Braised Pork Country Ribs with Root Vegetables

I have been struggling with what to do with the pork country ribs I got from Farmer Brian and I finally landed on this recipe for soy braised pork country ribs with root vegetables.

I think the soy braised name from the original recipe is a bit misleading, these ribs had an amazing flavor but the soy was really pretty muted. I did rekindle my love affair with star anise, it ads a flavor I just adore. I had never realized how much I loved it until I started using it.

My Ingredients


1/2 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp dry Sherry
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tsp hot chili paste (such as sambal oelek, I used Sriracha)
2 1/2 bone in pork country ribs
2 Tbsp peanut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 green onions; white and pale green parts finely chopped, green parts thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
3 whole star anise
3 long strips orange peel removed from orange with vegetable peeler
1/2 pound carrots, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound turnips, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound parsnips, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces


Whisk chicken broth, Sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar, and hot chili paste in small bowl to blend; set aside. 


Sprinkle ribs with salt and pepper. Heat peanut oil in heavy large deep skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook ribs until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer ribs to plate. Reduce heat to medium. Add chopped onion to skillet and saute until soft, about 4 minutes. Add white parts of green onions, garlic, and ginger; saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add chicken broth mixture, stirring to scrape up any browned bits. Add star anise and orange peel; bring to simmer.


Return ribs to same skillet. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes. Add carrots,turnips and parsnips to the pan and submerge them int eh sauce as best as you can. Cover and simmer until vegetables and ribs are tender, gently stirring mixture occasionally, about 30 minutes longer. Transfer mixture to platter. 
Serve it over some steamed rice or cous cous. 

Seared Scallops with a Citrus Sake Mignoette

Scallops are delicious. That is all.
OK Perhaps a bit more. As time goes on I tend to do less and less with scallops in order to enjoy their natural flavor. Scallops have become my favorite kind of sushi and when I get good ones at home I tend to eat one or two just by themselves out of the paper. I found this recipe and thought that the bright citrusy flavors would be a wonderful way to enjoy the scallops with a great punch of flavor, but not so overwhelming that you lose the scallop.
I simply pan seared the scallops  and topped with as much of the sauce as I wanted.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sake (dry)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp grapefruit juice (fresh)
1 Tbsp shallot (minced)
1 tsp fresh ginger (minced)
1/8  tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper (cracked)
1 green onion (thinly sliced)


Sauces are rapidly becoming my secret weapon in cooking. Once you start off with a good ingredient and prepare it well, the sauce is what changes it from "hey great scallops" to  "Wow"

Pan Seared Tuna with a Cilantro Ginger Sauce

The picture kind of says it all. Good quality tuna is such a fantastic product to work with that you don't need to do much to it. In this case I coated it with some black and white sesame seeds, seared it on all sides in a screaming hot pan and sliced it thin. I made the sauce up on the fly so measurements are approximate.

For the Sauce
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
2 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients except for the salt to a food processor, process until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside

2 Tuna steaks.
2-3 Tbsp each of black and white sesame seeds (all white is just fine)
Canola or Peanut oil for the pan.

You want to use peanut or canola oil for this as they can handle the high temperatures you need to get a good sear. Heat the oil in a non stick pan big enough to hold all of your tuna.

Meanwhile put all the sesame seeds on a plate and coat all sides of the tuna, including the edges.

When the pan is nice and hot add the tuna and sear on one side for 1-2 minutes. Flip and do the same on the other side. I like to quickly sear the edges as well, using tongs to hold it up on its side if need be. I just like the uniform look, you don't have to do so.

Slice it thin and lay flat on a plate so you can see the inside of the tuna and then add your sauce. Start to finish this is a 20-30 minute so it's great for a weeknight dinner.

Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with a Sherry Cream Sauce

Sadly these were likely the last Brussels sprouts of the year, or at least the last local ones. I modeled them after a dish I had at Dinosaur BBQ a couple months back.
I used this recipe as base but I changed the technique.

Ingredients:

• 
  

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 4 slices bacon, chopped

• 1 shallot, chopped

• 1/4 cup cream sherry

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

The original recipe called for making the sauce while you roasted the sprouts in the oven. That seemed like a waste of a lot of flavor in the pan. It also called for mushrooms, which would have been great but I didn't have any.

Cut the stems from the sprouts and cut them in half through the stem end, discard any leaves that come off easily. Toss the sprouts into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt an pepper and toss to coat. Set aside.

Heat a large skillet and cook the bacon in it. When the bacon is just under crispy remove it, leaving the drippings. Saute the shallots for a minute or two, crank up the heat a bit and add the sprouts to the pan, cut side down to get them nice and browned. About 6-8 minutes. While the sprouts brown chop up the bacon, it should still have a good bit of fat left on it. Add the bacon back to the pan and toss it with the sprouts to finish cooking the bacon.The sprouts should be browned but not cooked through. Add the sherry to the pan and deglaze, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the heat to low and add the cream. Stir and let it simmer for another 8-10 minutes. The cream should reduce to just a coating on the sprouts and they should be cooked through.

I might add a bit more sherry the next time I make this dish as I love its flavor and it wasn't as pronounced as I might have liked.

Truly this felt like more of a winter dish but it went just fine with the years first beer can chicken on the grill.

An update

I have been poor on updates of late. I have been cooking like mad but not doing a whole lot of my own creations.
The Caramel Pork Belly recipe I made a couple weeks ago was stellar. Take a Look. I didn't diverge from the recipe at all on this one. Finding fresh pork belly may be a challenge, thankfully I bought 1/2 pig last fall and have been in my pork belly glory.

I also made an incredible herb roasted pork loin from One Perfect Bite. I followed the recipe on this one too. No reason  to mess with what works. I did brine the pork loin first which I strongly recommend

Pork Brine
(from Ad Hoc at Home)

3 T honey
6 bay leaves
2 fresh rosemary springs
1/4 oz fresh thyme sprigs
1 oz fresh flat leaf parsley sprigs
6 cloves garlic, crushed with the skin left on
1 T black peppercorns
1/2 c kosher salt
4 c water


Bring all the ingredients to boil. Stir & boil for 1 minute, until the salt is dissolved. Cool completely before adding the pork. (If you want to cool your brine quickly put the pot in a large bowl of ice & it'll do the trick.) You can also cheat the way I do sometimes and use only half the water and add enough ice after it boils to make up the volume. One traditional sized ice cube is one ounce so you can use 2 cups of water and 16 ice cubes to help chill it down faster. Put the pork  & brine in a bowl or plastic container just big enough to hold them. Let sit in the fridge for up to 12 hours, no more or it may get too salty, no less than 6 hours though.


You can make up a large batch of this brine and freeze it in smaller portions for brining things like pork chops
St Patrick's Day is on the horizon and our annual meal of Corned Beef, Cabbage, Colcannon, Soda Bread. Potato Rolls, Guinness beef Stew and Irish Car Bomb Cheesecake are all on the menu.

Enjoy