Slow Roasted Country Style Pork Ribs

I am an omnivore and I love it :-) I made these slow cooked ribs for some friends the other night. They were so good and such a hit I had to share this very simple and very satisfying recipe. With fall here, I am drawn more and more to this kind of meal.

This is a long slow cook, perfect to put in the oven in the afternoon with very little attention until the last hour. The house will smell divine as the meat cooks.

Start with high quality local pork country style ribs, they have no bones. I got mine from El Salchichero. There are other local folks selling pork at the farmer's markets as well. It's a good idea to call ahead to make sure they have this cut. I bought 3 pounds for four people and we had leftover for Bob and I the next day. I cut off some of the fat on the ends and saved it for future dishes.

Marinade

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup apple juice
2 cups roasted tomato puree or tomato sauce
1 chopped red onion
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
2 tablespoons fresh chopped fennel or dill

1) Preheat the oven to 300 F.
2) Place all the above ingredients in a large enamel pot with a lid and mix together. You can use a 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish as well, use foil to cover the top.

You can see from this photo I didn't chop my herbs very much. In fact I put in sprigs of fresh herbs. When Bob insisted I write down the recipe I translated my sprigs into tablespoons.

3) Place your 3 pounds of country style ribs into the marinade. You can see from the photo that they are covered in liquid.

4) Bake covered for 3 hours at 300 F.
5) Uncover, turn the temperature to 350 F and bake for another hour, turning and basting the meat two to three times. It is OK if it falls apart, that's what you want. The liquid will cook down making a rich barbeque sauce.
6) Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes.

7) I served our ribs with massage kale salad , quinoa tabouli and garlic bread. We were all so excited to eat I forgot to get a "beautiful plate " photo. The pork is mostly gone already !

The Most Amazing Chocolate Ice Cream

 Our 27th wedding anniversary this last weekend, the fall equinox and a visit from our friends Rex and Margaret, all conspired to inspire me to make this dark chocolate ice cream. Rex is a committed chocoholic, he prefers the term "connoisseur";-)
Each time he comes to visit I try to make some outrageous chocolate dessert. With our recent garage sale find of the Cuisinart  ice cream maker, this was a natural choice. For Rex the darker chocolate the better !! I was so impressed with how creamy and rich this recipe was.

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk

2 egg yolks

2 cups heavy  whipping cream

1/3 cup  cocoa powder

2/3 cup sugar

6 ounces of dark chocolate, chopped (I used Trader Joe’s Pound Plus Bar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

1) Coarsely chop the six ounces of dark chocolate.

2) Separate  and whisk together two egg yolks in a medium size bowl.

3) Pour the whipping cream, milk and sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan. To add the cocoa powder I used a sieve to prevent lumps.

4) Whisk all those ingredients and heat over medium high heat until just boiling.

5) Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate in three batches. Make sure it has all melted before adding the next batch.

6) Slowly add a 1/4 cup of the hot chocolate mixture to the egg yolks. Once it is well combined slowly add the remaining chocolate mixture.

7) Return to the stove. Stir over medium heat  until it begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes.

8) Remove from the heat and add one teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon salt. 
Mix those in. I allow this to cool a bit before putting it into the fridge to chill.

 9) Best to cool it over night or 5-6 hours before churning. The mixture will thicken as it cools, which is great.

10) Follow the instruction on whatever ice cream machine you have. I love mine, it makes ice cream way too easy !!

11) After churning the ice cream, I stored it in the freezer to serve later that evening.

Here's how happy Rex was with his ice cream.

Look at the cute cookies Margaret made us for our 27th wedding anniversary.

Jean's No Flour Chocolate cake

This dense delicious chocolate cake was first made for me by my dear friend Jean. She along with two other women and myself have been getting together almost every month since our kids were in pre-school together, 20 years I believe !!
We rotate homes and whoever hosts makes dessert and there have been some very memorable desserts.

I forgot to take a photo when I cut this cake recently, and as you can imagine it didn't last long.

Jean's No Flour Chocolate cake

Ingredients

16 oz. semisweet chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter

9 eggs separated

1 cup sugar

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9" spring form pan, dust with flour.
2) Chop the chocolate into smaller chunks.

3) Slowly melt butter and chocolate together in a heavy saucepan over low heat, set aside to cool.

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4) Separate the eggs into two large bowls. 

5) Beat the yolks for about 1 minute, slowly add sugar and continue beating until thick and lemon colored.

6) Beat the whites until they just begin to peak.

7) Add cooled chocolate mixture to yolks and blend thoroughly.

8) Pour this mixture into egg whites and fold in gently until completely blended. 

9) Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. 

10) Cool 1/2 hour or longer before turning out onto a serving plate.The cake will rise and then fall as it cools.

11) May be served with whipped cream, ice cream, garnish with fresh strawberries and slivered almonds.

Enjoy.

Aubergine...

Aubergine is  French for eggplant, it's also a color, a shade of purple as you can imagine, a word that rolls off the tongue nicely...
Our farmer's market finally has those small long Japanese eggplant that are so tender and tasty.
Last night I made that wonderful stir fry with eggplant that I blogged about last summer.

This time I sliced the eggplant ahead of time, tossed them in some olive oil and salt ( about a teaspoon) and let them sit for about a hour. I was surprised by how quickly they cooked in my wok and how tender they were. I have salted eggplant in the past to remove the moisture from them but never before a stir fry. I didn't drain them or anything. I will definitely do this to all future eggplants for stir fry. Yum !!