Steven and Chris...and a Toddler = A Slight Adaptation of a Delicious Recipe!

Okay, most of you know that I am a farmer's wife. More precisely, a beef farmer's wife. This is quite funny, considering the fact that I was a city girl, and a strict vegetarian for much of my adult life.

I'm always on the look out for beef recipes, because...Well, we've got a lot of beef!

I happened to "half catch" some of Steven and Chris when the toddler distracted me. You know how much I luuuuuuuv Steven and Chris, right? Anyway, the original recipe for Jen Low's Braised Beef Short Ribs and Sour Cream Biscuits called for short ribs. Duh! The name of the recipe is pretty self-explanatory, but I pulled out a rump roast instead of ribs. Too late to figure out something else to do with the hunk of meat, I decided to attempt a slight variation to the recipe...substituting short ribs for a roast. Hmmm.

The reason the recipe caught my attention (or "half attention" since the toddler was threatening to tear apart the house) was because there was mention of olives and raisins added to the recipe! Yes! Olives and raisins with beef, red wine, garlic, and onions! What an unusual combination of sweet, salty, and savory! Intrigued, I had to try this recipe out.

Another thing that piqued my curiosity was that Jen Low said she had a "Five Minute Bread" recipe! Any meal that has "minutes" instead of "hours" is perfect for me!

Copied directly from the Steven and Chris website, here is the recipe for

Braised Beef Short Ribs
Makes 4 servings Olive & Raisin Beef Short Ribs.

Ingredients
3 cups beef broth
1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup red wine (optional)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 stalk and its leaves fresh parsley -- this is not just a sprig, but the whole stalk (or 2 tsp dried)
1/3 cup sliced green olives
1/3 cup raisins
2 tsp finely chopped garlic
a few grindings fresh black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
8 beef short ribs (1.5 kg), trimmed of excess fat
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Coarsely chopped parsley to garnish

Method: 

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Into large (lidded) oven-proof pot, mix beef broth, tomato sauce and red wine (if using). In cup, mix water and flour until smooth, whisk into broth mixture. Add onion, parsley, green olives, raisins, garlic and black pepper to pot. Set aside.
• Mix chili powder and cumin. Sprinkle on all sides of beef short ribs. Heat vegetable oil to medium in large non-stick skillet, brown ribs in batches. Put browned ribs into pot of broth mixture.
• Cover and bake on middle rack of oven 1 hour or, if you have time, you can cook them for 1 1/2 hours for even more tenderness.
• Uncover and skim off any excess fat. Discard parsley stalk. Stir to blend sauce. Plate ribs, spoon sauce over top. Garnish with chopped parsley. 

Now for the Quick Sour Cream Dinner Buns:
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
2 tbsp mayonnaise (regular)
2 tbsp sour cream (regular or low-fat)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In medium bowl, mix all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
• Add the milk, mayonnaise and sour cream to the bowl. Stir until soft dough forms. Use a spoon to drop into 5 or 6 mounds onto prepared baking sheet.
• Bake on rack above your pot of short ribs, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden (if you are baking these buns on their own, you could also bake them on the middle rack).
• Makes 5 or 6 Quick Sour Cream Dinner Buns. 

Serve with salad of your choice. I added some dill into the dinner buns for a little bit of yummy freshness.
Even though I didn't use the right cut of beef (and I totally forgot to make a slurry!), the recipe was AMAZING! I will certainly be making this dish again (and again, and again)! Even the toddler loved it! She kept asking for more beef and olives!

By the way, the photo of the braised short ribs and the dinner buns look much more appetizing on the Steven and Chris website than they do here. The toddler hid my camera, so all I had as my cell phone cam.