Instant Pot Red Wine Short Ribs

 Well, it is official, I am ready for the farmer's market to open again  I thawed the last batches of local short ribs and decided to make ragu.  And I just happened to have a package of potato gnocchi I needed to use.

Instant Pot Red Wine Short Ribs

adapted from: https://www.lifasastrwberry.com/instant-pot-short-ribs

2 lbs boneless beef short ribs

salt & pepper to taste

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

12 oz baby portobello mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 cups red wine (I used a red blend)

3 cups homemade roasted tomato marinara

Instructions:

1) Generously salt and pepper all sides of your short ribs

2) Set Instant Pot to saute setting and add olive oil.  When pot is hot, add short ribs and sear for 3-5 minutes per side until golden brown. 

3) Remove short ribs from pot and set aside. 

4) Add onions and mushrooms to pot and stir to combine.  Cook until all water from mushrooms is evaporated.  Add garlic, cook a minute until it becomes fragrant.

5) Add balsamic vinegar and red wine to pot to deglaze.  Make sure to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pan with your spoon or spatula.  Bring to a simmer.

6) Press "cancel" button to turn off saute setting.

7) Add short ribs back to the pot, nestling them in with the onions and mushrooms.  Pour tomato sauce over the ribs (do not stir).

8) Lock the Instant Pot lid in place, move the valve to "sealing" and set the cook time to 65 minutes on high (if you are using boneless ribs, cooke at 50 minutes)

9) When cook time has finished, let the pressure release naturally for 15 mintues, then do a quick release of any remaining pressure by carefully moving the valve to venting. Let the pot vent until the pin drops.  Then carefully remove the lid away from you to avoid steam.

10) Remove the cooked ribs to a plate to cool.  

11) Add the gnocchi to the pot and stir.  Place lid back into place and move the valve to "sealing".  Press cancel to turn off "Keep warm".  The set the cook time to 6 minutes on high.

12) While the gnocchi are cooking, remove the beef from the bones and fat.  

13) When the cooking time is over, do a quick release by carefully moving the valve to "venting"

14) Once the pin drops, carefully open the lid away from you.  Stir the shredded ribs back into the pot.  Let the mixuter cook for about 5-10 minutes more to thicken a bit.

 

Braised Short Ribs

Yesterday a friend posted a recipe for soy-braised short ribs with mushrooms.  It sounded really good and I asked for the recipe.  Well, I have filed that recipe because it still looks really good to me, but today, I decided that I wanted to make a ragu with the ribs and got the idea that using marinara and red wine might produce a great ragu.  I am going to give my CSA, Middleton Farms, credit for the ribs even though I don't get a meat share, because I bought the ribs from them at the farmers market.  I used a Classico 4-cheese marinara, but next time, I probably will make my own as we will be getting tomatoes very soon in our Harvest Share.

Braised Short-Rib Ragu

• 2.5 lbs beef short ribs*
• salt & pepper
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 jar (or 4 cups) marinara sauce
• 8 cloves garlic*, crushed
• 2 cups red wine (I used Ruffino Il Leo Chianti)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Brown the short ribs in batches (about 5 minutes per batch)

Add the garlic cloves, Donatella’s Marinara Sauce, and the red wine (enough so the meat is just covered).

Bring to a simmer on the stove-top then braise in the preheated oven until the meat is very tender, about 2 ½ – 3 hours.  Pull meat from bones and shred.

Serve over rice, pasta, spaghetti squash or zucchini "noodles".

*CSA ingredients

Nutrition (1/2 cup serving)
Calories, 221
Fat 13g
Carbs 8g
Protein 13g

Lasagna after Bariatric Surgery

After bariatric surgery, you have to educate your stomach again.  You also have to reeducate your mind when it comes to eating.  While I would love to believe that I could continue to eat my beloved Italian pasta, I am now realizing that I just won't be able to indulge in that ever again.  I can have a few strands of spaghetti or a couple pieces of shaped pasta, but it will never be a "meal" for me again.  That said, I still love the flavor of lasagna.  When I was on blended foods, my favorite dish was deconstructed lasagna (basically ricotta cheese topped with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella).  Yesterday, when I was at the Murray Hill Market, I found some beautiful early zucchini's and decided to make a noodle-less lasagna.  To make it even easier and not heat up my apartment, I decided to make it in my crockpot.

Crockpot Noodle-less Meatball Lasagna

• 2 medium zucchini
• salt
• 1 small bunch beet greens*
• 16 oz ricotta cheese (part-skim)
• 2 cups mozzarella, split
• 1 egg*
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 6 small meatballs
• 2 cups homemade marinara

Slice zucchini 1/8 inch thick and lay out on paper towels.  Sprinkle with salt and let sweat for 30 minutes.  blot zucchini slices with paper towels. Wash and tear beet greens into bite-size pieces.

In a large bowl, mix ricotta, egg, 1 cup of mozzarella and parmesan.

Cover bottom of crock with marinara.  Layer zucchini slices over sauce.  Break up 2 meatballs over zucchini and spoon sauce over meatballs.  Layer ricotta over meatballs and sauce, followed by beet greens.  Repeat layers 2 times ending with a layer of zucchini and sauce.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella.  Cover and cook 3 hours on HIGH.  Reduce heat to LOW until vegetables are soft.

*CSA ingredients