Caldo De Costilla De Res
Brrrrrrrrr. It is seriously cold…. not only outside but inside our house too. You see, we have impeccable timing here at Presley’s Pantry. Let me tell you what happened. Mando,
my fiance, is an insane clean freak, and as usual he was vacuuming our wood floor and got a little too close to the heater / pilot and blew it out. Great, on the coldest week of the year. So he tried to re-light it against my judgement, but for some unknown reason it won’t light. We called the gas company and they won’t be here until Monday. By that time the cold will probably be gone. Of course I go into panic mode and start putting pounds of warm layered clothing on my 4 year old, which made him think he was going outside to play. Once the family was all bundled up, I acted like the apocalypse was near and rushed out to my closest Walmart to stock up on a bounty of hearty foods to prepare to keep us warm on the inside.
I found a bag of Idaho potatoes, short ribs, carrots, celery…. I thought “We are going to eat hot bowls of caldo de costilla de res. I’ll make a big batch and it will last a few days.” So much for that idea. I did make a big batch but it was gone in a matter of minutes. That’s what happens when friends find out caldo de castillas is being made. Looks like I’ll need to head back out to restock.
Ingredients for caldo de costilla de res:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 1/2 – pounds short ribs (bone in)
- 1 – teaspoon salt
- 1 – teaspoon black pepper
- 1 – onion (sliced big)
- 5 – carrots (peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks)
- 6 – celery stalks (ends cut off and cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 4 – garlic cloves (peeled and smashed to bust open)
- 1 – bay leaf
- 2 – chile de arbol
- 1 – can mexican beer ( I used Tecate, but feel free to use Modelo, or Corona)
- 72 – ounces chicken broth (9 cups)
- 1/3 – cup fresh cilantro
- 2 – zucchini (cut into 2 inch pieces)
- 3 – potatoes (peeled and cut into big chunks)
Directions:
- In a large dutch oven over a medium flame add in vegetable oil and allow it to get hot.
- On a cutting board lay out short ribs and season with salt and black pepper.
- Add short ribs to dutch oven and fry on all side to brown for about 10 minutes.
- Add in onion, carrots, and celery. Place the short ribs on top of the vegetables to allow veggies to cook for about 7 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 385 degrees fahrenheit.
- Add in garlic, bay leaf, and chile de arbol. Pour beer over the ribs.
- Add in chicken broth and cilantro then bring to a boil.
- Once the broth is boiling, add the lid to the dutch oven and place in the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Then remove the dutch oven from the oven and place it back on the stove top over a medium flame and add in the zucchini and potatoes.
- Cook on the stove top for an additional 25 to 30 minutes or until the zucchini and potatoes are cooked all the way through.
- Serve with corn or flour tortillas.
- Eat This Now!