January 20, 2011

Slow-Cooker Short Ribs Provencale for Project Sam {Webisode #56}

What’s Going on Today: Catching up after the weekend in Boston! Back to work on the book.

Naptime Goals: Unload groceries, set up the slow-cooker, ignore it until dinner time!

Tonight’s Menu: Slow-Cooker Short Ribs Pronvencale, Egg Noodles and Salad.

Parenting Lesson of the Day: A little time away is good for everyone.

Last weekend my husband and I spent the first weekend without our daughter since she was born. We went to Boston while she stayed, happily, with her grandparents. We missed her a lot, but I think the time alone was most sane thing we’ve done in a long while. We really needed a break from our routine. We ate what we wanted when we wanted, went to movies, explored Boston (travel series to come soon) and even took some time to do pretty much nothing. There was no schedule, no extra noise, just peace and quiet with each other. Of course, we were happy to have our reunion on Monday. I was thrilled to give my little bug a big hug and kiss and listen to all of her stories about time with Nana.

When we arrived home late Monday night the house was clean and oddly peaceful, even when we had rolled our bags upstairs and deposited laundry all over the bedrooms. It seemed we had managed to bring our aura of calm happiness back home with us and I didn’t want to spoil it too quickly by snapping into my usual Type-A Mom mode. So, instead of writing up several shopping lists and embarking on a mega-grocery trip that evening, I spent 15 minutes at the store buying just enough to get us by for a few days. A bigger grocery trip could wait.

As luck would have it, the next day there was a storm and everything was canceled. I had picked out some ribs at the store the evening before and decided that a snow day was as good a time as any to pop them in the slow-cooker. My daughter and I had plans for the movies so I needed a hot and hearty meal that wouldn’t tie me to the kitchen for the afternoon. There are so many great ways to prepare short ribs and in this case I knew I wanted to adapt my Dad’s Short Ribs recipes for Short Ribs Pronvecale to work in the slow-cooker. I love the aromatics in the stew and the sweet winey glaze that coats the meat after it’s been braising for hours. I also knew this would be an ideal dish for Project Sam, my foodie-mama friend who wants to get better at using her slow-cooker this winter.

As you’ll see here, I was able to prepare the ribs in just a few minutes and left them in the slow-cooker for the afternoon while we went to the movies. When we arrived home all I had to do was cook up some egg noodles and serve the freshly cooked ribs right on top. It was a great winter meal that kept us warm through the rest of the chilly evening.

Recipe

Dad’s Short Ribs Pronvencale for the Slow-Cooker

adapted from his other recipe

Ingredients

Olive Oil

2 lbs. meaty beef short ribs (but I’ve used up to 6 lbs. with this recipe if you need to serve lots of people)
½ large onion, finely chopped
medium carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 T.
  • dried Herbes de Provence
    1 c. red wine
    2 c. beef broth (I use bouillon cubes)
    1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes, with juices
    ½ c. water, if needed

    Instructions

    1. Preheat the oven to 325.
    2. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven. Sprinkle the ribs with Kosher salt and pepper, add ribs to the pot and brown well, turning often. About 8 minutes per batch. When complete, transfer ribs to a large bowl.
    3. To the slow cooker add the onion, chopped carrot and celery and herbes de Provence. Then add the wine, 2 cups of the beef broth and tomatoes with juices.
    4. Cover pot tightly and turn it to low heat. Bake for 3 hours or until the ribs are tender enough that the meat easily falls off the bone with a form.
    5. Pour sauce over freshly cooked egg noodles, add ribs to each plate and serve.

    Naptime Notes

    Naptime Recipe Serving ideas

    This meal can easily be stretched for several nights!

    Naptime Stopwatch

    This recipe takes about 2 ½ hours or more to prepare. 30 minutes for preparing, the rest of the time is spent ignoring the whole thing!

    Naptime Reviews

    My daughter had been spoiled by a weekend of Mac&Cheese and wanted no part of the meat, sigh, but was happy with chicken and egg noodles.

    More Naptime Recipes

    6 Responses to “Slow-Cooker Short Ribs Provencale for Project Sam {Webisode #56}”

    1. Amanda Herzberger says:

      Can’t wait to try this – the combination of liquids and veggies and meat sounds DELISH 🙂

    2. Barbara says:

      Away time is good for everyone!
      Your slow cooker rib recipe is so easy and flavorful; great for cold evenings!

    3. I like this article! Will come again next time for
      sure, thank again

    4. […] More Great Slow-Cooker Recipes from Project Sam: Spicy Sausage Slow-Cooker Lasagna, Slow-Cooker Short Ribs Pronvencale. […]