Rich came across this package of boneless beef short ribs while I was pondering a 4 pound box of cherries at Costco the other day, and thought mebbe we should give them a try for dinner that night.
A quick look through bigoven.com on the ole iPhone told me that dinner that night was not gonna happen – short ribs take a little time and care to prepare if you want them to be tender – but this recipe told me that they were gonna make for one fine meal some night, I just needed to gather a few things…
INGREDIENTS
•1 tbsp sesame seeds
•1 cup low salt tamari (or soy sauce)
•2 tbsp rice wine or 3 tbsp Sugar
•2 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced
•4 cloves garlic crushed
•2 tbsp dried red pepper, chopped
– I used 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper and 1 Tien Tsin Chile
•3 scallions, white and light green bits only
Add the sesame seeds to a dry skillet and toast over a low flame, stirring every now and again, for about five minutes, or until they are lightly browned.
Add the sesame seeds to a mortar along with the garlic, ginger, and Tien Tsin pepper, then grind them into a rough paste with the pestle. To be honest, my pestling never gets stuff ground too paste-like, but it all seems to work out in the end.
Stir the tamari together with the rice wine, then add the Aleppo pepper, the stuff from the mortar, and the sliced scallion (save the dark green scallion bits for a garnish or a salad – you don’t want to use them for anything that may be cooked because they will turn bitter.
Pour the marinade over the short ribs in a large zipper bag and stash in the fridge for 3 or 4 hours, turning when you think of it and squishing stuff around so that the marinade is well and truly worked into all of the short ribs.
When ready to cook, remove the ribs from the marinade and bring them up to room temperature. Grill them for 15 minutes, turning often, or, cover and bake them, with the marinade, in a 350º oven for two hours, then remove the cover and bake for another 30 minutes.
We grilled ours, and had them with a romaine, toasted ramen and sunflower seed salad with tamari dressing and those dark green scallion bits.
Nice.