Hungarian Goulash Flavored Short Ribs and Roasted Root Vegetables

Well; winter root vegetables are now available around here. We like to roast them in a little extra virgin olive oil with freshly ground pepper and garlic powder then serve them with a hearty meat dish such as beef short ribs. We made Hungarian Style Short Ribs in May of this year and liked the flavor very much. So we decided to combine the Hungarian style ribs, leaving out the noodles, with our roasted root vegetables. As usual, we changed the short rib recipe a little and since it was delicious, we're posting the new recipe here. We're also including our recipe for roasted root vegetables. As you can see, we like them slightly charred so we cooked them an extra 15 minutes.
This is a meal best cooked on weekends or other days when you have all afternoon to enjoy the process and working in your kitchen. Great for a rainy Sunday!

Serves:            4

Prep Time:       30 minutes
Cook Time:      3 hours + 20 minutes

Short Ribs:

INGREDIENTS:
4.5 # meaty bone-in beef short ribs

½ large onion, chopped small

2 of 14.5 oz can of whole stewed tomatoes and juice, tomatoes squeezed to breakdown

2 cups red wine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

2 t salt

2 t dry mustard

2 t Worcestershire Sauce

4 T tomato paste

4 pinches red pepper flakes

2 T peanut oil

A few sprigs of rosemary, parsley or other green garnish

PREPARATION:
1. In a medium Dutch oven(5 1/2Q), brown the short ribs on all sides and reserve.

2. Lightly brown the onions and red pepper flakes next, then return ribs to pot.

3. Combine brown sugar, salt, dry mustard, tomato paste and Worcestershire Sauce and pour over meat and onions with the squeezed tomatoes and juice and 2 cups red wine.

4. Simmer for 3 hours until ribs are fork tender. Check periodically for liquid

5. Remove about 1 1/2 C of the juice, skim the fat, put in a small sauce pan on low heat and thicken with 2-3 T of Arrow root stirring well.

Here is how the short ribs look after simmering 3 hours. The sauce for serving has been removed and is being prepared.

Roasted Root Vegetables:

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch skinny baby carrots, left whole with 1” of green stems

8 small Yukon gold potatoes, halved

6 small yellow beets, skinned and halved

8 Brussels sprouts, base removed and left whole

½ dozen large cloves of garlic, skinned

8  large boiling onions, skinned and left whole or halved

Several sprigs of Rosemary, left whole

2 T extra virgin olive oil

A few shakes of garlic powqder or granulated garlic

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Note: All vegis except garlic and carrots should be cut to about 1” chunks. Carrots and garlic left whole.

PREPARATION:
1. Oil a large rimmed cookie sheet.
2. Place the veggies on the sheet, sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper and roll the veggies around coating them thoroughly. Remove the onions and carrots and reserve at room temperature. Onions to be added back after 15 minutes. Carrots to be added back after 25 minutes.
3. Place cookie sheet in a 400* F oven and cook for about 45 minutes or until tender and browned to your satisfaction.

The root vegetables cut oiled, seasoned and placed in the pan with the whole sprigs of rosemary. We only cooked half of the veggies as we will have leftover short ribs with fresh roasted root veggies in a day or two.

PLATING:

1. Place a couple of the ribs on each warmed plate
2. Avoiding the roasemary, add the root veggies to the plate.
3. Pour the thickened sauce over the ribs and veggies to your taste.
4. If you have any fresh rosemary sprigs left garnish with these.

This hearty dish should be served with a hearty red wine; a burgundy, zinfandel, old vine zinfandel, Cabernet or other.

Bon appetit,
Tom and Anita