Featured Wine

Red Wine Braised Beef

6 lbs chuck roast (or spare ribs)

Salt

Olive Oil 

2 Onions, halved

2 heads of garlic cloves, peeled & smashed

1 small can of tomato paste

1 bottle of dry red wine

4 sprigs of thyme

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Heat broiler to high with a rack second to top. Drizzle with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. If you're using spare ribs, you want them browned and crisped (about 15 minutes).

Switch oven to 300 degrees.

In a large Dutch oven, heat some olive oil over medium/high. Add onion halves with their cut side down. After it starts to brown, add the garlic. Once you start to smell it (2 minutes), add the tomato paste and stir to allow it to coat the onions and garlic. Move the heat up a couple notches, then add the red wine, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and allow the wine to reduce for about 10 minutes.

Add the meat from the broiler and add enough water to almost cover it. Bring to a boil again and then transfer to the oven. Cook beef until fork tender, upwards of 3 hours. Cool to room temp and then refrigerate overnight so tht the flavors can really meld together.

One hour before serving, scrape the fat off the top and discard it. Cook on medium heat until the broth is no longer congealed. Pull out the meat, onions and thyme. The onion and thyme get thrown away, the meat you can shred. If you used spare ribs, you can either pull the meat off the bones and cartilage or serve it still on the bone.

Add the meat back into the pot and stir. Best served over mashed potatoes (made how you like them).