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Slow country ribs

These are country ribs cooked slowly, not ribs from the Slow Country. It was our dinner the evening of March 4, 2010.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. pork country ribs, frozen and don’t thaw them.
• 1 parsnip
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 apple
• 1/2 green pepper
• 3 cloves garlic
• sea salt
• groundblack pepper
• hungarian paprika
• ground cumin
• oregano
• adobo powder
• 1 12-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 10-oz. can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with green chilies

Directions

Set crockpot to high heat/6 hour cycle.

Roughly chop the parsnip, carrot, onion, apple, green pepper, and garlic. Place in bottom of crockpot. Liberally rub the frozen ribs with all the dry seasonings and place on top of the veggies. Finally, pour both cans of diced tomatoes around the sides and base of the pork.

Cook approximately 6 hours until meat is falling off the ribs and sticking to yours instead. Strain the remaining cooking liquid and serve as an au jus. I recommend you serve this with buttery crusty rolls to sop up the jus while you hungrily devour the mouth-watering tender succulent pork.

Tom kha gai

Tom kha gai (chicken soup with “kha”)

First make broth by simmering together the following for a couple hours:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks celery
• peppercorns
• 2 quarter-size slices of ginger, unpeeled

When the bird starts to fall apart, remove the chicken, strain the broth, and pull the meat from the bird and set aside.

To the clear broth add:

• 3 quarter-sized slices of ginger, unpeeled
• 1/2 stalk lemongrass, sliced into 2″ lengths
• 1 good-sized chunk kha (a dried root also known as galangal with an earthy perfumy flavor)
• 1 Tbsp white peppercorns

Let the above simmer for about 15 minutes to let flavors infuse, then add:

• 1 carrot, sliced very thin
• 1 shallot, peeled and sliced very thin
• about 5 fresh shiitake mushroom, stems removed and sliced thin

Simmer for 10 more minutes to soften the veggies, then add:

• 1 can coconut milk (not coconut juice or water or drink)
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• the reserved chicken meat

and heat through.

Serve hot! and add the following at the table:

• Juice of 1/6 lime
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• Sriracha to taste

There are more authentic variations (including lime leaves and thai chilies) but I didn’t have them in the pantry, so lighten up. If you’ve got them, toss them in; the more the merrier!

Oh: if you have a cold and eat this soup, you will no longer have a cold. It will pack up, leave your sinuses, and take the next passage to Bangkok.

Turkey-avocado tacos

Just a quickie for leftover turkey, especially if it’s marinated and grilled. Which is likely around here.

1.  Turkey breast tenderloin, marinated in garlic-lime barbeque and smoked over hot coals for 4-5 hours, then refrigerated for a couple days.

Banana cookies!

Two problems: a whole bunch of brown bananas, and a camping trip with 7 hungry children coming up. The two-birds-with-one-stone solution: Banana Cookies!

Note: I made this in two batches. Ingredients below are for one batch. Don’t double the recipe to make two batches, just make the recipe below twice. Disclaimer: I include specific directions for a Kitchen-Aid blender. If you don’t have one, just do the equivalent with whatever you have, or by hand.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick), let warm to room temperature
• 1 c granulated white sugar
• 1 egg, let warm to room temperature
• 1 c overripe bananas (about 2 – 2 1/2 bananas)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 c white all-purpose flour
• pinch sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar

For banana-nut cookies:

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 c walnuts, chopped

For chocolate chip-banana cookies:

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 c chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In your Kitchen-Aid (at setting #6, with the whisk), cream the butter and sugar together smooth and fluffy. Add egg, continue creaming until the mixture is light and fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the bananas and the soda. Let sit for a few minutes to activate the soda.
4. In yet another bowl, combine flour, salt, and appropriate spices for the type of cookie you’re making.
5. Blend (KA: #6 with the whisk) the banana mixture into the butter mixture until evenly textured throughout.
6. Sift the flour mixture into the butter and banana mixture and mix (KA: #2 with the flat beater) until just combined. [The sifting step is very important to the texture and lightness of these cookies. If you don't own a sifter, do what I do and use a small wire strainer.]
7. Fold in the nuts or the chocolate as appropriate.
8. Drop in spoonfuls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle each cookie with vanilla sugar.
9. Bake at 350° F for 12-14 minutes or until just golden brown. Let cool on wire racks. Eat! Or save for later! The choice is yours!

Yields

About 32 cookies

Chile Colorado

Pork Chile Colorado

This ain’t traditional “chili”. It’s big chunks of pork slow-cooked in hot pepper sauce, which you then eat wrapped in a tortilla. It’s my attempt at recreating a dish served at our local Mexican haunt, Fiesta Mariachi (formerly Casa Fiesta), where also comes in a Chile Verde variety with tangy tomatillos.

The meat is rich, rich, rich with hot red chiles … not incredibly spicy, just intense … and is full of that ephemeral 5th flavor that some call “umame”. I mean it. It’s rich with the flavor of ripe capsicum. I used pork country ribs; the restaurant uses some other cut, but it frankly doesn’t matter much.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs pork country ribs
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 5 whole roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 whole green jalapeños
• 2 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 whole dried guajillo chiles
• 2 whole dried ancho chiles

Directions

Set the crock pot to cook for about 6 hours.

In a crock pot, place the ribs, onion, tomato, and jalapeños. Season with the garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper and mix well.

Prepare the dried chiles by first seeding and stemming them. Then, place the chiles in a small saucepan with about 3/4 c of water. Bring to a boil and simmer about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and then blend the chiles with all the water in a blender, or using a stick blender. This should yield a deep red smooth sauce.

Pour the chile sauce into the crock pot with everything else.

Cook until the meat is falling off the bones and very easy to shred. Remove the meat from the pot, then debone, remove any fat chunks, and shred the meat. Strain the reserved liquid from the crockpot and incorporate back into the meat.

Serve the meat with tortillas, sour cream, lettuce, pico de gallo, or however you like to eat Mexican.

Oh ee (Korean stir-fried cucumber side dish)

ingredients

• 5 small cucumbers (Mark usually carves the skin into a decorative pattern, leaving most of the skin intact. Don’t seed or peel the cukes.)
• 2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tsp sugar (refined or raw)
• 1 tsp+ Sriracha hot sauce, to taste
• 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

directions

Cut the cucumbers widthwise into thick slices, about 3/4 inch thick. Combine the remaining ingredients, except the vegetable oil, and mix them well. Pour over the cucumbers and marinate for just 10 minutes or so (for example, while cooking the recipe above!) Add vegetable oil to HOT wok. Add cucumbers (without any leftover marinade) and stir-fry until they begin to brown and the sauce is thickened.

Daeji gogi (Korean-style stir-fried pork)

Meat

• 1 1/2 lbs fairly lean pork, sliced into thin strips (we used 2 lbs bone-in pork chops and trimmed the meat)

Marinade

• 1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/8 c rice vinegar
• 1/8 c brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Vegetables

• 1/2 medium onion, julienned
• 2 large carrots, julienned
• 1/2 lb green beans, sliced crosswise to the same length as the juliennes
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced

Other ingredients

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil (we used canola – use whatever can take the heat)
• 2 Tbsp Gochujang (Korean fermented “hot pepper paste“)

Directions

2-4 hours ahead of time: Combine all the marinade ingredients and mix well. Combine well with the sliced pork, and marinate in a tightly covered container for at least 2 hours.

At cooking time: This is a stir-fry, so it cooks fast. Make sure you have cut all your vegetables ahead of time, and have all the other ingredients readily at hand. I typically prepare each ingredient and place it in a small bowl by itself; then at cooking time I can quickly add ingredients when it’s their time.

Add oil to a HOT wok. Add the onion, garlic, green beans, and carrots. Fry, stirring constantly, until the garlic just begins to brown and the onions are getting transparent. Add the pork. Keep stir-frying until the pork is browned, and the liquid from the marinade is boiling and reducing well. When the liquid is well-reduced and the carrots and beans are getting tender, add the fermented hot pepper paste. Continue stir-frying until the pepper paste is well combined and the sauce is just starting to caramelize.

Serve hot with steamed rice and the cucumber side dish, Oh ee.

Fermented pepper paste, toasted sesame seeds, green beans, onion, carrots, marinating cucumbers, Sriracha, marinating pork.”]

From center, spiral-wise: Fermented pepper paste, toasted sesame seeds, green beans, onion, carrots, marinating cucumbers, Sriracha, marinating pork.

Pseudo-scratch dressing

(Dressing, Not stuffing. Don’t cook bread inside of a wet bird.)

Anyway, this is a half-cheat where you use some Stovetop Stuffing but you extend it. Like ‘Semi-homemade’ but I’m uglier and more sober than Sandra Lee.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Stovetop “Traditional Sage” instant stuffing mix
• 6 cups well-dried cubed bread (white, wheat, or sourdough)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 water chestnuts, diced (1/2 a can)
• 1 apple, diced
• 1 small box raisins
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 6-8 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground oregano
• 1 tsp crushed sage
• 1 tsp chopped parsley
• Salt to taste
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a greased baking dish, combine the bread cubes and the box of Stove Top. Set aside.

In a saute pan, melt the butter with the oil and saute the onions, celery, and carrots until the onions are transparent. Add the apples, water chestnuts, and raisins and saute until everything is well incorporated and heated through. Pour over the bread cubes in the baking dish and mix well.

Into the saute pan used above, add the chicken broth and the spices. Heat through until steamy but not yet boiling. Pour over the bread cube mixture in the baking dish and mix well.

Finally, combine the beaten egg with the bread cube mixture and mix very well.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

Chili verde salsa (roasted green New Mexico chile sauce)

This is a spicy chile verde sauce made with New Mexico peppers that we grew in our Ohio garden and roasted in our barbecue. New Mexicos are long, deep green, thick-skinned peppers with an intense pepper taste and a medium-hot amount of spice. The finished sauce is great for enchiladas, burritos, or quite frankly just snacking with soft corn tortillas. It’s a unique alternative to either red chile colorado sauce or to green tomatillo-based verde sauce.

Ingredients

• 30 green-ripe New Mexico chili peppers, prepared as described below
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 large sweet white onion, diced
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 2 c chicken broth
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• generous dash of cumin
• generous dash of salt

Preparing the peppers

Directly over hot coals (no flame), roast the peppers until the skin is charred black, turning as needed to roast all sides. Place the still-hot peppers into a paper bag. Keep them in the bag until cool. You can then refrigerate them if you want until you’re ready to cook later. When cool, remove the skins, which should slide right off. Also remove the stems and the majority of the seeds. The more seeds you leave in, the spicier the sauce will be.

Chop the skinned, stemmed, seeded chiles roughly into a medium dice. It should make about 2 cups of diced peppers. Now you’re ready for ….

Making the sauce

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until transparent and soft. Add the flour and stir well. Still stirring, add the chicken broth. Stir continuously until all lumps are gone and liquid is smooth.

Add the peppers, the garlic, the salt, and the cumin. Stir well. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Finally, run a stick blender in the sauce for only about 4-5 seconds, just enough to thicken it a little but still retain the chunky goodness.

Makes about 3 pints.

Kansas City-style barbecue rub

If you’re new to dry rubs, I recommend this one first. This is absolutely FABULOUS on pork ribs, but it will work on anything, even chicken or lamb. The trick to KC style barbecue is a combination of dry rub and wet sauce: dry rub for cooking, and wet sauce for serving. It works either with or without smoke, which makes it more flexible as well. This recipe makes about 12 cup, enough for 2 full racks of baby back ribs.

The rub:

• 1/4 cup paprika
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 3/4 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt (this is the kicker here)

Tips for a successful rub:

If you’re cooking pork ribs, it’s best to remove the membrane from the inside of the ribs: either rip the membrane end-to-end clean off the bones, or score the membrane against each of the rib bones. This is true for lamb as well: be sure to remove any membrane before rubbing. If you’re cooking a loin or other cut with a significant layer of fat, leave the fat on the meat but score it deeply with a knife in a a cross-hatch pattern. This will let the rub penetrate more deeply into the meat.

Rub with your hands! Get messy and knead the rub in like a deep tissue massage…really work it. You can let the meat marinate in the rub as long as you care, at least a half hour up to two hours or so.

Cook the meat dry. When done, serve the meat with a KC-style barbecue sauce on the side. Don’t baste the meat with barbecue sauce.

People do seem to like this rub.