Slow Cooker Short-Rib Tomato Sauce

I grew up eating a lot of spaghetti and meatballs. My mom would throw the meatballs and sauce in a crockpot and I'd come home from lacrosse practice after school, starving half to death, and eat a plate fit for a 200 lb man like a ravenous machine. Needless to say I love a hearty plate of meaty pasta!

This recipe has similar, nostalgic flavors but is slightly more sophisticated with braised short ribs and red wine, served with freshly grated parmesan cheese, of course! Browning and slow cooking the short ribs makes for extremely flavorful and tender meat that is shredded throughout the sauce for a seriously hearty dish. Plus nothing is better to me than the smell of beef slow cooking in wine throughout your home.... the anticipation of eating this will nearly kill you, I swear.

My boyfriend, our two good friends and I ate this meal together on a Saturday night and all absolutely loved it. It is worth the hours it takes to slow cook it and it's a super easy meal for company because all you have to do is boil pasta and roast or sautee some greens and you're good to go!

Look how tender and gorgeous that meat looks.... ugh and it is so delicious! Slow cooking bone-in meats definitely gives a serious flavor boost; Short ribs are tha bombbbb!

This sauce was just fantastic. The recipe below makes plenty to serve four-five people for dinner and you'll have enough leftover to make an insaaaaanely good pizza. My boyfriend and I used this sauce as the base and topped with smoked mozzarella, pepper, red onion and even more meat (local VT sausage to be exact). This sauce is so thick and chunky you could probably even make a sandwich out of the leftovers - sloppy joes on magical steroids. Man, is it good!


It's perfect for a chilly weekend meal that you can look forward to eating all day long! Plus you are obligated to open a bottle of wine for the recipe and therefore you must drink the whole bottle with the pasta... because you obviously can't let the wine go bad..



Slow Cooker Short-Rib Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
3-3 1/2 lbs bone in short ribs
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup red wine
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups tomato sauce
3/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (remove from jar, oil drained)
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp sugar
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp Italian seasoning (herb blend of basil, parsley, oregano, thyme)
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/2 tsp salt
Parmesan cheese & pasta to serve

Directions:

• Pat short ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. In large skillet, brown the ribs on all sides over medium-high heat for about a minute each side. Remove from skillet and place in crock pot. 
• Add all remaining ingredients to crockpot and cook for 5 hours on low or 7 hours on high. 
• When meat is fall apart tender, remove from crockpot. Take out bones (the meat will fall right off) and shred meat with a fork. Add the meat back to the crockpot and stir to combine. Use a fork to crush any chunks of carrots and sundried tomatoes to make a smoother sauce.
• Season the sauce to taste if necessary and keep warm until ready to serve over pasta with parmesan cheese.

**If the sauce seems too thick to you, you can add more tomato sauce or a bit of water. If it seems too thin, let it cook for a bit with the top of the crockpot off to thicken slightly, for 10-20 minutes or so.











Recipe was adapted from Half Baked Harvest