Spadea’s homemade recipe for short ribs over polenta

I took full advantage of having Monday off, really off, no radio, no podcast, no events. So other than taking care of the chickens, I had very little to do in the way of tasks, chores, and everything that typically pops up on a "down" day. So of course, I cooked.

I ordered three pounds of beef short ribs from Wegmans. Starting with some ghee (clarified butter) and beef tallow, I took my deep stovetop pan and brought it to high heat. Then I dried and salted the ribs.

Placing them in the melted fat to brown on all sides. Takes a couple of minutes on each side, resist the desire to move them! Once they're brown on each side, pull them out onto a separate plate.

Then turn the heat way down and throw in chopped onions, celery, and carrots into the rendered fat from the ribs.

Once the onions become translucent, add a few cloves of crushed garlic. Then add some red wine and beef broth.

Bring up to a simmer and add some tomato or umami paste and some ancient grain flour to thicken the sauce.

Then back in with the ribs.

Cover and put in the oven for three hours at 275. You know it's down when you can pull the bones out without resistance and they're clean.

As far as the polenta, bring three cups of water to a boil then slowly stir in a cup of cornmeal. Once it simmers, with constant stirring with a small whisk, then add an additional cup of water. Once it is thick enough to look like polenta instead of soup, add in a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt. Cover and let sit.

Back to the beef, you can remove any hard pieces of fat from the bone side of the rib, easy to spot. Then stir and serve over polenta. Enjoy!

And to see some more of my recipes:

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

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