slow cooked cheap hunks of meat. mmmm.

hello again. still here. and tonight i finally discovered what the hell everyone has been talking about when it comes to short ribs. i've had 'em before. here. my friend gentle ben and i decided to check it out some time ago after reading about it in the free times. oh hey - it's even on beer advocate's website.

the short ribs were the special - braised with carrots, tomatoes and those lil' onions and it was spooned over mashed potatoes. i was just getting into magic hat then and it was one of the only places i knew with no. 9 on tap besides the lizard. huh - guess that was a while ago.

anyways - they kicked ass. soooooo good. and then i was inspired by this kid and i decided to try my hand at braised short ribs.

he braised his short ribs in beer but i opted for wine. (beer braise next time). it was a lil' like the faux osso bucco. i seasoned two short ribs with salt and pepper and browned them in my dutch oven in some oil on all sides. i took out the short ribs and browned some chopped onions, carrots and celery. i added about 1 1/2 cups of red wine and really reduced it. then i put the short ribs back in and added some beef stock just to cover them. i brought it to a boil and then put 'em in the oven for 2 1/2 hours.

while those were braising i decided to make some cookies. i was inspired earlier by some dried cherries i picked up at the peanut shoppe. i've also been wanting to try out pioneer woman's pecan crispies so i thought i'd combine 'em. i made the dough and chilled it in the fridge while the short ribs continued to braise.

i made some mashed potatoes and topped 'em with one of the short ribs. then i spooned the yummy reduced sauce over everything. oh man oh man. soooooo good. the meat just pulled apart with my fork and taking a big bite of all the different things was sooooo good!!

then i started baking the cookies. these are pretty damn good but i think next time i'll use butter instead of crisco. like with these cookies. butter is just so much better. and i think i'll use more pecans next time too.

so yea. tonight was pretty delicious.