French Onion Soup With Braised Short Ribs Food

THE BEST FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a very large Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onions, bay leaves, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and a few grinds black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and light golden-brown, about 1 hour. (The onions will begin to stick to the bottom of the pan and turn brown after about 30 minutes; just keep scraping them up and stirring them into the rest of the onions. If they are browning to quickly, lower the heat.)
• Add the wine to the pot, bring to a simmer and cook until it has almost completely evaporated, about 4 minutes. Add the beef broth and 1 cup of water, bring to a simmer and cook until the flavors come together and the soup is rich, about 45 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Keep the soup warm on a low burner or cool completely and refrigerate to reheat later. (The soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)
• Preheat the broiler. Place four soup crocks on a rimmed baking sheet and fill them about 3/4 of the way with hot soup. Float a slice of baguette on top of each and cover with 1/2 cup Gruyere. Broil until the Gruyere is golden brown (don't be alarmed if some soup bubbles out), 2 to 3 minutes.

FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn't burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
• When you're ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.
• Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

BRAISED SHORT RIB FRENCH DIP

Steps:

• For the caramelized onions: Melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring every few minutes with a metal spoon or spatula, until a rich chocolate brown color, 30 to 45 minutes. (Do not stir too often or onions will not properly caramelize; stir often enough to prevent onions from burning.) Deglaze pan with red wine and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
• For the short ribs: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Heat bacon fat in a medium stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the celery, carrots and onions and cook until onions are browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir constantly until well combined and deep red, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in wine and bring to a boil. Add all herbs and garlic and stir in beef stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let braising liquid simmer while preparing short ribs.
• Trim excess fat from short ribs and cut into four 5- to 6-ounce portions. Sprinkle all sides of the short ribs with salt and pepper. Brush bottom of a large Dutch oven with a little vegetable oil and heat until smoking hot. Add short ribs. Brown all sides and turn off the heat; turn off the heat to the braising liquid as well.
• Carefully ladle all the braising liquid along with the herbs and vegetables over the short ribs. Cover cook in the oven, 4 hours.
• Using metal tongs, carefully remove each short rib from the braising liquid and set aside to cool. Strain braising liquid. Discard vegetables and herbs, reserving liquid. Set aside.
• Raise oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Slice short ribs and remove any excess fat. Heat braising liquid in a medium pot. Add sliced short ribs and caramelized onions and heat approximately 5 minutes. Remove short ribs and caramelized onions and place inside French rolls; arrange on a baking sheet. Top with Gruyere and toast in oven until cheese is well melted, 5 to 7 minutes. Serve with coleslaw and a cup of warm braising liquid for dipping.

BEEF SHORT RIB FRENCH ONION SOUP

Steps:

• Mix flour, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder in a bowl. Dredge beef short ribs in the seasoned flour mixture. Reserve 3 tablespoons of leftover seasoned flour.
• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and pan-fry the beef ribs until browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove ribs and set aside. Turn heat down to medium and melt butter in the pot; cook and stir sweet onions in the butter until soft and slightly browned, about 15 minutes. Stir constantly and reduce heat if onions begin to burn.
• Stir 3 tablespoons of reserved seasoned flour mixture into the onions and cook and stir for 10 minutes; pour in beef broth and sherry. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until soup is slightly thickened; season with more salt and black pepper, if desired.
• Strip leaves from thyme sprigs and add leaves to the soup. Gently return short ribs to the pot, reduce heat to low, and simmer soup until ribs are tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Stir soup every hour or so.
• Preheat the oven's broiler.
• Ladle soup into oven-safe soup crocks, placing a short rib into each bowl. Top soup with 2 slices of French bread per bowl and sprinkle about 1/4 cup of Gruyere cheese over each crock.
• Place crocks under broiler until cheese is browned and bubbling, 2 to 3 minutes.

BRAISED SHORT RIBS

Steps:

• Season each short rib generously with salt. Coat a pot large enough to accommodate all the meat and vegetables with olive oil and bring to a high heat. Add the short ribs to the pan and brown very well, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Do not overcrowd pan. Cook in batches, if necessary.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• While the short ribs are browning, puree all the vegetables and garlic in the food processor until it forms a coarse paste. When the short ribs are very brown on all sides, remove them from the pan. Drain the fat, coat the bottom of same pan with fresh oil and add the pureed vegetables. Season the vegetables generously with salt and brown until they are very dark and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Scrape the crud again and add the tomato paste. Brown the tomato paste for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat if things start to burn. Reduce the mixture by half.
• Return the short ribs to the pan and add 2 cups water or until the water has just about covered the meat. Add the thyme bundle and bay leaves. Cover the pan and place in the preheated oven for 3 hours. Check periodically during the cooking process and add more water, if needed. Turn the ribs over halfway through the cooking time. Remove the lid during the last 20 minutes of cooking to let things get nice and brown and to let the sauce reduce. When done the meat should be very tender but not falling apart. Serve with the braising liquid.

BRAISED SHORT RIBS

Steps:

• Put short ribs in large baking pan. You'll be adding in the potatoes and carrots, so allow enough room.
• Add onion soup mix and beef broth.
• Cover with foil.
• Put in 350 degree oven.
• After two hours (give or take, it's very forgiving), turn meat, add potatoes and carrots. Re-cover and cook for 1 hour or until potatoes are cooked through.