Ancho-Coffee Braised Short Ribs

A few weeks ago, I was approached by a marketer for US Wellness Meats. She said they would send me a bunch of meat, and all I had to do was talk about it on my website! Where do I sign up? A few days later, a cooler came in the mail with 15 lbs of meat, all individually sealed and frozen. I was skeptical about how frozen/mailed meat would taste, but after cooking with it for the first time last night, I was super impressed. These were some of the best short ribs I have ever cooked with! And I have made short ribs a lot. But knowing my site, did you guys think that I would just make some generic recipes for this awesome meat? Nahhh, I had to do it justice. Ever since I cooked pasta in coffee, I have been wanting to braise something in coffee, and these ribs were just the thing. Even though I like my coffee black, most others don’t, so I threw in a side of super creamy potatoes.

The coffee cold-brewed for 2 days.

The beautiful short ribs from US Wellness Meats.

A light flour dusting.

Veg, sugar, coffee, ribs. I seared the ribs before cooking the veggies.

On to the potatoes. These weren’t fattening or anything, right?

So creamy. At this point, John called it “alfredo-potato”. Beat this in the mixer until its smooth and delicious.

The greens.

This was like a classic steakhouse meal.

The ribs came out amazing.

Pure comfort on a plate.

So tender. Back when I made the coffee pasta, it was over the top coffee bitter flavor, but these ribs actually had a very subtle coffee taste. That wasn’t to say you couldn’t taste it, it was still a prominent flavor and matched perfectly with the creamy potatoes. I like my short ribs with coffee and cream!

Thanks again to US Wellness Meats. I encourage all of my readers to check out their website! Not only is the meat delicious, but it is all grass fed and full of vitamins and nutrients. You guys can expect a post featuring different cuts of meat I got from them about once a week for the next few months.

For the ribs:
2 days ahead, add about a half cup of coarse ground coffee and 6 dried ancho chiles (seeds removed) to a pitcher. Fill it with 2 quarts of water and put it in the fridge.
The day of, run the coffee through a filter. Cut an onion, a medium carrot, and 2 ribs of celery. Next cut 3 cloves of garlic. Salt and pepper the short ribs, then lightly coat in flour. Sear on all sides. Be sure to brown. Remove from the pot. In the same pot with the same oil, add the veg (besides the garlic) and cook 10 minutes until lightly browned and softened. Add the garlic and about 1/4 cup of sugar. Cook 2 minutes. Add some of the ancho-coffee to the pot to stop the garlic and sugar form burning. Next drop in the short ribs. Add more coffee until the ribs are 3/4 covered. Place the cover on slightly to the side so the ribs can breathe. Place the pot in the oven at 325 for 2 hours.

For the super creamy potatoes:
peel and cut into 8ths – 5 large yukon gold potatoes. Add to a pot. Add salt. Pour in 2 cups of cream, 3 whole garlic cloves, and 2/3 stick of butter. Bring to simmer, lower heat and cover. stir occasionally and cook until potatoes are soft. Add the whole mess to a stand mixer and beat until smooth and creamy.

For the garlicky greens:
Equal parts dandelion greens and arugula. Diced garlic. Heat the other 1/3 stick of butter from the previous recipe in a skillet. add garlic. add greens. Salt. Cook until wilted.