Tonight's Dinner: Beef Short Ribs Braised in Pomegranate Molasses

Braised Short Ribs: Still not a great photo...I went through the chest freezer last night and found some beef short ribs, so I took them out to thaw. Originally, I'd planned to braise them in coffee, but I did a quick recipe search and saw a recipe for bourbon-pomegranate molasses beef short ribs. I had a bottle of pomegranate molasses in the cupboard, and I was anxious to try it. I also had a wee bit of bourbon left over...

It was decided.

I stopped at home for lunch today, and tossed things in the slow cooker. The ribs were still mostly frozen, but that was OK by me. I sauteed an onion. Half of it got pureed with some garlic, pomegranate molasses (about 1/3 cup), bourbon (about 1/4 cup), a couple tablespoons of some concentrated tomato puree, kosher salt, some pink peppercorns, and maybe a wee bit of water. That went in with the ribs and onions. I also tossed a couple of frozen chicken stock cubes and a cinnamon stick in there.

I set the thing for four hours. When I got home, it was lovely. I took the ribs out and let them rest. The braising liquid got some additional pomegranate molasses and some lime zest. There was some taste testing involved - I ended up adding a bit more salt and some sugar, too. Then I thickened it with corn starch.

On the side, I made some mustardy sweet potatoes and spinach.

This was a heavenly dinner. It was nothing fancy, but it was incredible comfort food. The meat was tender and flavorful. The pomegranate taste was subtle, but was spiked in the sauce by the lime zest. The flavors all came together as I'd hoped they would. I wanted to share it with all of you.