Beef short ribs are simmered in an easy tomato sauce for this Slow Simmered Short Rib Sauce with Pasta. It’s perfect for a Sunday supper!
Love a comforting pasta dinner? Try this Penne Pasta Bake or these Lasagna Roll Ups.
Originally posted January 11, 2008 – Now that we are heading into the cooler months, I figured it’s time to start posting all of the comfort foods!! This Slow Simmered Short Rib Sauce with Pasta is not only a great comfort food, but it’s perfect for Sunday supper. It takes a little longer than most of my dinner recipes here on Taste and Tell, but that’s what makes a great Sunday dinner, right? Short ribs are slowly cooked into a delicious, meaty tomato sauce, and then it’s served over pasta. This is such a delicious reason to sit down as a family at the table!
The original post follows:
I have a confession to make – I have already made all 4 recipes from this month’s Cookbook of the Month – The New Best Recipe. In fact, I had all 4 things made as of last Sunday – the 6th of January. I think I’m on a kick here – or else I am just in love with this cookbook!
Another confession – when it comes to pasta sauces, I’m usually the easiest-and-fastest-way-possible kind of girl. I admire those people who simmer their homemade sauces for hours, but the majority of my sauces come from a jar. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I wanted to try it to do something different than I am used to.
This isn’t a super long cooking sauce – it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours on the stove – and it was actually extremely easy. And the smell of the sauce cooking through the house was amazing.
For the meat in this recipe, it calls for beef short ribs or pork spareribs or country style ribs. I had decided to half the recipe, even though the original only serves 4, and I’m really glad I did because we still easily got 4 servings out of this. When I was at the grocery store looking at ribs, I originally wanted to go with pork, but the packages they came in were huge. I didn’t want to have to freeze the remainder because my tiny freezer is already feeling overburdened. They had a package of beef ribs, so I went with that.
This short rib sauce turned out delicious. I would definitely make this again on a day I have a few hours to let the sauce and the meat cook. The only complaint I had with it is that it did turn out a little bit greasy. I did try to cut all of the visible fat off of the ribs before starting and I drained the fat, but the end result still had a bit of a greasy feel to it. I would like to try this with pork and see if that helps with the greasiness.
Stay tuned for more features from this book. I have another main dish coming from it, as well as a delicious dessert!!
More Comfort Food Dinners
Italian Ground Beef Casserole with Biscuit Topping
Rigatoni with Sausage, Peas, Tomatoes, and Cream
Chicken Manicotti with Mushrooms
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Slow Simmered Short Rib Sauce with Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 1/2 lbs beef short ribs
- 1 small onion minced
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes undrained
- 8 oz penne pasta
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season the ribs with salt and pepper on all sides. Working in batches, if needed, add the ribs and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes. Remove the ribs to a plate and discard all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.
- Add the onion to the Dutch oven and sauté until soft, 2-3 minutes. Add the beef broth and simmer, scraping up all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Simmer until it reduces to a glaze, a couple of minutes.
- Return the ribs to the pan, along with any juices that have accumulated. Turn the heat to low and add the tomatoes. Cover the pan and allow the sauce to simmer, turning the ribs often during cooking. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
- When the meat is tender, remove from the pan to a cutting board. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred. Discard the fat and the bones. Add the meat back to the sauce and simmer until heated through. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, then drain. Add the drained pasta to the Dutch oven and toss to coat in the sauce. Serve with the grated cheese.
Bridget says
Isn’t that a fantastic cookbook? It seriously changed the way I cook. I’ve made this particular recipe, but if I recall, I screwed it up somehow and it didn’t seem nearly as tasty as yours looks!
Happy cook says
Wow just delicious.
I would love to have them 🙂
Patricia Scarpin says
Deb, Joao is gonna love this!
Ellie says
What an absolutely stellar looking dish! I’m sorry to hear that it was greasier than expected, but Katerina’s suggestion is a good one, and what we do at my place when we’re cooking short ribs 🙂 if you refrigerate them, it also makes the fat very easy to remove!
SteamyKitchen says
How about a slow cooker?
The Baker & The Curry Maker says
I’m glad you enjoyed the slow cooking. I love it. Especially when you don’t really have to cook to much, just allow time to pass and all the flavours to brew. Looks delicious Deb.
Annemarie says
We just did a nice slow cooked meat sauce with our first batch of home-made pasta. The two together were fabulous!
Shandy says
Hi Deborah, you changed your picture and what a cool idea! =) I so miss a large vegetable garden but I don’t miss having so many veggies that you *have* to figure out what to do with them all at once. I remember a little to well the overload of tomatoes and zuchinni. If you make the Almost Apple Pie a la Mode, you can cut the recipe down to how ever many servings you would like to make. Thank you for the comments Deborah, you always bring a smile and make my morning =D.
Shant@pastryheaven.