Recipe: Slow-Cooked Moroccan Short Ribs

We've been really busy since December, so there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on at home. With our birthday celebrations wrapping up, it's time to get back in the swing of things. We started by making some Slow-Cooked Moroccan Short Ribs last week.

Slow-Cooked Moroccan Short Ribs: 4-6 servings, total time = 4 hours (high heat)

For the Rub-
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. salt

For the Ribs-
2 1/2 lb. short ribs (4-6)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 1/2 cups of low-sodium beef broth, divided
3 carrots, cut into 2" chunks (2 cups) (Note: we used baby carrots)
10 baby Yukon gold potatoes (2 cups)
1/2 onion, root intact
2 Tbsp. honey
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
6 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dried apricots
2 tsp. lemon juice

Combine cinnamon, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and salt in a small bowl and rub onto ribs.
Sear the ribs in oil in a large saute pan over high heat until browned on all sides, 10 minutes.
Transfer to slow cooker and pour off oil from pan.
Deglaze with 3 cups broth, scraping bits from the bottom.
Transfer deglazing broth, carrots, potatoes, onion (keep whole), honey, and pepper flakes to the slow cooker.
Simmer ribs in the slow cooker on high-heat setting until fork-tender, about 3 1/2 hours.

Discard onion (Note: we removed, cut into 1" pieces and returned to slow cooker before serving) and strain fat from the surface of the sauce. (Note: we found straining the fat impossible, and left it.)
Whisk flour and remaining broth together and stir into the slow cooker with the apricots.
Simmer until ribs are fork-tender and sauce has thickened (about 1/2 hour).
Stir in lemon juice before serving.

The rub had great heat to it, and overall the flavor just developed as you ate more. The apricots were a nice touch, adding some sweetness and enhancing the spices. We wished that the broth had thickened a bit more, but overall the dish was great. It reheated well the next day too.

This recipe came from Issue 72 of Cuisine at Home.