Viral sensation Daen Lia shares her perfect winter warmer, slow cooked beef short rib ragu

Daen Lia is a home cook and social media star.

She posts easy recipes and food hacks inspired by her Italian and Spanish heritage.

Her most popular dish ‘crispy garlic potatoes’ has had over 30 million views on TikTok alone.

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Daen will be cooking beef short rib ragu.

This is the perfect versatile winter warmer you can serve a number of ways – pasta, crispy bread, polenta, even on sandwiches.

Recipe below:

Beef short rib ragu

Prep Time:15 minutes

Cook Time: 3hours, 30minutes

Servings: 8

• 1.5kg beef short ribs
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 brown onions, finely diced
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 120g tomato paste
• ½ cup red wine
• 3.5 cups beef stock
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• salt + pepper
• 450g pasta
• fresh parsley, to serve
• pecorino romano, to serve

Instructions

1. Cook short ribs: Season both sides of the beef short rib with a generous amount of salt and pepper. In a large pot on a high heat, bring 2 tablespoons of olive oil to heat and fry the beef short rib for 3 minutes on each side or until a caramelised crust forms. Do this step in batches so the pot is not overcrowded and the meat broils. Remove the meat from the pot and set to the side, ensuring you leave all of the juices in the pan

2. Cook vegetables: Turn the heat down to medium and add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic to the pot. Cook for 7 – 10 minutes or until fragrant and the onion is translucent and sweetened

3. Make sauce: Turn the heat to high and add the tomato paste to the pot. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring often, or until the paste turns a dark red colour and is sticking to the pan. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and cook until 80% of the liquid has been absorbed. Add the beef stock to the pot along with the rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and very generous amount of salt and pepper. Return the beef short rib to the pot, ensuring they are covered by the liquid. Bring to the boil, turn the heat to low and cook at a gentle simmer for 2.5 – 3 hours with the lid on. In the last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the lid if you want to reduce the sauce and make it thicker.

4. Shred meat: Remove the beef short rib from the pot and break the meat apart with a fork. It should be extremely tender. On a low heat, return the meat to the pot and stir through.

5. Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil. Follow the instructions on the back of the pasta for al dente pasta and drain your pasta 1 – 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time. Reserve up to 1 cup of pasta water.

6. Finish: On a low heat, stir the pasta through the sauce while slowly incorporating the pasta water, until you have a smooth and silky texture. Serve with finely chopped fresh parsley and a sprinkling of pecorino romano.