I was a little nervous for the Valentine’s Day main event, Chrissy Teigan’s Braised Short Ribs, because I’d never made them before. It was a leap of faith down the supermodel cooking runway. Ms. Teigan suggests serving said ribs over a sweet potato mash that is flavored with maple syrup. While I may like Valentine’s Day superly sweet, I don’t have it out for maple. Instead, I sort of used an Ina recipe as the bright orange base, but with quite a few changes. It made for a rather balanced potato if I do say so myself. I’ll share that with you too.

Braised Short Ribs Over Sweet Potato Mash

Chrissy’s Short Ribs:

NOTE: Short ribs are cooked best a day in advance. Spend a few hours braising them. Refrigerate, and the next day you can scrape the solid fat right off the top of the pot. Throw it away and reheat everything on low until warm. Divine.

• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp paprika
• Kosher salt & pepper
• 6 T. canola oil
• 4-5 pounds of bone-in short ribs
• 4 large carrots, cut into 2″ pieces
• 4 celery stalks, cut into 2″ pieces
• 1 14.5oz bag of pearl onions
• 1.5 T. flour
• 1 T. tomato paste
• 12oz. Guiness beer (Chrissy says any kind. I asked the beer experts).
• 2 T. brown sugar
• 2 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes (San Marzano for the win!)
• 2 c. beef broth
• 2 bay leaves

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. In a small bowl combine, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper. Rub your meat with this mixture until coated.
3. In a Dutch-oven (or large pot), heat 4T. oil over med-high heat. Don’t crowd the ribs, but brown all sides, a few ribs at a time.
4. Transfer ribs to platter, clean out pot of burned spices and oil.
5. Add 2 T. of oil to pot (med-high heat) and saute onions, carrots, and celery for about five minutes. Don’t worry too much about getting them soft, they will have hours to do this.
6. Stir in flour until it disappears. Maybe 2 minutes.
7. Add the tomato paste, stir for about a minute.
8. Add the beer, scraping bits from the bottom of the pot.
9. Bring to a boil, cook until liquid is reduced by half – about 5 minutes.
10. Stir in the brown sugar.
11. Add tomatoes, beef broth, bay leaves, 2 tsp of salt.
12. Bring to a boil, then return ribs to the pot, bone side up.
13. Cover with pot lid and put the whole thing in the oven for 2.5-3 hours. The meat will be very tender, easily falling off of the bone.
14. Bring to room temperature, then refrigerate.

**This can be served immediately, but trust me, day 2 for the win. See note.

Macaron & Mayhem Sweet Potato Mash

Serves 2-4

• 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 T. Kosher salt
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 4 T. butter
• 2-4 T. orange juice
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Add sweet potatoes and salt to a large pot of water. Bring to a boil.
2. Cook potatoes until soft, about 25 minutes.
3. Drain potatoes and immediately place them into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Add cream, butter, oj, cayenne pepper, Parmesan, and salt and pepper.
5. Beat until combined.
6. Taste sweet potatoes for desired flavor and add more salt/pepper or butter as desired.
7. Scoop a cup or so of potatoes into a low bowl. Top with short rib, veggies, and a little gravy.

While this whole experiment took a few hours of planning and monitory, it isn’t hard. Add this to your repertoire of recipes that seem impressive, but that are really pretty easy. Not to mention, this is perfect for company, because by the time they arrive (a day later) all of the mess and work is done.