Beef Ribs with Winter Slaw & Mash

Beef Ribs with Winter Slaw & Mash

This is the best combination of ease and deliciousness for cooking ribs that I’ve found.  The fresh slaw with dill is the perfect accompaniment to the rich, saucy, beefy ribs!  And for Winter, serving this all on a bed of mash is a great base.

This really is a simple recipe.  It doesn’t take long, but it takes a long time. What was that? Well, the ribs take a long time to cook because they’re in the oven a long time, but there isn’t much time that you’re actively working on the recipe.  I’ve adapted this from a Jamie Oliver recipe; I’ve replaced his stout for beef stock, and made some other tweaks.

If you’re a busy person during the week, a great thing to do would be to slow cook the ribs in the oven on a weekend (virtually no work involved in this – just time in the oven), then remove them and pop them in the fridge for a weeknight. On a weeknight after a busy day, it would then be a quick and easy meal – pull out the ribs, mix up the BBQ sauce, pop it on the ribs and bake for just 30 minutes, while you make the slaw and mash.  Voila!

I never like to read too much palaver online before getting to a recipe myself, so let’s get into it!

RIBS

  • 1-2 pack Conscious Farmer beef short ribs (depending on numbers you’re cooking for).
  • olive oil
  • Sea salt and cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 100oC.

Place the ribs in a baking dish, rub with olive oil and season with sea salt and cracked pepper.  Cover with baking paper and then foil, which is tucked down firmly around the sides of the dish.  This will keep the moisture in and ensure the ribs stay moist as they soften during their slow cook.  (Note that I don’t like to use foil, but if I need to for a recipe – I put a layer of baking paper between it and the food. No side serves of aluminium for me thanks!)

Bake for up to 7 hours or until the ribs are tender (just check them infrequently and remove when they are softened to your liking. Mine only took 5 1/2 hours).

While the ribs are baking, prepare the BBQ Sauce.

Rib Sauce

Make one batch of sauce for 2 packs of ribs.  I halved it for the one pack of ribs I cooked. (Below is the full batch recipe)

  • 180 ml tomato sauce (homemade is best, but you can find some brands that have just tomato, sugar, salt and not much else – none of the nasty numbered additives in them).
  • 150 ml beef stock
  • 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 4 teaspoons malt vinegar
  • 4 teaspoons golden syrup

Once the ribs are cooked and softened, remove from the oven and also from the pan.  Turn the oven up to 150oC. Spoon off any fat from the pan and leave any pan juices that may be there.  Add the BBQ sauce to the pan and place on the stove top on a medium heat and bring to a simmer.  Simmer until thickened.  Reintroduce the ribs to the pan and coat with the sauce.

 

Return the ribs to the oven, uncovered, for around 30 minutes, or until the sauce has cooked to a stickiness.  Keep an eye on them as you don’t want to char the sauce on the outside.

 

Prepare the slaw and mash while the ribs are cooking.

 

POTATO MASH

Take 2-4 potatoes (depending on how many ribs you have), peel and boil until soft.  Drain, add some butter, milk, sea salt and pepper and mash until smooth. While the potato is boiling, prepare the Slaw.

 

SLAW

 Dressing

  • 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
  • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I found one that only contains eggs, vinegar, sugar, spices, salt, mustard and oil. Yes I know the oil is a dodgy sunflower oil, but once in a blue moon won’t hurt me. Otherwise make your own, but this turns a simple recipe into a more complicated one).
  • 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • 1 bunch of fresh dill

To make the slaw dressing, take the caraway seeds and toast lightly in a pan until fragrant.  Mix the mayonnaise, yoghurt, Dijon mustard, white vinegar and toasted caraway seeds together in a bowl.  Chop the dill and add to the dressing.

Vegetables

  • ½  beetroot, with leaves
  • 3 medium carrots
  • 1/8 of a white cabbage
  • 3 leaves of kale or silverbeat
  • 3 spring onions

 

For the slaw, thinly slice the carrots and beetroot (I don’t have one of the electric slicing machines – I just sliced them with the slicing option on my benchtop hand grater). With a knife, thinly slice the cabbage and silverbeat/kale. Slice the spring onions.

Place all the chopped vegetables in a bowl and toss.  Add the dressing and toss to coat.

TO SERVE

Place a circle of mash on a plate and top with a mound of slaw.  Take the ribs and cut into pieces around the rib bones.  Top the slaw with the rib pieces. Place a garnish of dill on the side.

If you’d like to enjoy some lovely winter ribs, made with beautiful grass fed beef, then you can with one of our grass fed beef hampers.  Select the Wholesome, Family, Nourish or Double Nourish Hamper for those that contain ribs.

Enjoy your time in the kitchen! (I spent my kitchen time listening to a podcast interview with Ray Peat).

Kirrily x