braised short ribs in wine

preheat the oven to 375 degrees farenheit. prep the meat by seasoning well with salt and pepper. in a large (5 qt. or larger) dutch oven, heat olive oil on high until smoking and cook seasoned short ribs over high heat until there's a deep brown crust on all sides, about 15 minutes. do your ribs in batches so as to not overcrowd the pan; the meat releases steam as it sears and a build up of steam can interfere with the creation of the flavorful outside crust. 2 lbs will likely be 3-4 batches. remove ribs to a plate and set aside.

add the carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to the dutch oven and cook over high heat until browned (4-5 minutes). season with a little salt and pepper, turn to heat to medium-high, and and stir in the red wine, tomatoes with juices, chicken stock, and herbs, scraping the bottom of the dutch oven with a spoon to loosen any browned bits of meat or vegetable. bring mixture to a boil then turn off heat entirely, and add the short-ribs back to the dutch oven.

take some aluminum foil and create a concave lid -- the foil should dip down over the pot to come close to the meat. place the normal lid on top of this to keep the foil perfectly in place and stick in the oven. cook for at least 2 and a half hours, without opening the oven or peeking. after the time is up, remove from oven and peek inside. the ribs will absorb at least half of the liquid that was originally in the pot, and will be very tender and sliding off the bones when finished. it's very hard to ruin meat slow-cooking it like this, so if it still looks too watery inside the pot, shove it back in the oven for another half hour to an hour.

while this is in the oven, you can go for a jog, go to the zoo, shoot some pidgeons to make "pidgeon wings," listen to steely dan...whatever it is that you would normally do.