Red Wine Braised Flanken Ribs

I’m in freezer trouble again and it’s a lot more serious than when I’m in Sens. In Sens I have an extra refrigerator with freezer in the garage for spillover. Here I have a fairly large, but apparently not large enough, French door refrigerator with freezer. It’s not enough. I’m going to have to cook the freezer for weeks! I hate that. On the other hand, there are duck breasts in there somewhere and Australian lamb ribs. Ha, ha, ha :D

I bought several packages of Angus beef flanken ribs from the German butcher quite a while ago. I don’t know what I was thinking, because just one package is adequate for our family plus guests. The two remaining are starting to look weary and vaguely freezer burned. I thawed one of the packages and seasoned it with smoked paprika to cheer the ribs up, then browned them in olive oil to give that “age is just a number” look.

I kept it simple with onions, garlic, beef broth, red wine and fresh oregano, that being the only fresh herb remaining except for parsley.

Fluffy, butter mashed, “Irish” potatoes were all these fall-off-the-bone, tender ribs needed :)

Red Wine Braised Flanken Ribs

4 slabs beef flanken ribs, cut into individual ribs

Salt and pepper

Smoked paprika

Flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced

6 garlic cloves, slivered

5 sprigs of fresh oregano

1 can beef broth

1 cup red wine

Season the ribs with salt, pepper and paprika, dredge the ribs in the flour then, in an oven proof pan (Emile Henry Flame Top tajine is good), brown in the olive oil. Remove and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook until the onion is just soft, then add the ribs with the oregano and stir. Stir the wine into the pan and boil for about 2-3 minutes, then stir in the broth, bring to a boil, cover and roast in a 375 F oven for 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with fluffy, buttery mashed potatoes, no milk. Or milk if you want :)