Penne pasta is tossed with a tender short rib ragu, flavored with mirepoix, thyme, and brandy, and topped with sharp pecorino romano cheese!
Ingredients
2lbsshort ribs
1large yellow onion
2carrots
2celery ribs
1bay leaf
1/4tspcrushed red pepper flakes
1/4tspdried thyme
2tbspbrandyyou can sub 1/4 cup wine if you want
1tspflour
2tbsptomato paste
2clovesminced garlic
2cupsbeef stock
1lbpenne pasta
1/3cuppecorino romano or parmigiano
parsley to garnishif desired
salt and pepper
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Roughly chop the yellow onion, carrots, celery ribs, and throw them in the food processor. Pulse until finely chopped.
Heat up an ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper, and brown on all sides. Once nicely browned, remove the short ribs to a plate, and add the yellow onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and thyme, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Deglaze the pan by adding the brandy, and scrape up all the browned bits from the pan. Stir in the flour, tomato paste, and garlic.
Return the short ribs to the pan, and add the beef stock. Put a lid on, and place it in the oven for 2 hours until the meat falls apart.
Now is the part where you remove the short ribs from the pan and shred with two forks until the short ribs are in pieces.
Boil your penne with plenty of boiling water and salt until al dente. While that cooks, remove the bay leaf from the short rib pan, and puree the contents until smooth. This is your sauce, and if it’s too thin, you can reduce it down on the stove, or if it’s too thick, you can add a little bit of water.
To pull everything together, dress the penne with the short rib sauce, add the shredded short ribs, and the pecorino romano and parsley if desired. Enjoy!