One of our favorite restaurants in Sullivan’s Island, SC is The Obstinate Daughter. They take reservations through the “Resy” app, and often it’s hard to get in (make it 6 months in advance if you know you’ll be there!) If you can’t get in, this is one of their most outstanding offerings (Frogmore Chowder is another one, and I have created a clone recipe for it as well. Let me know if you would like it.) If you try this, please let me know how it turns out! This recipe is not keto, nor NSNG, or anything else. It’s just amazing.
BRAISED SHORT RIBS (from Anne Burrell at FoodNetwork.com)
6 bone-in short ribs (about 5 3/4 pounds)
Kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled, cut in 1/2 lengthwise, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 cups tomato paste
2 to 3 cups hearty red wine
2 cups water
1 bunch fresh thyme, tied with kitchen string
2 bay leaves
Season each short rib generously with salt. Coat a pot large enough to accommodate all the meat and vegetables with olive oil and bring to a high heat. Add the short ribs to the pan and brown very well, about 2 to 3 minutes per side. Do not overcrowd pan. Cook in batches, if necessary.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
While the short ribs are browning, puree all the vegetables and garlic in the food processor until it forms a coarse paste. When the short ribs are very brown on all sides, remove them from the pan. Drain the fat, coat the bottom of same pan with fresh oil and add the pureed vegetables. Season the vegetables generously with salt and brown until they are very dark and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Scrape the crud again and add the tomato paste. Brown the tomato paste for 4 to 5 minutes. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat if things start to burn. Reduce the mixture by half.
Return the short ribs to the pan and add 2 cups water or until the water has just about covered the meat. Add the thyme bundle and bay leaves. Cover the pan and place in the preheated oven for 3 hours. Check periodically during the cooking process and add more water, if needed. Turn the ribs over halfway through the cooking time. Remove the lid during the last 20 minutes of cooking to let things get nice and brown and to let the sauce reduce. When done the meat should be very tender but not falling apart. Serve with the braising liquid.
While ribs are cooking, make the gnocchi. (Don’t boil them until the ribs have been removed from the oven so they can be plated together.)
RICOTTA GNOCCHI (for Shortribs) (Not sure where this one came from…if you know, email me!)
1 1/2 cups (one 15-ounce container) whole milk ricotta cheese
3 egg yolks
1 cup (about 4 ounces) ‘00’ flour or all-purpose flour*
3/4 cup (about 1 ounce) freshly-grated Parmesan
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
Bring a large stockpot of generously-salted water to a boil over high heat.
While your water is heating, place 3-4 paper towels on a large plate and spread the ricotta on the paper towels in an even layer. Place another layer of 3-4 paper towels on top of the ricotta. Then press down gently to let the excess moisture soak into the paper towels, trying to soak up as much of the excess liquid as possible. Transfer the ricotta to a large mixing bowl. The drained ricotta should now weigh about 12 ounces.
Add the egg yolks to the ricotta and stir briefly to combine. Add in the flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and stir until just evenly combined. The dough will be a bit moist and sticky, but it should be holding together well. If it feels too wet, just add in another few tablespoons of flour.
Roll out and cut the dough. Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough with lightly with flour. Cut the dough into eight even wedges. Using your hands, gently roll out each wedge out into a 3/4-inch wide cylinder. Cut each cylinder into individual 3/4″ gnocchi squares. Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour to prevent them from sticking together. They will be extremely fragile, so handle them lightly. They can be refrigerated until ready to boil (but try to keep them from merging into a giant mass by separating them as much as possible on a plate or large bowl). Timing this so the boil step coincides with the ribs finishing is preferred.
When ready to boil, carefully transfer the gnocchi to the boiling water to cook. Then once they float — usually after 30-60 seconds — drain the gnocchi. Heat a large sauté pan over medium low heat, add the gnocchi and lightly toss with some of the braised rib sauce just to coat them.
Serve immediately.
NOTES
be sure to use the scoop the flour into the measuring cup (versus scooping the measuring cup into the flour) to ensure that you don’t accidentally use too much flour.
