Short on Ribs.. not short on good!

Last week sometime,  Dad brought home short ribs to cook, so I decided to make a nice stew out of them.  I've made short ribs various ways; on the stove, in the oven, with noodles or rice... with wine, without wine.   Now the very first time I made short ribs, we had gotten a huge package of short ribs from costco.  There was about 8 huge ribs with the bone in, and after purusing the internet for a good recipe, I found one with pictures that looked incredibly delicious!  I followed the recipe, similar to what I followed here, only I used a deep rich red wine, probably a Cabernet I had, and in this recipe, I only used about 3/4 cup of Merlot.   I also cooked the first recipe in the oven.  This one is on the stove.  So I began by searing the ribs in my cast iron skillet and put them into a bigger 7 quart sauteuse pan after they browned.  I used the cast iron skillet with the fond bits still in the bottom, and added chopped celery, onion, and carrots.  I opened 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, drained the juice and set it aside, chopped the tomatoes into smaller pieces and added them to the mixture.  I then poured the vegetables over the browned ribs in the bigger pan.  I then used the skillet and added the tomato juice and a 32 oz box of organic beef broth, cooking them together for a few minutes.  After the broth heated, I poured it over the vegetables and the meat and put a cover on the sauteuse pan.  With the heat on low, I simmered the short ribs until they were tender, about an hour and a half to two hours. 

In the meantime, just before I served dinner, I sauteed 3 cloves chopped garlic in a tablespoon olive oil, and then sauteed a pound of spinach in it .   While that was preparing the garlic, I boiled some no-yolk noodles till they were tender and then drained them and put them in a bowl.   We served the stew over the noodles, with the spinach and a nice fresh salad with bleu cheese dressing that I made up.  I have to say that I got raving reviews for the stew and the spinach from both Marc and Dad, even from me! 

Bon Sauteuse!