braised short ribs WITH CREAMY MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients

Hands on for: 30 minutes

Walk away for: 4 hours

Short Ribs

1 large yellow onion

6 garlic cloves

1(15-ounce) can crushed

tomatoes

2½ cups low-sodium beef stock (or BTB + water-see page 21)

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

1½ tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 teaspoons ground cumin

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lime

4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

3 pounds Yukon Gold or russet potatoes, scrubbed

2½ cups whole milk, plus more if needed

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

6 garlic cloves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 scallions, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Make the short ribs. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Dice the onion.

3. Add the onion, garlic, crushed tomatoes, stock, soy sauce, tomato paste, fish sauce, cumin, paprika, 1 teaspoon salt, % teaspoon pepper, and the zest of the lime into a Dutch oven and stir to combine.

4. Season the short ribs with 2 teaspoons salt and 4¼ teaspoon pepper. Nestle the ribs down into the tomato sauce bone side up so that the meat is totally submerged.

5. Cover the pan with a lid or foil and braise for 4 hours.

6. Make the mashed potatoes. Once the short ribs are in the oven, start prepping your mashed potatoes immediately —they're also going in the oven to slow roast. Quarter the potatoes (peeled or unpeeled! I like the peels!). Add them, along with the milk, butter, garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper to a wide ovenproof pot or 9 x 13-inch baking dish. The milk should cover the potatoes at least halfway-if it doesn't, add a little more.

7. Cover tightly with a lid or foil and add the potatoes to the oven to roast with the short ribs for the remaining 3-ish hours.

8. When 1 hour remains, remove the lid from the short ribs and flip them over so that the meat side is up and exposed. Return to the oven, uncovered.

9. Remove the short ribs and potatoes from the oven. Carefully uncover the potatoes and use a measuring cup or ladle to remove most of the excess liquid from the pot, but don't throw it away. There might be a bit of a milky film on top-that's okay, it will soften and mash right in. Mash the potatoes and garlic, ideally using a potato masher, but a wooden spoon or the back of a ladle will do the trick. Add some of the

liquid back as needed until you reach your perfect mashed potato

consistency. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. Potatoes like a lot of salt!

10. Carefully spoon off and discard the oily fat layer from the top of the short ribs. Cut the zested lime in half and squeeze the juice on top of the ribs.

11. Thinly slice the scallions (if using). Divide the mashed potatoes among shallow bowls. Use tongs to place the short ribs on top (the bones might slip out; just discard them if they do). Spoon some of the sauce over the top. Sprinkle with the scallions and enjoy.

Notes

learn The most important step in this entire recipe is picking good short ribs. This is not a job for a delivery shopper-you need to handpick the best, meatiest short ribs. You also want 1½ to 2 inches of meat (1 inch - roughly the size of the top knuckle of your thumb!) with nice marbling (aka white lines of fat!) running throughout. Even the perfect short ribs sometimes have a tough membrane between the bone and the meat-no worries, just discard it after you eat the meat.

SWap Replace the short ribs with 2½ to 3 pounds chuck roast, cut into

3-inch pieces. Since there are no bones, which add a ton of flavor, bump up the tomato paste to 2 tablespoons and the low-sodium soy sauce to 3 tablespoons.

bulk it up serve with Smashed Cukes Salad (page 208) or

Cilantro Lime Slaw (page 93).