Leftover Ribs to the Nth Degree

I have been heating and refreezing some bbq ribs a bizillon times.  What used to be tender succulent meat is morphing to tough and chewy.  I'm hoping this gives it new life.  Or at least a clever disguise.  

Barbecue Chili

From Southern Living

Serves 8
1 1/2 pounds shredded barbecue pork
2 (14.5-oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green pepper, celery, and onion 
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce 
1 cup barbecue sauce 
1/3 cup chili seasoning mix  

 

Stir together shredded pork and remaining ingredients in a Dutch oven; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Serve with desired toppings. (See "Toppings for Chili" below.)

Toppings for Chili: Good choices to add to your bowl include sour cream, salsa, diced plum tomatoes (they have a meatier texture and are easy to find in winter), shredded lettuce or spinach, shredded cheese, diced onion, sliced green onions, chopped cilantro, chopped avocado, sliced jalapeño peppers, cornbread croutons, and tortilla chips.

Choose Your Weapon

You can either use fermenting apple juice jelly or peach peel jam for this. Or do something normal like buy apple jelly. Serve with caramelized wrinkly old apples.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple Jelly Glaze

4 lb pork tenderloin roast
1 T. salt  
1 garlic clove, minced 
1/2 t paprika
Pepper to taste, optional

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix salt, garlic, paprika and pepper well. Rub over entire roast. Roast in 425 oven for 1 hour.

Meanwhile. mix:
1 small onion chopped
1 c. apple jelly
1 T. dry mustard

After pork has roasted for 1 hour, pour apple jelly mixture over roast. Reduce oven to 375 and continue roasting until meat reaches 170 degrees about 1-1.5 hours. Cover with foil let stand 30 min before slicing.

BBQ Pork and Garlic Fries

This easy bbq pork recipe is another one from my friend D.W. The fries are from...
the AARP magazine.


Easy BBQ Pork

Boneless pork ribs
BBQ sauce

Place pork in crock-pot. Cover with bbq sauce. Turn crock-pot to low and cook pork until tender, 6 to 8 hours.


Oven-Roasted Garlic Fries
Serves 4
From AARP

• 1 pound frozen French fries
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves, chopped
• Salt to taste

• 1. Cook the fries according to the package directions.
• 2. While the fries are baking, saute the garlic in the olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Do not let the garlic get brown.
• 3. Remove the fries from the oven, then toss with the garlic mixture and the parsley. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 219
Fat: 13g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Carbohydrate: 33g
Sodium: 442mg
Protein: 3g
Total dietary fiber: 3g

Slimy Salsa

My mango salsa expired on 11/13/2009. RIP. Oh wait, its not dead yet! The mango salsa rises from the basement like a phoenix from the ashes, reborn anew to live again.

Pork Machaca

5 lb. pork tenderloin
one 48 oz. bottle of "fresh" mango salsa.

Place pork in large crock-pot. If it won't fit in easily, make it fit. Do not add water. Cover. Turn crock-pot to high. After about a couple of hours and the pork will just begin to shred with a fork, add salsa and 1/4 cup flour. Continue cooking until pork shreds easily, about 6 hours. Can be cooked on low for 8-12 hours. If need be , add the salsa at the beginning and flour when ready to serve. Or shred finished pork and add salsa and flour when ready to serve. Or...you get the idea.

Serve with warm flour tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, sliced avocado, and romaine lettuce.

A Winter Birthday Dinner Menu

Crown Pork Roast

with Apple, Orange, and Pecan Stuffing,

Roasted Vegetables

and Mustard Cream Sauce

From Put Pork on Your Fork
Yield: Serves 14
Cooking Time: 2-3 hours (or more, see note)
Preparation Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients
1 single loin crown roast of Pork, about 6 lb
2 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Vegetables:
Potatoes, peeled and quartered (I didn't have time to peel mine)
Sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
Parsnips, peeled halved
Carrots, peeled and halved
Asparagus
Rutabaga, peeled and cut into eights
Coat vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with salt before roasting.

Cooking Instructions
ROAST
Pre-heat oven to 450° F (230°C). Cover exposed rib bones with foil, and stuff a ball of foil into the central cavity of roast.
In a small bowl, combine Herbes de Provence, oil, salt and pepper. Rub mixture evenly over roast.
Place roast in oven, bone tips up, and roast for about 30 minutes, or until roast starts to brown.
Reduce heat to 325° F (160°C), and place prepared stuffing in same oven. At this point, any vegetables that you may wish to roast with the pork: potatoes, carrots, parsnips, etc. Continue roasting for a further 90 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 155°F is reached.
Note: It takes much longer than this! Especially if your oven is loaded up with vegetables and stuffing. We were in a hurry so I reduced the heat to 400 degrees. Even then it took about 3 hours total until the roast was done. When the meat reaches a temperature of about 150 degrees (taken on the outside), remove the foil from the cavity and insert the thermometer in the pork inside the crown roast. Cook until that meat reaches 155 degrees. It will take hours at 325 degrees.
Tent loosely with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Carve using the ribs as a guide, and serve with Apple, Orange, and Pecan Stuffing. The stuffing can be placed in the middle of the roast to serve.
Some tips: Ask your butcher at your grocery store to cut and tie the crown roast for you. You will always get a better piece of meat when you do this. They will usually put the fancy foil tips on for you. Crown pork roasts are usually on sale around Christmas.


Mustard Cream Sauce
From Ontario Pork
Makes 1 1/2 cup

1/2 cup dry red wine (125 ml)
1/2 cup 35% cream (125ml)
1/2 cup Dijon mustard (125 ml)
1/2 cup beef or chicken bouillon stock (125 ml)
Salt and pepper to taste

Add wine to roasting pan while roast is "resting."  Bring to boil, scraping up all the brown bits.  Stain into a small saucepan and add cream, mustard and stock.  Whisking periodically, bring to a boil and reduce to 1 1/2 cups; season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Dried Up Pork

I have some pork I need to use. I think I will make Cuban sandwiches. I like to use Hawaiian rolls/ bread as the recipe indicates use a sweeter bread. A non-sweet Cuban bread recipe follows.

Classic Cuban Midnight (Medianoche) Sandwich

From allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 4 sweet bread rolls
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup prepared mustard
• 1 pound thinly sliced cooked ham
• 1 pound thinly sliced fully cooked pork
• 1 pound sliced Swiss cheese
• 1 cup dill pickle slices
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Split the sandwich rolls in half, and spread mustard and mayonnaise liberally onto the cut sides. On each sandwich, place and equal amount of Swiss cheese, ham and pork in exactly that order. Place a few pickles onto each one, and put the top of the roll onto the sandwich. Brush the tops with melted butter.
2. Press each sandwich in a sandwich press heated to medium-high heat. If a sandwich press is not available, use a large skillet over medium-high heat, and press the sandwiches down using a sturdy plate or skillet. Some indoor grills may be good for this also. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes, keeping sandwiches pressed. If using a skillet, you may want to flip them once for even browning. Slice diagonally and serve hot.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 1453 | Total Fat: 88.4g | Cholesterol: 275mg

Cuban Bread
From Carrot Jello
 
5-6 cups flour
2 T yeast (yes Tablespoon is correct)
2 T sugar
1 T salt
2 cups hot water
 
Mix 4 cups of flour with yeast, sugar and salt. Pour in hot water and beat with mixer for 3 minutes. Stir in remaining flour until no longer sticky. Knead the dough right in the bowl you were mixing it in (no need to make a huge mess on the counter with flour, just keep it in the bowl). Let rise 15 minutes in a greased bowl. Punch down. 

Divide into two round loaves and place on a baking sheet.  Cut an X on top of each loaf. Put in a cold oven. Add a cake pan filled with water onto the bottom rack of the oven. (This is the secret to crusty bread) Heat oven to 400 and bake 40-50 minutes.

Double Dip Your Marinade

Marinaded a pork roast and grilled it. It was delicious.

But don't throw out the marinade! You can use it once more. Just keep it in the freezer until you are ready to marinade something new.