Braised beef short ribs

I know -- short ribs! Frisky! This dish is adapted from a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I didn't really mean to adapt it so much, but apparently I can't read. Like, at all. Along with missing the initial steps which imply marinating overnight, ignoring the advice to cover the pot with foil, and reading the initial temperature completely wrong, I changed the list of ingredients and quantities. So really, this is more "inspired by" than anything else. I haven't tried it yet, since it's currently cooling (to allow me to remove a layer of congealed fat tomorrow -- eww), but the meat is super tender. It should be pretty tasty with baked potatoes and sauteed greens.

Braised Beef Short Ribs
Serves 4 - 6 (I used less meat, so...?)

4 lbs beef short ribs (approximately)
several whole sprigs thyme
freshly cracked black pepper
2 medium onions, sliced in half rings
olive oil
1 diced carrot
1 diced celery stalk
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup port
2 cups red wine
beef broth
several springs flat-leaf parsley

Pre-heat oven to 325. I misread the recipe and set it to 425, oops, then turned it down to 300 after an hour (thanks to my smoke detector going off).

Season the short ribs with salt and pepper. Heat pan, add a bit of olive oil, and sear off the meaty sides of the short ribs in batches (removing to separate dish once done). After all of the ribs have been seared, de-glaze the pan with some wine and pour it on top of the meat. Set aside.

In a separate pan (or the same pan if you're being all sequential) saute the sliced onions in some olive oil, and add some pepper while sauteing. Once they are nicely golden, add the carrot and celery and saute a bit more. Add in some thyme sprigs as well. (I used my new Dutch oven for this step, and everything went into this.) Once done to your liking, add the balsamic vinegar, port, and red wine. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. I was supposed to reduce at this step -- no time, had to get in the oven! -- so instead added some of the broth and let the whole thing come back to the boil.

Toss the parsley and remaining thyme in the pot, and add in the ribs, with bones standing up, in one layer. Add additional broth to the mixture (if required) so that it almost covers the ribs. Cover with the lid (but first with aluminum foil -- I missed this part, and think that I lost a lot of liquid because of it). Braise in the oven for about 3 hrs. I checked after 4 hrs (oops again), and noticed that I had very little liquid left. The meat looked really tender, but I added more broth and red wine, stirred carefully, and put it back in for another 30 minutes. When I took it out again it was bubbling, all the meat had separated from the bones, and it was extremely tender.

To allow me to remove the fat from the broth, I stopped at this point. I'm cooling it overnight (actually two nights, since I won't have it until Sunday), and will remove the layer of fat before reheating. I can then bring it back to a simmer on the stove or in the oven before serving.