Braised short ribs enhance viewing of big playoff games

FALLBROOK – The National Football League conference championship games will be played Sunday (Jan. 21) and these big games should be enjoyed with food featuring big flavors.

Hosts having friends over for the AFC and NFC title games should try their hands at the following recipe for "Red Chili Braised Short Ribs" courtesy of "Jon Bonnell's Texas Favorites" (Gibbs Smith).

Red Chili Braised Short Ribs

Serves 8 to 10

Red Chili Sauce

1 yellow onion, diced

2 ribs celery, diced

5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon butter

3 cascabel chiles

3 guajillo chiles

3 pasilla chiles

1 ancho chile

2/3 cup dry red wine

3 1/2 cups chicken stock

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika

1 cinnamon stick

Pinch of ground cumin

2 tablespoons tomato paste

Short Ribs

8 to 10 thick-cut large beef short ribs

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup dry red wine

Instructions

In a medium-size soup pot, sauté the onion, celery and garlic in butter until the onion softens.

Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chiles and add them to the pot.

Add the remaining sauce ingredients and cook for 1 hour at a light simmer, covered.

Remove the cinnamon stick and puree the entire mixture until smooth, then strain out the solids and discard. Set the sauce aside.

Season the short ribs with salt.

In a Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil on high heat and brown the shorts ribs over very high heat on all sides. Once the ribs are very brown, deglaze the pot with red wine, then pour in the Red Chili Sauce and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Place the pot in a preheated 250 F oven and cook for 5 hours. Once finished, the meat should be falling-off-the-bone tender and the sauce incredibly flavorful.