until the onions are lightly browned, about 6 minutes.
• 7 stir in the carrots, rosemary, bay leaves and cloves; season lightly with salt and pepper and cook for 3 more minutes until the carrots are wilted.
• 8 drop in the tomato paste and stir well until the vegetables are coated and the tomato paste begins to darken, another 2 or 3 minutes.
• 9 pour in the reduced , the crushed tomatoes and fit the browned short ribs into the pan.
• 10 pour in enough of the remaining chicken stock plus the reserved mushroom soaking liquid.
• 11 *seemy note below.
• 12 stir together, bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer and cook, adding more stock if needed, for 2 to 3 hours or until ribs are tender and just about to fall off the bone.
• 13 taste occasionally to correct seasoning with salt and pepper if necessary.
• 14 pick the ribs out of the pan carefully so the bone doesn't fall out and set aside.
• 15 strain the cooking liquid through a sieve, pressing on the solids with the back of a spoon.
• 16 discards solids and return the strained liquid to the pan.
• 17 tuck ribs back into the sauce and serve them up!
• 18 *my note: lidia doesn't actually say to add the reserved chopped mushrooms to the dish, but i did-- what's a little more flavor?