BBQ Beef Short Ribs in Instant Pot over Spaghetti Squash

A few years ago, on Amazon Prime Day, in a moment of weakness, I purchased the mysterious Instant Pot that everyone has been raving about. I unboxed it about a month later and did the boiling water test. And that it just set there for a while. And all I make in there is boring things like oatmeal and eggs and chickpeas. And while I do like it, it, for me, it has been a slow sloooooow learning curve. Saw a version of this recipe and decided to try it. It was a fast weeknight dinner and a huge hit so I figured I would share. The original recipe had both the spaghetti squash and the meat cooking in the IP but I roasted the squash in my Breville while the meat cooked.

Ingredients
2 shallots chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 pounds of boneless beef short ribs
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 spaghetti squash
Cooking Oil (I use grape seed oil)


Spaghetti Squash
Wash/Dry Piece a few small holes
Microwave for 2 minutes to soften
Cut in half and scoop out seeds
Roast face down for about 1/2 hour at 420, flip over face up and roast another 10-20 minutes till soft.
        *I used my Breville for this but it would be just fine in a regular oven
Scoop out the spaghetti like flash, add seasoning and keep warm.

Beef Short Ribs

Brown cut up short ribs about 2 minutes per side. I used a regular pan not IP for this.
But you can also use the IP saute feature. When cooked, add to IP. You may want to do this in batches to not crowd the meat.

Sauté 2 chopped shallots and 2 garlic cloves in a little oil. Added to IP.

Added 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup soy sauce, quarter cup of water to IP. Used Meat/Stew setting for 30 mins. I think next time I would go 5 minutes longer. Use Natural Release (aka wait till you can open the pot). This came out quite saucy. If you would like, you can simmer it a bit to thicken the sauce. I did this in another pot on the stovetop (bc IP newbie). Taste the sauce, you may want to add a bit of sugar to it at this point if you like the sauce a bit sweeter.

Serve over the cooked warm spaghetti squash. As you may be able to see in my photo, I also added a bit of already cooked chickpeas and quinoa. Because you know, us working moms want to spread that delicious meal into 2 days.

Voila. Drop me a note and let me know how you like it.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Last weekend, I made braised beef short ribs for the first time ever and their were absolutely delicious and pretty easy to prepare. All you need is about a 1/2 hour of prep time and a few more hours for braising in the oven. I served them over potato/parsnip puree and roasted green beans.  This yielded 2 days worth of dinner, one lunch of leftovers and some delicious bones for the dog.

I quizzed my cooking group on facebook for recommendations and put this together based one of the recipes with a bit of improve on my part.

Ingredients:

about 3 pounds of beef short ribs (mine were bone in)

1 bottle of red wine (I used cabarnet savignon)

3 shallots chopped (ok to substitute w onion)

3 leek bulbs white and light green roughly chopped

2 carrots cut into rounds

2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed

6 oz can of tomato paste

2 cups of beef stock (ok to substitute w more wine, water or stock)

a few spigs of thyme

2 bay leaves

Flour for dredging meat (I used whole wheat)

Neutral oil (I used grape seed)

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 325.

In the meantime, in a heavy duty dutch oven, heat up a bit of oil. In the meantime, dredge short ribs in flour. When the oil is preheated, brown the short ribs on both sides, about 3 minutes a side. You may need to do this in batches, DO NOT CROWD or you will not get a proper browning.

Remove short ribs from dutch oven. Add a bit more oil if needed. 

Add shallots and leeks. Allow to brown a few minutes while scraping up meat bits from the dutch oven. 

Add carrots, bay leaves, thyme, garlic. Deglaze with red wine. Add the ribs back in. Pour stock or other additional liquid you are using. Cover well and place in oven.

Cook in the oven for about 1 hours. Add tomato paste and mix well. Cook additional 30 minutes to an hour for a total baking time for 1.5 to 2 hours. 

Remove from oven. Remove meat and use immersion blender to puree the sauce. Simmer on the stove top at a low flame to reduce a bit. Taste for salt.

Add meat back in. 

Serve over a carb of choice like potato pure or polenta. 

Enjoy. 

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Beef short ribs are not in my regular rotation, this was my first time making them ever but the results were delicious. I used Anne Burrell's recipe (link below) which I adapted to fit my preferences (I loathe celery) and what I like more (leeks) as well as ingredients I had on hand. 

This recipe is fairly simple with the work front loaded and the rest of the time spent just smelling the delicious smell.

Ingredients: 

4 bone in beef short ribs (~2.5 pounds)
2 tablespoons of oil ( I used grape seed)
2 leeks, roughly chopped
3 shallots, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 cup of tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 cups of water
1 1/2 cup of red wine
Salt to taste

Directions:

Season each rib with salt. In a dutch oven/heavy cast iron pot, preheat oil on medium heat. Add salted beef short ribs. Do not crowd. If you have more then 4, you may need to do this in batches.
Brown about 3 minutes per side. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

While the oven is preheating and the short ribs are browning, puree all vegetables and garlic until they form a coarse paste. Do not overblend. Season with salt (and pepper if using-- I omit pepper, just not a fan).

Remove short ribs once browned. Drain the oil, add fresh oil and pureed veggie mixture. Cook till brown, about 7 minutes. Add tomato paste and tomatoes and cook  another 5 minutes. Add wine, cook about 5-8 minutes till mixture is reduced by half. 

Return short ribs to pan, placing on top of sauce. Add enough water to cover. Add thyme and bay leaves. Cover and cook for about 1 1/2 hours. Flip ribs to the other side. Cook another hour while covered. If the sauce is getting too thick, feel free to add more water. Remove cover and cook uncovered another 20-30 minutes to allow meat to brown. Meat should be very tender.

Serve over mashed potatoes or polenta with the sauce.

P.S--next time I will be making more of these to allow for left overs. 

adapted from Anne Burrell's Braised Beef Short Ribs Recipe