Winter cooking should be all about hearty flavours, delicious recipes, and clever ways to make the shorter, colder days a little easier to navigate. If you are looking for a new cut of beef to explore or you need a new recipe to shake up an old favourite, we can help.
While ribs may conjure up Texas-style barbecue for a lot of people, this is a versatile cut that can be presented in myriad ways. Here, we have put together a couple of recipes for a classic cut, using the beef short ribs that NZ home cooks and entertainers are reaching for during the colder months.
These recipes are easy to prepare, and most of the ingredients are quite likely to be in the chiller or the pantry already. You can add your own twist for flavour, and these dishes will please the whole family—or, with a little jazzing up, impress your guests.
Read on to discover some delicious ideas for winter warmers as we share how to prepare Matangi’s excellent beef short ribs NZ-style for lunch or dinner.
Deliver Melt in the Mouth Beef Short Ribs NZ-Style
This is a perfect midweek option for the family table that would work equally well for a special night in with friends and a great bottle of red. Any good recipe starts with quality ingredients, so when you are shopping for beef short ribs, you should choose Matangi for its exquisite marbling, intense flavour, and the richness that only comes with a 21-day dry ageing process.
This recipe is a great one to prep on a Sunday night, then throw in the slow cooker before you leave for work on Monday morning.
Ingredients
- 2 x Beef Short Ribs per person
- 6 Carrots
- 1 Bunch of Celery - reserve the leaves
- 500ml Beer - we like a dark beer
- 3 Tbsp English Mustard
- ½ Jar Caramelised Onion Jam
- Handful Shelled Pistachios
- Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 medium Agria Potato per person
Remove the meat from the chiller 30 minutes to an hour before cooking, and season well with good salt. Heat a large, heavy pan and coat it with a good glug of olive oil. When it’s very hot, place the beef short ribs in, leaving space between each rib. Brown the ribs to golden brown, then remove them from the pan.
Take your whole peeled carrots and sliced celery stalks and add them to the pan. Keep them moving until they are well coated with the meat juices, and add lots of cracked pepper. Then add mustard and onion jam and keep the vegetables moving to coat them again.
Next, pour in the beer, and as it starts to bubble, add the ribs back in and cook for 5 minutes. Add water to ensure the ribs are covered, bring to the boil, and then take off the heat. Stand on the bench until cooled, cover, and leave in the chiller overnight.
Pop everything into the slow cooker on a lower heat in the morning. When you get home at the end of the day, the whole house will be filled with the tantalising aroma of beef short ribs NZ-style, open the cooker and add the pistachios.
Flick the oven to 200 degrees C, scrub your potatoes, then roll them in olive oil and salt and pop them in the hot oven to bake for 35 minutes. Serve the ribs, potato with a dollop of butter, and celery leaves with a last grind of pepper. Perfection!
The Spicy Short Beef Rib NZ Lunch Extravaganza
Looking to shake up the Sunday roast? Beef short ribs are a great option. This recipe is piquant, warming, and light enough to ensure you can tuck into leftovers when dinner time rolls around. It's a great option to serve up to friends and will be sure to chase away the winter chills.
Ingredients
- 2 x Beef Short Ribs per person
- 1 x Fennel Bulb
- 2 x Red Onions
- 3 x Cloves Garlic
- 3 X Large Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
- 3 Baby Potatoes per person
- Olive Oil
- Juice of 2 x Limes
- ¼ cup Manuka Honey
- 2 x Fresh Red Chillis
- Iceberg Lettuce - a quarter for each plate
- Unsweetened Greek Yoghurt & Real Maple Syrup
About an hour before cooking, remove your meat from the chiller, then preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Choose a deep, heavy oven dish and pop it on the hobs to heat it medium/hot. Slice the potatoes lengthways and quarter the onions. Slice the fennel as you prefer and add everything to the pan, dry, with the garlic, finely chopped.
Dry fry the ingredients, turning frequently, for 10 minutes. Then add salt, pepper, and rosemary—just throw in the whole sprig, stalk and all. Add a good glug of olive oil, moving the vegetables to thoroughly coat. Keep this going as you prepare the meat for your delicious Spicy Beef Short Rib NZ Lunch Extravaganza.
On a chopping board, douse the ribs in oil, season with salt, and rub into the meat. Stir your vegetables one last time, and then add the seasoned ribs to cover the vegetables in a neat layer. Pop the dish into the middle of the hot oven for 90 minutes, then remove the dish and reduce the heat to 150 degrees C.
Zest the limes and reserve. Put the Manuka Honey and fresh chillies into your food processor or your mortar and pestle. Add the lime juice to help the ingredients form a syrup. Take your leftover rosemary, swish it around in the syrup, and use it to brush both sides of your ribs. Then, strip the leaves off one of the sprigs and scatter them on top.
Pop the dish back in the oven for 30 minutes to caramelise at the lower heat. Serve with a quartered iceberg—or any other side that takes your fancy. We love a tablespoon of maple syrup through a ramekin of Greek yoghurt added to every plate to cut the spice as desired, finish the dish with the lime zest.
Choose The Best Short Beef Rib In NZ
Before you start exploring new ways to cook beef, be sure you are utilising the best short beef rib in NZ. All our Matangi Angus beef is bred for premium eating quality. Quality cuts start at the level of the soil, and at Matangi, we raise healthy stock with lush grass, fresh spring water and rolling paddocks where our herd can graze at leisure. We protect the land by extensively planting natives, and we ensure our water sources stay clean by fencing off creeks and waterways on the property.
Visit our online shop to choose your New Zealand beef short ribs now, and browse our exceptional range for home delivery.
