Ribs and Slaw

It was My Charming Companion's birthday this weekend, and I happened to have bought some St Louis style ribs that were needing to get made - so we celebrated with ribs, coleslaw, and mini pumpkin pies. (On the actual date we made enormous steaks and baked potatoes with iceburg lettuce wedges and homemade thousand island dressing - it was a steak house dinner replica, but better and at home!) The rest of the weekend has been spent in a very laid back sort of manner, partially necessitated by my main drain backing up and needing to wait for Ron the Sewer Rat to come and take care of it. But that seems unseemly to talk about in the same paragraph as food...

Ribs! There was that one set of ribs that I made in a smoker, but this was my first attempt at oven baking them. It was simple and they turned out great. Not quite as amazing as the smoked ones (those were to die for), but close. I also used a marinade rather than a dry rub this time, primarily because I didn't have any onion powder and decided to just blend up some onion instead.

Pork Ribs!
2-3 lbs St Louis style (or baby back) ribs
1/4 c (half a small) onion
1 T raw honey
1 T warm water 
1 T cumin 
1 T paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper

Here they are covered in the marinade.

1. Chop/grind the onion in a food processor, and add the remaining ingredients until a thick paste is formed. Spread it all over both sides of the ribs, wrap in plastic or put in a ziplock and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Get two large pieces of tin foil and set the ribs in the middle of the first one. Make sure the ribs are spread out/not folded over. Cover the ribs with your second piece of foil and crimp the edges so you create a nice seal and put the foil package on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I removed the top piece of foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking just to dry them out a bit, and also spread on some paleo bbq sauce on top.
3. Let rest for a few minutes after removing from the oven and serve!

I also made some Really Good Slaw to go with - I didn't measure much, but here is a general idea. Note: This slaw gets better with a little sitting, so if you can make it a few hours in advance, all the better. 

Really Good Slaw
1/4 head green cabbage
1 carrot
1/2 red pepper
1 large shallot
handful of parsley, chopped
Homemade mayo
Mustard
Cider Vinegar
Salt & pepper

1. Using a mandoline, slice the cabbage, carrots, red pepper and shallot very thinly. You may need to also just slice or finely chop the shallot depending on your mandoline. Put veggies in a medium sized bowl along with parsley.
2. In a small bowl, mix together about 1/2 c. mayo with 2-3 T cider vinegar and another 1-2 T mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste. It should be tangy and a bit creamy. Pour dressing over the veggies and stir to combine.

Crispy Sardines

I've been reading fiendishly this week (N.K. Jemisin's Dreamblood duology and The Circle by Dave Eggers) - including staying up too late and then reading during meals. Dystopias - - they really suck me in! I also have been contemplating going to WisCon, the feminist sci-fi conference, this spring. So that inspired lots of internet searching and findings of new authors and books to read. A wee bit dorky, but a nice way to spend part of my Friday morning.

I've got heaps of library books right now, half of which cannot be renewed because they have waiting lists, so it is taking some effort to get through them before they are due back. One of them is Well Fed 2 - the latest cookbook from one of my fave paleo bloggers. Thus far I give it a 4 star rating - really good recipes that I would make anytime, some of which include things I already have at home. I appreciate that it isn't a "treat" sort of cookbook, and instead stays pretty true to Whole30 style eating, without added sweeteners and stuff. The recipe I have made twice already is her "Pan Fried Sardines." She uses arrowroot powder - which I had never tried - and it creates a really awesome, delicate frying substance. I've pretty much always just used coconut flour, which is heavier, with a stronger coconut taste, and (too) absorbent. I'm giving the arrowroot powder 2 thumbs up - I want to try it with liver too (she has a recipe for liver fried in coconut flour and arrowroot that looks great).

Her recipe has you marinate sardines in lemon, garlic and parsley, but I always have some of the Wild Planet lemon sardines around, so skipped that step to make the recipe even easier/faster.

Crispy Sardines (modified from Well Fed 2)
serves 1
1 tin sardines packed in olive oil with lemon
1 (heaping) T arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp cumin
pinch cayenne
pinch paprika
couple pinches salt and pepper
2 T coconut oil/lard for frying
parsley (opt)

1. Mix arrowroot, spices, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Carefully roll the sardines in the flour-y mixture - the sardines are fragile, and I try to let any excess olive oil drip off before flouring.
2. Heat fat/coconut oil in a cast iron pan. When it is hot, fry the sardines a couple of minutes on each side, until crisp and browned. 
3. Remove from pan and eat as is, or on a simple salad of shredded lettuce/carrots/cabbage with the olive oil/lemon marinade from the sardines and a splash of vinegar. Sprinkle minced parsley on top. The sardines are also great with some homemade mayo.

Chicken with Olives and Lemon (+ Carrot Salad)

After making paleo bastila last month, I got inspired to get some Moroccan cookbooks from the library. One of them is my favorite so far, with stunning photos and lots of great recipes: The Food of Morocco. Yesterday I made a couple of recipes - one of the chicken/olive/preserved lemon ones (there are at least 6 or 8 different recipes focused on these three ingredients), and a traditional carrot salad. I LOVED the carrot salad - it was spicy and fresh tasting, and the chicken was good too.

It was the first time I tried cooking a chicken on a can - it was super easy and cooked faster than roasting and got a nice crispy skin. Plus it was very comical to see the chicken all standing upright on a can! Why is that so funny and bizarre? I will totally cook chickens this way form now on - though probably I'll go even simpler and not even do the sauce. The sauce was good, and had nice preserved lemon flavor - but also not totally necessary for me. My adaptation below does not include garlic or saffron, but put both in if you have them!

I served the whole feast with some cauliflower couscous and ate a stuffed date for dessert. Yum.

Carrot Salad with Cumin, Cinnamon, and Sweet Paprika
1 pound (6-8) carrots, trimmed
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp ground ceylon cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp sugar (or 1 drop stevia)
fine sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
chopped flat leaf parsley for garnish

1. Early in the day, or the day before: Steam carrots over boiling water until just tender, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Dice the carrots and put in a bowl. Mix with the spices, lemon juice, sugar, and pinch of salt. Cool, then cover and chill until ready to serve.
3. Just before serving, correct the seasoning with salt. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.

Roast Chicken on a Faux Spit with Lemon and Olives 
One 3 1/2 pound chicken
1 preserved lemon
Coarse salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3 T chopped flat leaf parsley
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T ghee
1 c chicken stock
2 med onions, grated, rinsed, and squeezed dry
12 green-ripe or red olives, pitted*

1. About 4 hours before serving, rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry. Slide your fingers under the skin to loosen the flesh.

After cooking the wings tucked themselves in!

2. Remove the pulp from the preserved lemon, chopping and saving the peel for the sauce. Add the lemon pulp (4 cloves garlic and saffron water if using), 1 tsp salt, ginger, pepper, turmeric, herbs, oil, and ghee to a blender and grind to a paste. Insert some of the paste under the chicken skin, and "massage" onto the flesh. Put some of the paste in the cavity, and rub the rest all over the skin. Put the chicken in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
3. About 2 hours before you plan to serve the chicken, remove it from the fridge. Position a rack on the lowest shelf of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Set a beer/soda can in a shallow baking dish, and stand the chicken on it. Add one cup of water to the pan, and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until a thermometer set deep into the inner thigh reaches 165 degrees.
5. Meanwhile, add the chicken stock to the marinade bowl, then scrape all the liquid and marinade into a 9" skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until the onions turn golden brown (10-15 minutes). Add the olives and reserved lemon peel and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.
7. Meanwhile, skim the fat from the juices in the baking dish (I actually just added all the juices, fat included), add the juices to the skillet, and boil down to a thick, unctuous sauce.
8. Carve the chicken and serve with the sauce.

*I had a hard time finding unflavored olives, so used some of the kalamata type ones. Because they are brined with vinegar and other spices, I did several cold water rinses to get ride of it so that the olives would not taste strange in this dish.

Paleo Hot Chocolate

Well, I keep thinking that I am going to do a Whole30 again any day now, but I don't seem ready yet. I'm not quite in the holiday feasting mode, but I'm still consuming a fair share of chocolate. Yum! Including some hot chocolate that I have refined to a fine art to make the most stellar cup.

I also want to share my song of the week here (occasionally I get obsessed with a song and listen to it on repeat): O Superman by Laurie Anderson. You can play the video while you consider making a cup of hot chocolate. I don't know why I love this song so much, but I really do. It makes me want to find a group of other people so that we can do our own acapella version of it.

My friend and fellow blogger Jane first inspired the paleo hot chocolate - she made me a delicious cup that helped me see the wonder of coconut milk hot cocoa (previously I was sort of dismayed to not use any dairy cream in there). My recipe includes a honey/stevia combo - but you could easily sub one or the other. I like this best with pretty equal ratios of coconut milk to water but you can use whatever ratio you like.

Paleo Hot Chocolate (1 serving)
4 oz coconut milk
5 oz water
pinch of good quality salt
1 tsp honey
4 drops stevia
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 heaping tsp cocoa powder (sugar free)
1/8 tsp vanilla
ground nutmeg

1. Heat coconut milk and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. As it is heating, add the honey, stevia, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Once the liquid is steaming (so that you can see the steam rising up), whisk/stir in the cocoa powder. Doing it at this stage (when the milk is steaming) helps the cocoa powder to dissolve and mix thoroughly so you don't get clumps.
3. Continue stirring until hot chocolate just barely starts to simmer. Add vanilla extract and sprinkle nutmeg (the freshly ground stuff is the best) on top. Pour in a mug and sip decadently.

Polish Sausage with Cababage and Onions

Kramarczuk's makes long sausages!

My Charming Companion picked up a road kill deer a couple of months ago that was slightly sketchy...the meat was not at all bad, it's guts had just slightly ruptured so that the meat got a tinge of gut small/taste. That does not bode well for eating unless you add a lot of spice, so he brought 50 pounds of it to Kramarczuk's in Northeast Minneapolis to make twice that amount of polish sausage.

It's a pretty traditional polish that is smoked and salty. I think it is really good mixed with cabbage and onions for lunch, or I've had it in some breakfast things. Because it is fast and easy, it's become my fave lunch of late. I saute up a bunch of onions and cabbage, add in sliced sausage to sear/heat, and pack it in my insulated lunchbot with some sauerkraut. Yum! It's a good winter meal that uses the still abundant local cabbage and onions. Any polish flavored sausage would be good here - or an andouille or other flavor too.

Polish Sausage with Cabbage and Onions (1 serving)

1 polish sausage link, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced
1-2 cups green cabbage, sliced thin
1-2 T ghee (preferred), lard or coconut oil
sauerkraut to serve

1. Melt 1+ T fat in a medium to large sized cast iron skillet on medium heat. Add onions and saute 2 minutes before adding cabbage. You want the cabbage and onions to brown slightly, so let them sear in the pan before stirring. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring every so often so they don't burn.
2. Meanwhile, melt just enough fat in a second, smaller skillet so that the polish sausage slices will not stick. Lay slices in a single layer on skillet and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side so that they are warm and seared.
3. Add sausage pieces to cabbage mix. Cabbage mixture is ready after a total of 20 minutes or so: it should be limp, but also brown in some places and just a tiny bit crunchy. Serve with sauerkraut and mustard. (Or pack in your lunchbot all ready to eat!)

*Another way I've been enjoying these sausages is chopped up with sweet potato and onion to make a hash of sorts - topped with fried eggs. I still have some fresh herbs from my garden that I have just kept in a container in the fridge. The sage, rosemary, and thyme are all still just fine in there?! So I added some sage and thyme to this too. So easy and delicious.

Snowshoes and Manoomin Cereal

If I had to describe the last 3 weeks of my life in just one word, that word would be SNOWSHOES. Snowshoes! I made my own (which took quite a long time) and I got to take them on their initial voyage last week in the UP (where there was A LOT of snow). It was beautiful there, and I spent much of the time that I was not outside within 3 feet of the wood stove. I also ate several bowls of manoomin (wild rice) to celebrate the vacation. This post then is a picture-walk through the snowshoe making, the eating of the manoomin, and the honoring of the wood stove - which really is my favorite thing on these cold winter days.

My Charming Companion and I ordered these awesome snowshoe kits from a company in south Minneapolis called Country Ways. The kits include completed snowshoe frames, lacing materials, and bindings. We picked them up from the tiny shop about 10 days before the trip to the UP, and because many of those days were holiday or vacation days from work, completing the snowshoes in time seemed like no problem. But whew! It was challenging, and also really engaging because it required a lot of focus.

Snowshoe kit, perched in front of the wood stove work space!

We got the "Ojibwa" style snowshoes because they seem best suited for walking long distances (compared to some shorter, more rounded ones that are better for climbing or for turning around). There are really complex lacing patterns that required fully re-lacing if you miss one step or wrong underpass, and all of it was detailed on some big diagrams that came with the kit. The center section was the most challenging (after practicing on the easier "toe" and "tail"); the lacing all in all took several days.

You want to pull the lacing quite tight, and there are a few basic knots/hitches you use throughout.

My Charming Companion taking a nap after completing a tail.

After the lacing is done, several layers of polyurethane need to be painted on. There are specific drying times (including 3-4 days at the end to fully cure), so there was a big push to make sure they would be useable for the trip. (We painted at my house but stayed at the northside homestead so as to avoid the fumes, which meant lots of daily commuting back and forth for all the coats of varnish!) Plus there was a lot of admiring time - they look so cool!

Here they are drying and hanging on a 2x4 erected across my kitchen.

The snowshoes had just enough time to cure, so they came in the car for the drive to Michigan and more time by a wood stove! The final step was to add the bindings, which included yet another diagram (again, notice the prominence of the wood stove in snowshoe making).

We went out on the snowshoes the first morning we were there, right after a breakfast of eggs, pork belly, and manoomin cereal. Mmmm!

My Charming Companion introduced me to manoomin cereal (and the ground up version that I call porridge) several years ago. I've started calling the wild rice manoomin (the Ojibwe word meaning "the good berry") after reading essays by Jim Northrup and Heid Erdrich who no longer refer to manoomin as "wild rice" to further distinguish it from the cultivated/farmed stuff that is not actually wild at all, but that gets sold under that name all over the state. Heid Erdrich includes her version of manoomin porridge in her new cookbook Original Local, and she was recently interviewed by the Heavy Table (the interview includes her recipe too!)

Manoomin with some cherries and red walnuts sent from friends in CA!

The Manoomin Cereal we ate on the trip was from manoomin that My Charming Companion not only harvested, but also processed himself. It was delicious.

Manoomin Cereal (serves 2)
1 cup manoomin
1+ cup water
pinch of salt
Toppings: walnuts or pecans, dried cherries, coconut milk, ghee, and a little maple syrup or honey.

I like the manoomin best when it cooks with the exact right amount of water so that the rice grains stay intact rather than puffing open. They taste chewier that way I think, and I enjoy that texture. Different varieties of manoomin will require different water ratios, but in general it is less water than you think. Start with one cup of water and bring it to a boil. Add wild rice and a pinch of salt, and cover the pot and set on med-low heat. Turn the heat off after about 15-20 minutes and let the rice rest for another few minutes. Then taste a few grains of rice to see where they are at. The "al-dente" version of manoomin is still a little crunchy, so if you want it more cooked, sprinkle in just a tablespoon or two of more water, cover, and cook another 5 minutes or until the right texture is reached. Serve topped with your fave toppings. Fill your belly and perhaps venture out into the cold!

Scallops and Shrimp with Pea Puree

Happy 2014! The new year seems a good reason to celebrate and perhaps splurge on seafood. This is the season for scallops, so they say. Last year I pretty much exclusively ate scallops wrapped in bacon, but because I seem to have given up the bacon in favor of the (more) luxurious pork belly, I got to experiment with searing the scallops instead. There is some technique to searing: you want a high heat and a fairly dry scallop. Mine went just fine with no fussing on my part, but perhaps it was beginners luck...?

This recipe is from Bon Appetit, and rather than use their pea puree recipe, which included parmesan cheese and a little butter, I used my previosly posted pea puree recipe. Mine (which is really Nigel Slater's) uses more mint and only butter (no cheese) - though I used ghee with positive results. I love this pea puree!

This dinner goes really fast: the peas cook in about 8 minutes and then only need to be pureed, and the seafood cooks in 5. Woah. Your only prep is to devein and peel the shrimp. I had not done this before, at least not the deveining. You need to just barely cut into the top of the shrimp "back" - there you will find one long thin line of a dark colored vein that you can just pull out. Here is a nice photo lesson in how to do the deveining (and peeling) process.

If you are really an expert, you could time the peas to finish cooking right after the seafood goes in the pan so that you can then puree them to keep optimum heat in the peas. I recruited My Charming Companion to watch over the seafood while I pureed so as not to mess up the searing. It was too much excitement for just me. But you could also make the pea puree early and keep it warm in the oven. Note that the recipe calls for grated lemon peel. I was without my fancy lemon grater, so chopped it up small for a not-quite-as-picturesque look.

Seared Shrimp and Scallops (by Bon Appetit, who says this serves 4, but come on people. 2 of us ate this very easily. It's seafood?!)
1 T olive oil
8 large sea scallops
8 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tsp finely grated lemon peel
1 T small fresh mint leaves (opt garnish)
Extra virgin olive oil (for drizzling)
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in heavy large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle shrimp and scallops with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook shrimp and scallops until golden brown outside and just opaque in center, about 2-3 minutes per side.Don't fuss with them and jsut let them sit still so as to nicely sear. Use a nice flat spatula to get under them, working "assuredly" so as to unstick each scallop in a nice swoop. The timid will lose the sear - so be courageous!

Plate your pea puree on two (warmed) plates. Set scallops and shrimp atop peas. Sprinkle with lemon peel, mint leaves, a little salt and pepper, and drizzle olive oil over the top of each plate. Serve!