Ras El Hanout Beef Ribs with Onions

The key to meltingly tender and juicy beef ribs in the oven is allowing them to low and slow bake at 150C/300F for about 4 hours. Use other spice blends, like garam masala or baharat, if you don't have ras el hanout. You can also replace some of onions with carrots and mushrooms if desired. Serve with a vegetable gratin or a root vegetable mash if you ain't on keto.

1.5 kg Beef short ribs (4 ribs)
2 tbsp Ras el hanout
Sea salt
8 Onions, sliced (I used 4 red, 4 brown)
Freshly milled black pepper
Tallow or olive oil
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 Thyme leaves (or rosemary)
2 Bay leaves
250-500 ml Beef stock (depends on how saucy you want)

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F. Cut the ribs between the bones into single pieces (I usually have the butcher to cut and remove the membrane for me) and rub all sides with ras el hanout and salt, making sure they are well coated.
Cut off the stem end of onions and cut each in half. Remove the skin and slice.
Heat a little tallow or olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole dish and brown the beef on both sides until well coloured (you can also use a regular pan to fry the onions, then tranfer to a baking casserole). Remove and set aside. Spoon off the excess fat, leaving 2-3 tablespoons in the pan. Add the sliced onions, thyme and bay leaves, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 10 minutes.
Nestle the beef ribs into the onions. Cover the casserole dish with a lid or with a piece of aluminum foil and bake for 3 hours.
Remove the lid or foil and increase the temperature to 180C/350F. Cook for a further 30 minutes. The meat should be falling off the bone. Remove ribs from oven, let rest 5 minutes.

3 comments:

Judee 10/10/24 13:32: ras el hanout is a spice that we don't see around here. I wonder if it goes by another name. My mother in-law from Egypt used to get baharat is a specialty store in Brooklyn, New York. Eventually we found that "all spice" was its closest match.
Tom 10/10/24 13:34: ...looks like a treat to me.
DEZMOND 10/10/24 13:35: Looks uber scary LOL I am ever so jealous that you have chives, do you grove them yourself in your window?