Braised Short Ribs

I found some nice-looking short ribs the other day on sale, and originally I'd planned to make them Korean style. But then I was looking around in my fridge and pantry and saw there was a fair amount of the massive amount of produce I'd purchased recently that was looking a little peaky and in need of cooking. So instead, I opted to do it in beer* in the slow cooker (alternately, Dutch oven in a slow oven will be good as well) so I could use up some produce and still have a tender, delicious and healthful meal. Hope you enjoy!

1 pound boneless beef short ribs
1 cup each: yellow bell pepper (cut into chunks), mixed greens (mostly kale and radish greens is what I used)
4 carrots, roughly chopped
3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 ears corn, cut into 1-inch rounds
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped (with juices)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and left whole
salt and pepper to taste
1/2-3/4 cups dark ale

Put all of the above into a 4-quart crock pot, cover and cook on high for several hours, or until the ribs are falling apart. Serve over pearled barley. Serves 4-6.

*The beer I used was the Baby Brew, which is a truly lovely ale made for us by our friend Stephen in honor of Ilana's birth. It's really wonderful - slightly hoppy but well balanced with a bit of extra sweetness in the middle that offsets the barely bitter finish. This beer is probably my definition of the perfect beer, and I am really excited and thankful that he made this for us as our "welcome to parenthood" gift. We'd not finished a bottle of it last night and I was going to use the remainder for Baby Brew Bread, but instead felt the ribs would be a more fitting and beautiful use for the leftover beer. 

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