Slow-cooked short rib and pineapple tacos

Portion size: Serves 4 (3 tacos each)
Prep time 25 min, plus overnight marinating. Cook time 4 hours
Difficulty: easy

Dairy-free

Freezable

Gluten-free

Pollyanna Coupland

Food producer, delicious.

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Short ribs marinaded with pineapple and chilli, then slow cooked for hours, make an incredible taco filling. Serve with avocado and sour cream.

Pineapple also pairs beautifully with chicken. Try this spatchcocked chicken with pineapple, ginger and chilli,

Before you start

Be a better cook The sweet and acidic properties of fresh pineapple (it contains bromelain, an enzyme that digests proteins such as collagen) make it an excellent meat tenderiser – perfect for collagen-rich short ribs. Don’t be tempted to skip the marinating – it won’t have the same effect if you just cook the meat with the fruit, as heat deactivates the enzyme (so tinned fruit won’t work either).

Scale it up If you have a pan large enough, make a double batch, as it freezes well.

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Ingredients

1 medium pineapple, peeled
1.5kg beef short ribs
1 tbsp cumin seeds
6 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
4 spring onions, halved
Juice 1 lime
1 tbsp chipotle paste
30g coriander, separated into leaves and stalks
2 tsp vegetable oil
660ml lager (check it’s gluten free, if you need it to be)

For the salsa

1 tomato, deseeded and finely diced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely diced
Finely grated zest and juice ½ lime

To serve

1 red onion, sliced
2 ripe avocados
Juice 1 lime
12 small corn tacos, warmed
6-8 tsp soured cream (optional)
1 lime, cut into wedges

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Method

Cut roughly a third off the pineapple, remove and discard the core and finely chop the rest – set this aside for your salsa. Roughly chop the remaining pineapple (leave the core intact).
Put a large frying pan over a high heat. Pat the ribs dry, season heavily with salt and pepper, then put in a large deep container. Once the pan is smoking hot, add the cumin seeds and toast for a few seconds until fragrant. Tip them into a blender, then return the pan to the heat. Add the roughly chopped pineapple, garlic and spring onions, working in batches if needed, and cook for around 5 minutes until charred all over. Tip into the blender as you work. Leave to cool slightly, then add the lime, chipotle paste and coriander stalks. Whizz until smooth, then massage into the ribs. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight.
The next day, add the oil to a large, heavy-based pan (one with a lid) over a high heat. Once smoking hot, add the ribs and sear all over. Once nicely browned, add the remaining marinade and pour in the lager. Turn the heat down to low, cover and leave to cook at a gentle simmer for 4 hours.
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To make the salsa, mix all the salsa ingredients together with the finely chopped pineapple, coriander leaves and a pinch of salt. Put the onion slices in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and the juice of 2 limes to quick-pickle and turn pink. Make the guacamole by mashing the avocados roughly with a fork, then stir in the remaining lime juice and season with salt.
After 4 hours, remove the ribs from the sauce, then discard the bone and any sinewy cartilage. Pull the meat apart with 2 forks but keeping some slightly larger chunks of meat. Keep the meat warm. Turn up the heat and bubble to reduce the sauce by half. Put the meat in a serving dish, then pour over the sauce (you might not need it all). Serve with the salsa, onions, guacamole, tacos, extra lime wedges and some soured cream, if you like.