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.

Snap Peas!

Well, the time of peas will soon be over, but I have enjoyed them SO much! My favorite has been the pea puree, and last weekend I had a chilled pea soup that was amazing. I will try making it sometime, but it included English peas, mint, lavender, and vegetable broth. Omg - it was like a smoothie in a bowl, but savory too. Yum. The snap peas have also been delicious - I've been tossing them in salads and eating them straight from the garden. I tried this slaw recipe from Bon Appetit for Snap Pea and Cabbage Slaw this week, and it turned out nice - crisp and sweet.

Snap Pea and Cabbage Slaw

My favorite way to enjoy snap peas though, at least of late, is to eat them for breakfast with eggs. The light saute of the peas brings out extra flavor, and with some soft scrambled eggs it tastes like sweet and savory summer (whatever summer tastes like, I am calling it peas).

Northside Homestead Dakota Fire Pit!

My Charming Companion has been experimenting with some outdoor cooking set-ups to better bridge living in the bwca to living in the city. This one was an underground system called a Dakota Fire Pit - though since he has built a rocket stove that I think is the better design. It is higher up so it's easier to use, and is super efficient because it gets so hot in the brick tower that even the smoke burns, so you use barely any fuel. Fuel in this case was sticks that blew down in the yard, and some kindling that had been in the shed for about 10 years.

Dakota Fire Pit design

Snap Pea Scramble
Bunch of snap peas, strings removed
Onions
Eggs
Ghee

I used the white onion part from the garden green onions. The green part is too tough now, but the white part is really nice. Chop onions small and saute in ghee for a few minutes on medium heat. As they start to brown, add chopped snap peas and saute another 2 minutes. Add eggs (I like to scramble mine right in the pan) and turn heat down just a hair. Cook just until eggs are done, stirring to push the cooked egg to the side.

I have been eating these eggs all week - here I had them with lamb's quarters, but they are also great with sauteed green beans (they are just coming into full bounty).

Apple Cabbage Bacon Slaw

It seems that I like bacon on anything these days...which may be partly due to the fact that the Beeler bacon ends were on sale at Mississippi Market a few weeks ago, so you could get two pounds for $4. I got many packages to put in the freezer, and now I have such bounty!

I was scrounging around my somewhat bare fridge and cupboards this week for dinner, and upon finding cabbage, apples, and aforementioned bacon, I looked up some slaw recipes. The one I settled on tasted great - more tangy than creamy, and both sweet and savory. I only had a little cabbage, so I used carrots to supplement (which turned out fine, but I think it would be better with 100% cabbage). And I got to use the first garden chives of the season!

Apple Cabbage Bacon Slaw
6 strips bacon, cooked and chopped
1/2 head of napa cabbage (green or red) *I used some carrots too
2 Mcintosh apples, unpeeled, halved, cored, and sliced thin
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1/2 bunch of fresh chives, chopped

Dressing:
1/4 cup grainy mustard
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Start by cooking the bacon until it is crispy (lately I do this in the oven because it is way easier. Just put the slices in a baking pan at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, and it's done). Put all slaw ingredients in a bowl. Mix dressing ingredients together, and then fold into the slaw.

PS. The dressing on this slaw is really tasty (especially with homemade mayo), and one absolutely would not need the bacon in there if carnivorous or pork eating was not their thing.

Ginger carrot slaw

A few weeks ago, my sweetie came home with "Put 'em Up," a book full of easy preserving recipes. My first stab at one of the recipes was this ginger carrot slaw.

It's pretty slawsome, if you ask me.


Ginger-carrot slaw
1 lb carrots
1/2 lb radishes
1 red bell pepper
1/4 C salt
2 C distilled white vinegar
1 C sugar
1/2 C shredded ginger


1.) Shred all of the veggies (I used a food processor, but some fancy cutting might lead to some nice, larger pieces ...). Toss veggies with salt and let sit in a colander to drain for 2 hrs.

2.) Rinse thoroughly and squeeze the water out.

3.) Combine vinegar, water, sugar and ginger in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir in veggies and return to a boil.

4.) Put it in some jars and stick 'em in the fridge. They'll keep for at least a few weeks.