We are in that phase of Minnesota Winter known to all, or at least to me, as the Deep Fuckety Shit. There is snow, there is ice, and for the better part of two weeks, it's been hovering around zero, with wind chills stripping flesh from bone, then stripping bone from marrow, then stripping marrow from the empty nothingness of existence.

That's stew and braise weather, if you ask me. Well, it's also taco weather, but all weather is taco weather. And I'd just made tacos. So I figured I'd codify the short rib recipe from a weekish ago, let Cathy try it, since she was out of town the first time I made it, and as a bonus, leave the oven on in a cold apartment for a few hours.</p>

You'll need:

• 1.5 pounds boneless beef chuck short ribs
• 1.5 cups onion (one medium)
• 1 cup fennel (about half a bulb)
• 1 cup celery (about two stalks)
• 6 oz crimini mushrooms
• Salt (about 2 tsp)
• Pepper
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 1 tsp herbs de provence 

PREP: Dice the onion and fennel. Slice the celery and mushrooms. Peel and rough chop the garlic. Salt and pepper the short ribs judiciously, as this will be the main seasoning for the whole dish.

COOKING: Get a cast iron dutch oven or something similarly heavy and lidded nice and hot on the stovetop. Add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, and brown the short ribs, about two and a half minutes each on two of the sides.

When those are done, pull them out and set them aside. Add the onion, fennel, celery, and mushrooms, and cook over medium-high heat for four minutes, until they're soft and have some nice color on them. Add the garlic, cook for another minute, and turn off the heat. Set your oven to 250.

Take the short ribs and push them down into the cooked vegetables. Then add the wine and herbs de provence, cover the pot, and put it in the oven for two hours.

Take the pot out of the oven and remove the short ribs again. Bring the vegetables and wine to a low simmer for about ten minutes. When the meat is cooled down enough to handle, slice it into roughly half inch pieces and add them back into the pot.

Best served with or over some kind of starchy side.