Shredded Spare Ribs Over Penne

By Paul Briand

Often when I shop for groceries, I have no clue what the meals will be for the coming week.

I simply go up and down the aisles and let inspiration decide. I do a mental calculation of what’s already at home, what we haven’t had in a while, what looks good, what might go together in combination, and what ingredients I’d need to pull it off.

The boneless spare ribs looked particularly good the other day, but my thought process wasn’t to barbeque them as I normally might. I wanted to do something different and I settled on a version of pulled pork involving tomato-based pasta sauce and penne pasta.

Shredded Spare Ribs Over Penne

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless pork spare ribs
24 ounce jar of prepared pasta sauce
16 ounce box of penne pasta
1 green bell pepper
1 medium sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
8 ounces of sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup low-sodium beef stock
Olive oil

Directions
1. Chop the onion and pepper into bite-size pieces and saute with chopped garlic in pan heated to medium high heat with 3 tablespoons of olive oil;
2. Just as the vegetables are getting translucent, transfer them to a large baking dish;
3. In the same pan used for the vegetables, sear the ribs on at least two sides until browned;
4. Remove the ribs to the baking dish and spread among the vegetables;
5. Pour the contents of the jar of pasta sauce evenly over the vegetables and ribs;
6. Use the beef stock to rinse what’s left in the jar and pour that into the mixture;
7. Cover the baking dish with a tight seal of aluminum foil and place in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees;
8. Bake for an hour then remove from oven and remove foil to use two forks to shred the ribs into small piece of meat;
9. With the foil removed, return the baking dish to the oven and bake another half hour;
10. Remove from the oven and use the forks to shred remaining larger chunks of meat;
11. Spoon a generous helping or two over the penne pasta that’s been cooked to an al dente texture;
12. Top with Italian cheese such as romano or parmesan or mozzarella or, even better, a mixture of your favorites.

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

By Paul Briand

This is a wonderful recipe, courtesy of Bon Appetit.

I would describe it as a stew, but the fact that it bakes for so long in the oven puts it more in the category of a bourguignon, but with pork instead of beef.

The recipe calls for beef ribs, but I substituted pork ribs. They were a little harder to handle to cut up, but, when done, the meat fell easily from the bone.

It is rich and it is full of flavor, helped in heaping amounts by the Cabernet Sauvignon that slowly cooks down in the pot.

Ingredients

5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs (or pork ribs), cut crosswise into 2- inch pieces

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 medium onions, chopped

3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 bottle dry red wine (preferably Cabernet Sauvignon)

10 sprigs flat-leaf parsley

8 sprigs thyme

4 sprigs oregano

2 sprigs rosemary

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

1 head of garlic, halved crosswise

4 cups low-salt beef stock

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and season short ribs with salt and pepper;

2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, brown short ribs on all sides, about 8 minutes per batch;

3. Transfer short ribs to a plate. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of drippings from pot;

4. Add onions, carrots, and celery to pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions are browned, about 5 minutes;

5. Add flour and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly, until well combined and deep red, 2-3 minutes;

6. Stir in wine, then add short ribs with any accumulated juices. Bring to a boil; lower heat to medium and simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 25 minutes;

7. Add all herbs to pot along with garlic. Stir in stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and transfer to oven;

8. Cook until short ribs are tender, 2–2 1/2 hours;

9. Transfer short ribs to a platter;

10. Strain sauce from pot into a measuring cup. Spoon fat from surface of sauce and discard;

11. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper;

12. Serve in shallow bowls over mashed potatoes with sauce spooned over.

Click here for recipe card.

Pork with Maple Glaze

By Paul Briand

As the season turns from summer to autumn, so does some of our cooking emphasis.

Stews are on the horizon. Comfort food to warm the chill.

This recipe uses a fall staple -- maple syrup -- as the base for a glaze that enlivens a pork dish.

This recipe is adapted from one developed by the Boisvert Farm and North Hadley Sugar Shack in Hadley, Mass. I found it in the "Food Lovers' Guide to Massachusetts."

The original recipe calls for two 12-14 ounce pork tenderloins, which I can usually find at the market but weren't available when I shopped. So I substituted with a pound of boneless pork chops.

For a couple of reasons, I also doubled the recipe for the glaze itself. I love glaze and sauces, so I knew I'd overdo it when it came to using it over the pork, but I also wanted some extra for the sweet potato side dish I made.

Ingredients

1 pound of boneless pork chops

2 teaspoons dried sage leaves (or sage spice in the can)

Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter

12 tablespoons pure maple syrup

12 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Directions

1. Rub (or sprinkle) the pork with sage and sprinkle with pepper;

2. Melt butter in a large skillet and brown the pork, turning so that both sides are brown. When pork is no longer pink remove to platter;

3. Whisk the maple syrup, cider vinegar and mustard together in a bowl;

4. Add the mixture a little at a time to deglaze the skillet;

5. Bring mixture to a boil and add the pork, cooking for another two minutes;

6. Remove the pork and serve, spooning glaze over the pork.

Japanese-Style Pork Cutlets

By Paul Briand

When you think of using a breading mixture in your recipes, rethink what you're thinking: Think panko.

Panko is a flaky bread crumb used a lot in Asian cooking. Since it's made without the bread crusts, it has a lighter almost airier texture to it.

I found this recipe on the back of the box of some panko bread crumbs I picked up at the market.

Ingredients
4 boneless pork loin chops
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cups panko bread crumbs

Directions
1. Pound the pork chops to about 1/4 inch thickness, trim off excess fat;
2. Coat each chop with flour, then dip into egg to moisten, then into panko to completely cover both sides;
3. In a large frying pan, pour oil about an inch deep and heat to 350 degrees;
4. Add each pork chop to hot oil and cook until brown, about two minutes;
5. Remove from oil and drain briefly on a paper towel before serving.

This particular recipe suggests cutting the pork in 1/2 inch diagonal strips then arranging on a salad made from shredded cabbage and tomato wedges, garnished with lemon juice and a steak sauce.

I served mine with a side salad and topped my chop with a Thai chili sauce.

Korean Sesame Rib Marinade

By Paul Briand

My wife Jane and I had family over for dinner the other night and we served chicken kabobs with chicken and vegetables that had marinated in some store-bought marinade. Shame, shame, shame ... I know.

But during my shopping this week I found some lovely looking country-style pork ribs and promised myself a marinade that I'd make, and I found this one, although to be honest I'm not sure what is so Korean about it.

Asian, yes. Korean? I don't see anything in the ingredients that necessarily classify it as being particularly Korean. But that's how the recipe described itself so I'll have to respect that.

The key to a successful marinade is giving it time to work its magic. The marinade needs time to break down the meat (or chicken or fish or whatever) to start infusing it with the marinade's flavors, which in this case are the tang of some garlic and scallions, the sweetness of the brown sugar and some smokiness from the sherry.

The recipe I found called for regular sugar, but I substituted it for brown sugar. I just like it better in marinades and sauces.

Ingredients
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 scallions chopped
3 tablespoons sherry
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
2 tablespoons roasted sesame seeds

Directions
1. Mix the ingredients in an amply sized mixing bowl, reserving the sesame seeds for later;
2. Place your meat (in my case 2 pounds of the ribs, but whatever it is you want to marinade) into a gallon Ziploc bag;
3. Poor the marinade into the bag and carefully expel as much of the air as you can then seal the zip;
4. Work the marinade around the meat, and lay the bag into a large baking dish or whatever you have to contain a possible (but not likely leak). This is a piece of advice I picked up from Guy Fieri and his "Guy's Big Bite" show on the Food Channel;
http://www.foodnetwork.com/guys-big-bite/index.html
5. Let the marinade work for two hours minimum, longer if you can;
6. Extract the meat and cook as desired;
7. Sprinkle cooked meat with sesame seeds.

A lot of people will toss the marinade. I don't. I put it in a sauce pan, heat it through to a boil and use it as a side sauce.

Applesauce, sort of

I called it an applesauce. My wife Jane said it was more like a filling for apple pie. Whatever it was, it was great with pork.

The need was comfort food. Jane was having a rough week at work, and what better way to feel better about the world than some good old fashioned comfort food, so I decided on some loin chops, which I breaded and baked. It was also apple picking season and we had a bag of McIntosh, which I love for their crunch and tartness when fresh picked.

Since pork and applesauce go together like pork and applesauce (and since the jar of applesauce in the refrigerator was way past its prime) I decided to do a stove-top sidedish for the pork using some of the Macs. The fact that I had some pure maple sugar in the pantry made it all the better.

Ingredients
Six apples -- my choice were the McIntosh -- pared, cored and cut up
Half stick unsalted butter
Maple sugar (or regular sugar)
Cinammon to taste

Directions
1) After paring and coring, quarter the apples and then quarter the quarters;
2) In medium skillet over medium high heat, melt butter;
3) Add apple and sautee until the apples begin to soften;
4) Allow the liquid to start boiling away, allowing the mixture to thicken;
5) Mash up the soften mixture to desired texture. At this stage if desired it can be mashed in the skillet to a sauce;
4) Add a tablespoon of maple sugar;
5) Add cinammon;
6) Serve on top of or as a side to the pork.