Serves 4-6
From Starting to Serving: 4.5 hours
Active time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 50ml olive oil
• 1kg short ribs
• 1 large head of garlic, cut in half horizontally
• 1 heaped tbsp tomato purée
• 1 x 750ml bottle red wine
• 1 litre beef stock
• 150g pancetta cut into lardons
• 250g small mushrooms, trimmed and halved
• Salt & pepper
• Chopped flat leaf parsley, to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
2. Season short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat a deep-sided roasting tray or large dutch oven over medium heat.
4. Add olive oil and fry short ribs turning regularly until well browned on all sides.
5. Add the tomato purée and stir for a minute or two to cook it out.
6. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up the bits at the bottom.
7. Add the halved garlic head, cut side down, pushing it to the bottom of the pan.
8. Bring to the boil and cook for 10–15 minutes until the liquid is reduced by half, then add stock to nearly cover the ribs (you’ll need less stock if your pan isn’t very large).
9. Bring to the boil again, basting the ribs with the juices.
10. Cover the tray with foil or it's lid and cook in the preheated oven for 3–4 hours, basting now and then until the meat is tender and falling away from the bone. Poke at it with a fork to see how tender it is.
11. About 10 minutes before the short ribs are ready to come out, fry the pancetta for 2–3 minutes until crisp and golden.
12. Add the mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes until tender. Drain off any excess fat.
13. When the short ribs are ready, remove from the oven and lift the ribs out of the sauce onto a serving platter.
14. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and pass through a sieve.
15. Spoon off any excess fat from the beef cooking liquid and discard it.
16. Strain the sauce through the sieve and mix with the garlic. (If the sauce is too thin, reduce the cooking liquid by heating for 10–15 minutes more after straining.)
17. Serve the short ribs topped with the hot pancetta and mushrooms and the sauce poured around. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.