Beer Braised Short Ribs

So I should start out with an apology (sort of).  It's been a while since I've blogged, but that's been all the craziness that my life has been lately.  And while it's easy to put off things that we want to do, I decided that it's about time that I start putting up my food again.  Even going through the pictures of this recipe, and doing all the editing, made me happy that I picked it up again.  Looking through the food, recollecting cooking...it's therapeutic.  I think sometimes life has a way of distracting us.  But I don't want to put off doing this.  I love blogging.  And obviously, I love food.  So while I may or may not have made this uhh a month ago, I thought it was still very worthy of blogging.  And this recipe is delicious.

Short ribs are so craveable so delicious.  They do require a long cooking time, but there is nothing better than walking back into my house after a long day of work to the smell of rich fatty short ribs that have cooked for 10 hours.  

This recipe is failproof easy.  I promise.  And there are some days that I just love doing very little prep work and digging in when I get home. 

Ingredients

Short Ribs:

3 T tomato paste

1 C beer

1/4 C cider vinegar

2 T chili powder

1 T cinnamon

1 t cumin

1/2 t pepper

1/2 t white pepper

1 bay leaf

2 T olive oil

2 lbs bone in short ribs

2 C pureed tomato

4 sprigs thyme

Combine the tomato paste through the bay leaf. 

Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Once the oil is shimmering, it is hot enough.

Add the short ribs in batches, not crowding the pan.  Brown on each side, about 5 minutes each side.

Put the short ribs in the slow cooker and add the tomato puree to the pan.  

Use the puree to deglaze the pan, only stirring for a few minutes.

Add the sauce, the marinade and thyme to the slow cooker with the browned short ribs.  Throw in the thyme as well.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

For the beer, I used Abita.  You should use a dark amber beer.

Remove from the slow cooker and put into a bowl.   

It's a good idea to separate those bones from the meat...

I also served these with asparagus.  

I sauteed the asparagus in olive oil.

Once it was sauteed, I tossed it in lime juice and cilantro.

Served together the short ribs, the acidity paired extremely well.  Enjoy!