Chili Roasted Short Rib Paella

This is Jorj’s own Americanized paella — not the seafood kind, the Sunday kind. It starts with her Chili Roasted Beef Short Ribs, the same recipe from Sunday Best Dishes, braised for most of an afternoon until the meat is falling-apart tender in a sauce built on red wine, tomato paste, chipotle, and cinnamon. Once the ribs are done, the dish turns into paella almost by accident: pull the meat from the bones in big chunks, spoon it with its sauce over rice, top with mushrooms and peas, and let a short stint in the oven pull it all together.

The Long Braise

The ribs are dredged and browned first, then set aside while the vegetables soften in the same pot. Wine, broth, tomato paste, and chili sauce build the braising liquid, and two whole cinnamon sticks go in with the ribs — a quiet, unexpected warmth that runs under the chili heat the whole time it cooks. Six to seven hours at a low oven temperature is what it takes for the meat to let go of the bone completely.

From Braise to Paella

The paella step is where Jorj’s own instructions stay loose on purpose: rice in the bottom of the pan, big chunks of short rib and their sauce over the top, Portobello mushrooms and a scatter of peas, a little extra broth if it needs to be soupier. There’s no exact cup count in her original telling — this is a dish built by eye, the way a big Sunday pan of something usually is. A short bake at 300°F is all it takes to bring the rice up to the rest of the dish.

Chili Roasted Short Rib Paella

The short ribs braise low and slow until they fall from the bone, then the meat and its sauce turn a pan of rice into an Americanized paella — Jorj's own words: “remove the short rib meat from the bones in big chunks. Place rice into the bottom of a paella pan (or shallow baking dish). Layer the meat on top of the rice.” Portobello mushrooms and peas go on top, and the pan bakes until the rice plumps.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 7 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 7 hours hrs 40 minutes mins

Servings: 8 servings

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American South

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

The Chili Roasted Short Ribs

• 8 beef short ribs, about 3 to 4 pounds (choose ribs that are thick and meaty)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
• 1 cup or more unbleached all-purpose flour for dredging
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large red onion, diced, about 1 cup
• 2 large carrots, peeled, trimmed and diced, about 1 cup
• 2 medium celery ribs, diced, about 1 cup
• 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced, about ¼ cup
• 2 large jalapeño peppers, seeded, veins removed, diced, about 2 tablespoons
• 1 (750 mL) bottle red wine
• 1 quart homemade or prepared low-sodium beef broth
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup prepared chili sauce
• 1 large chipotle chili pepper in adobo sauce, seeded and diced, about 2 tablespoons
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• Chopped, fresh cilantro

The Paella Assembly

• White rice, uncooked, enough to cover the bottom of the pan
• Portobello mushrooms, sliced
• Peas
• Additional beef broth, as needed, to keep the dish a little soupy

Equipment

• Dutch oven or large roasting pan
• Paella pan or shallow baking dish

Method

 

The Chili Roasted Short Ribs

1. Preheat the oven to 250°. Season the ribs with chili powder, salt and pepper.
2. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large roasting pan over medium high heat. Dredge each rib in flour, shaking off the excess. Place each rib into the oil and brown on all sides. Remove the ribs to a platter.
3. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and jalapeño to the pan. Cook until the veggies are soft.
4. Pour in the wine and beef broth. Stir in the tomato paste, chili sauce and chipotle pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil.
5. Return the ribs and any juices on the platter to the pan. Bury the cinnamon sticks in the sauce.
6. Cover the Dutch oven with the lid or place aluminum foil over the pan. Place the pan into the oven and cook until the meat is tender and pulling away from the bone, about 6 to 7 hours.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and uncover. Place the ribs onto a platter and spoon the sauce over top. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

The Paella Assembly

1. Remove the short rib meat from the bones in big chunks.
2. Place the rice into the bottom of a paella pan (or shallow baking dish). Layer the meat on top of the rice.
3. Place slices of Portobello mushrooms on top of the beef. Sprinkle with peas.
4. Pour the sauce from the braised short ribs over everything. Add extra beef broth if needed — you want everything to be a little soupy.
5. Bake at 300° for thirty minutes, or until the rice is plumped. Bring the pan to the table and dig in.

Notes

Adapted from Jorj's own Chili Roasted Beef Short Ribs (Sunday Best Dishes) and her blog post "Americanized Paella: Heaven in a Pan" (2017). The base short rib braise is fully measured and twice-verified against the printed cookbook. The paella assembly is written exactly as she described it — by eye, not by cup — because that is how she wrote it; no quantities have been invented for the rice, mushrooms, or peas.