“Food is good, but it’s the company that really makes life great,” shared Rebecca Arbour of Mobile. “We love to entertain and throw dinner parties! It is not uncommon for us to have ten to 12 people over for dinner. The more the merrier!”
Rebecca and her husband Joseph have been married for seven years and together have two little girls, Ella (5) and Ann Howard (1).
“Coming home from work, letting go of the craziness of the day, and embracing all that our girls are loving right now is such a joy,” Rebecca shared. “Our house is covered in dress-up clothes, sticker earrings, crayons, scooters, and picture books, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The family prioritizes family meals together and even though it may be chaotic, the time together is valued. Ann Howard is the lucky little one who just watches the madness unfold, all while snacking on the leftovers from the night before.
“I am not a ‘meal prepper’, so the chaos is partially my fault,” Rebecca said. “Cooking dinner has become our way of spending time as a family. We are all in and out of the kitchen chopping ingredients, tasting along the way. Ella has been in the kitchen cooking with me since she was big enough to sit up. We would sit her in a Boppy chair on the countertop and let her play with ingredients and now she has a step-stool and can help chop and stir. I always try to find a way for her to contribute and be a part of the cooking process.”
Rebecca reminisced on time spent with her own family in the kitchen. This set the tone for moving forward with her own girls, creating memories together around meals.
“My Aunt Betty Howard has been my inspiration in the kitchen since I was a little girl. Some of my earliest memories are of dinner parties at her house,” shared Rebecca. “When I moved from Birmingham to Mobile over 10 years ago, we spent many nights at her house cooking together. She not only has a local reputation for being a fabulous cook, but a national one. Framed in her kitchen is a letter from Bon Appétit Magazine asking for one of her recipes!”
These Red Wine Braised Short Ribs are not Aunt Betty’s exact recipe, but they are just about close enough. Rebecca says this is because her aunt never wrote down an actual recipe.
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs (Serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
- 6 Short Ribs (Approx 2-3 lbs)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 Leek, halved lengthwise, rinsed, and then sliced
- 1c frozen pearl onions
- 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into ½” rounds
- 1 pint of white mushrooms, sliced
- 4 large cloves of garlic, rough chopped
- 1 tbsp thyme
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cup red wine (pinot noir)
- Beef Stock
Directions:
- The day before you plan to cook the short ribs, sprinkle them heavily with salt and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a Dutch oven, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Place short ribs in Dutch oven and begin browning each side (including the exposed bone ends) in olive oil. When browning the final side of short ribs, add leeks and garlic to allow them to start cooking in rendered beef fat.
- Stir in tomato paste, thyme and 2 cups of wine – you want the liquid to come about half way up the short ribs. If you need more liquid, add beef stock.
- Bring to a simmer, cover with lid and then slide in 325 degree oven.
- Set timer for one hour. These will cook for a total of four hours.
- After hour one, remove from the oven. Rotate short ribs to baste in liquid, add carrots to dutch oven. Recover and place back in oven. Set timer for one hour.
- After hour two, remove from the oven. Rotate short ribs to baste in liquid, add frozen pearl onions. Recover and place back in oven. Set timer for one hour.
- After hour three, remove from oven. Rotate short ribs to baste in liquid, add mushrooms. Stir mushrooms in to allow them to cook in the liquid. You may start to see the short ribs pulling away from the bone – this is what you want! Recover and place back in oven. Set timer for one hour.
- After hour four, you are done! Remove dish from oven. Serve short ribs and vegetables over mashed potatoes or cooked gnocchi.
Author: Gabriele Jones
Gabriele has been married to her husband Daniel for 16 years. Together they have three incredible children - two boys, ages 15 and eight, and a sweet girl who joined the family last summer. She is a full time Pink Cadillac Sales Director for Mary Kay Cosmetics. When she isn’t spending time with family or building her business, she supports her husband who is the Lead Pastor and Planter of Forward Church in Foley.
