ever have one of those days? but you’re still hungry for good food..
by jackie g. - January 23rd, 2012For our meat CSA members, you are always forgotten on our blog. (Actually, you’re not forgotten, you’re just such professionals you almost intimidate us with your cooking know how.) We here at GIGG also receive our meats frozen and also forget to take it out of the freezer. We’re often standing there, staring into the fridge and freezer wondering why there’s nothing to eat when in fact there is SO much to eat. But we forgot.
Today was one of those days where a bad day coupled with a box of mac and cheese didn’t do it for me. So I peeped inside and looked at some ground meat, realizing that would be pretty easy to defrost. But decided I wanted better. And I found a package of country style ribs.
“Country Style Ribs” are cut from the loin, and they’re really leftovers, not ribs. But they tend to have a lot of loin meat on them and cooked well, they are fabulous.
My momma and grandma used to buy these and slather them in Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. They’d grill them or broil them slow in the oven. Sometimes they’d get a bath in barbecue sauce. They were always good. They bought them because they were CHEAP. And they still are, relatively speaking. Like short ribs of beef, they are the bomb and in short supply. They do well on their own but today after a long, grueling series of stupid life challenges, I decided to slow cook and make some fake hoisin sauce along with white sushi rice.
To make the sauce I used a hint of hot chili oil from a jar, some old organic terryaki sauce from whole foods and half a box of pomi tomatoes. Also, there is my most favorite secret ingredient to anything asian, Nanami Togarashi. Also known as assorted chili peppers but impossible to substitute. (Like A1 is impossible to substitute, for the non-food snobs.Everyone knows A1 is good, but that’s another story.)
So open the package of ribs, defrost in microwave for about 12 minutes. Then, cook both sides in a bit of oil in a pan for a few minutes per side. The fun comes in when you mix the concoction of tomatoes and bottle leftovers from the fridge. Add a few shakes of assorted chili peppers, aka Nanami Togarashi and BAM. Dinner is almost there. Simmer all this till bubbly and flip the ribs once or twice. Cover and put into the oven at 400 for about thirty minutes. Make some rice for the side, and maybe toss in some awful frozen broccoli for color and semi-nutritional value.
We used lima beans (which were awful but made us feel better about having a green vegetable present. Also motivated us to get that hoop house back so we can have greens in the winter.)
Anyway, its a can-do story from GIGG. Let those ribs braise in the fake hoisin at about 400 degrees for 30 minutes and you’ll be very happy.

















