For our final day of this On The Line profile, Jason Quinn of The Lime Truck shares a recipe for short ribs. He adds that he does a different version of it every Sunday when they stop at The Bruery.
]
Beer-Braised Short Ribs with Griddled Mashed Potatoes and Piquillo Pepper Paint
Serves 6
Braise
4 pounds boneless beef short ribs
1 red onion
2 carrots
1 rib of celery
6 cloves of garlic
1 6 oz can of tomato paste
kosher salt and pepper to taste
30 oz of dark beer (on the truck we use beer from The Bruery in Placentia, their “Mischief,” “Einer's Folly” and “Cotton” would be amazing candidates. As far as more mainstream beers are concerned, Stone's Arrogant Bastard or even New Belgium's Fat Tire would be ideal choices. Basically you are looking for a beer that has a full body, it needs to be dark, acidic, slightly sweet and well-rounded.)
Set the oven to 350 F. Cut the meat into pieces that are roughly 2 inches long by 1 inch wide. Once all the meat is portioned, season generously with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Get an 8 qt Dutch oven over medium high heat and cover the bottom with vegetable oil. (Extra virgin olive oil is not the ideal choice here because of its low smoke point.) Once the oil is hot, working in batches, brown the meat–making sure not to crowd the pan, this should take about 10 minutes per batch. After all the meat is cooked, take it all out of the pan and add the carrots, onion and celery (cut into bruniose, a 1/8in by 1/8in by 1/8in cube) sweat the vegetables for 5 minutes and then add the diced garlic. After the garlic has cooked for about a minute add the can of tomato paste and continue to stir. After one more minute add the short ribs back to the pot and cover the meat with the beer. Bring to a boil, cover and put in the oven. Leave for 2 hours unattended. After that time remove the lid and let cook for 1 more hour. When the third hour is done begin basting the ribs with the remaining liquid every 15 minutes for one final hour, a total cooking time of 4 hours. Let the meat cool down in the braising liquid for at least an hour before serving for the best results.
Mash
3 pounds red potatoes
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons of butter
kosher salt to taste
Add potatoes to a pot in the 4-6 qt range and cover with cold, salted water. Bring water to a boil and simmer the potatoes until tender. (This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours). Then drain the potatoes in a colander and let steam for about 10 minutes, during this time bring your cream and butter to a boil in a separate pot. Return potatoes to original pot and add boiling hot cream/butter mixture. Using a potato masher, break down the potatoes to desired consistency and season to taste.
These are great to serve as is, however, if you have a well seasoned cast iron pan, get it smoking hot, add a tiny bit of oil and then a scoop of mashed potatoes, pushing down with a spatula so that the potatoes get crispy, wait 1 minute, flip and wait 1 more minute, place the crispy mashed potatoes on the plate and use them as a bed for the short ribs.
Paint
1 jar roasted piquillo peppers
1 teaspoon sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt to taste
Add all ingredients to a blender, puree until smooth, transfer to a squeeze bottle and garnish the short ribs.
The Lime Truck, thelimetruck.com.
Follow the Lime Truck on Twitter @TheLimeTruck!
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.