- 1 quart beef stock
- A fat handful or small package dried porcini mushrooms (optional but recommended)
- 6 meaty beef short ribs
- Salt and pepper
- Flour, for dredging
- Olive oil, 3 turns of the pan
- 4 onions, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 7 to 8 leaves of sage, sliced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons rosemary, chopped
- 1 cup spicy dry red wine
- 1/2 pound black skinned seedless grapes
- 1/4 cup aged Balsamic vinegar
Preheat oven to 325°F. Heat stock in a small pot and add porcini to plump them up.
Dredge meat in salt-and-pepper seasoned flour. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil smokes, brown short ribs on all sides then remove to a plate. To the pot, add vegetables, garlic, sage and rosemary; season with salt and pepper. Cover pot and sweat vegetables to soften a bit, stirring occasionally. Add wine and reduce by half; add grapes, vinegar, reconstituted porcini and the stock (leaving behind any sediment that may have settled at the bottom). Bring to a boil then add meat back in and transfer to oven. Braise meat 2 1/2 hours or until very tender.
Remove meat to platter and pass sauce through a food mill with all the ingredients or strain sauce through a coarse sieve pushing vegetable bits through.
Combine sauce ingredients in small bowl and pass with meat and Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips.