Short ribs go a long way.

Short ribs are a dish I've always considered to be too time-consuming and decadent to make at home. As part of a New Year's resolution to cook more at home (yes, even we who love to cook sometimes run out of time when moving/getting settled into a new job, apartment, and city), I dusted off the cookbook sent by dear family friends (Simple to Spectacular) and found a whole section on short ribs. The good news was most of the cook time was hands-off (I managed to work in a workout and some quality TV watching), and the technique itself wasn't that complicated -- don't let the length of the recipe or ingredients list fool you.

When one of my sisters moved back to Boston a couple years ago, we ate at Jean Georges' Market (home of an extremely reasonable and delicious prix fixe menu), where we had the most intensely flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth short ribs I've ever experienced. As Jean Georges is the co-author of my fabulous cookbook, I hoped to find something in that short ribs section to replicate our experience. His cooking style is what fancy food folk call "New French," influenced by Asian flavors, among others. My kitchen became quite the melting pot as we took a single recipe (soy glazed short ribs) and dressed it two ways:

The first night we followed the book recipe, which highlighted the Asian flavors of soy, star anise, and ginger, serving over a bed of ginger-steamed bok choy, water chestnuts, and jasmine rice:

The second night we refocused on our Market experience, highlighting the tangy acidity by adding julienned green apples and lemon zest, serving over creamy mashed potatoes and spicy Swiss chard (who says leftovers have to be boring?):

Both were delicious and quite different, and we were happy to get two distinct flavor profiles out of a solid Sunday evening's worth of cooking.

Short Rib Tips for Success:

• If they don't have bone-in short ribs in the store, get boneless but ask for additional beef bones to flavor the braising liquid.
• Season the meat liberally before cooking: coarse salt and pepper are all you need to begin.
• Taste your braising liquid before it starts to cook down: it will only get better, but you want to know you're starting in a good place. If you need to add more soy, ginger, or any other flavor, adjust.
• Don't rush the braise: take your time, and save plenty for leftovers because these microwave well and taste even better the second time around. I highly recommend this recipe for company, as it can be made days in advance and only gets more delicious with time.

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Asian Spiced Short Ribs with Ginger-Steamed Bok Choy

Serves 6-8

1/4 c canola oil

4 lb beef short ribs, preferably bone-in

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1/4 c fresh ginger, cut into large pieces + 1 T fresh ginger, finely grated

2 T sugar

5 star anise

1 dried chile

2 T Szechwan peppercorns

20 cilantro stems

1 c dry sherry

1/2 c low-sodium soy sauce

10 oz canned water chestnuts, rinsed and quartered

3 slices ginger

4 medium heads of bok choy, washed and cut into 1" pieces

minced cilantro leaves for garnish

Ribs: Preheat the oven to 350*F. Heat 2 T oil in a Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Season ribs liberally with coarse salt and pepper, then brown well on all sides (this will take about 20 min., and you'll probably need to brown them in batches). Remove the ribs to a plate and turn off the heat.

Heat the remaining 2 T of oil over medium. Add the onion, garlic, large ginger pieces (reserve the grated ginger) and sugar, and cook, stirring, until everything is very soft and browned, about 12 minutes.

Add the star anise, dried chile, Szechwan peppercorns and cilantro stems to the pot. Cook for a minute, then add the sherry, soy, and 3 c water. Add the ribs back to the pot. Snuggle the bones down into the braising liquid until mostly covered. Cover the pot and cook the ribs in the oven until they are tender and the meat is falling from the bones, about 3 hr. Turn the bones every half hour or so.

Transfer the ribs to a plate and strain the cooking liquid. The book says to refrigerate the sauce overnight and skim off the fat, which made it a little more visually appealing, but wasn't totally necessary. You will want to reduce the sauce some, at a rolling boil until somewhat thickened and more concentrated. Heat water chestnuts through.

Bok Choy: Bring water and sliced ginger to a boil. Put a strainer over the water and add the bok choy, then cover with the pot lid and steam until cooked the way you like them (I like mine fairly al dente), just a few minutes.

Serve: Stack ribs on bok choy and spoon sauce over them liberally, serving with Jasmine rice; garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.