Braised Red Wine Short Ribs

This has been one of my top dinner recipes since 2016, and is consistently praised as an easy but fancy-seeming meal. Want to impress? Make Braised Red Wine Short Ribs. 

I first prepared this recipe back in 2016 and have since then been singing the praises of this meal as a relatively simple, fail-proof meal that never fails to impress. In my early 20s when I lived in a shoebox of an apartment that was generously labeled a “junior” one bedroom, I was convinced that the secret to kitchen adulthood was learning to make braised short ribs. And since that time, they have never failed me.

• 2 pounds bone-in short ribs
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 cup diced yellow onion
• 3 ribs celery, diced
• 1 1/2 cup diced carrot
• 1/2 cup red wine (any variety)
• 4 cups unsalted beef stock (sub chicken or vegetable stock)
• 8 sprigs fresh thyme

• 3 cups milk
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup uncooked polenta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese