Sunday Dinner

I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but we ate too quickly!

Beef Short Ribs Tagine with Blood Oranges and Sweet Potatoes

3-4 lbs beef short ribs
2-3 Sweet Potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
2 Blood Oranges, zest the skin, peel and separate into sections
3 cloves garlic peeled and minced
1 1/2" piece of fresh ginger minced finely
1 red onion halfed and cut into slices along the grain
Chile pepper 1 tsp
Smoked paprika 1 tsp
Ground Coriander 1 tsp
Cinnamon 1/4 tsp
Salt and Pepper to taste

If you have a traditional tagine as I did, the saute portion takes place in a large skillet. I now have an Ikea tagine that is cast iron non stick on the bottom and glazed ceramic on top, so it happens all in one dish. The recipe calls for ghee. If you don't have ghee, melt 1 T. butter and 1 T. olive oil in the bottom of a tagine or a cast iron casserole. Saute the onion, garlic and ginger for a few minutes until onion starts to soften. Add chile, smoked paprika, orange zest and coriander and saute for a couple more minutes. Add sweet potatoes and continue to saute until the potatoes caramelize a bit (the higher sugar content in the potatoes makes this happen more quickly). Remove to a bowl and add a tsp more oil/butter to melt. Add ribs and brown them well in the tagine. I blot out the excess oil with a paper towel and discard. When the ribs are well browned, return the potato onion mixture to the pan and add enough water to barely cover. Bring to a boil and then cover the casserole and lower to a simmer - cook for 1 hour. 1 hour in, add 1 1/2 honey, and peeled orange sections. You can add a 1/2 c. of raisins at this point, too if you'd like more fruit (we don't). keep the the lid off and cook down for another 20 minutes.

I serve it with cous-cous or rice and a green vegetable on the side. I also pair it with it a Shiraz as the Shiraz will stand up to the intense flavors of the stew.