Monday, October 12, 2009

Fall Flavors

Every now and then Jeromy and I visit a butcher in Del Ray, Let's Meat on the Avenue (http://www.letsmeatontheavenue.com/). He has some amazing meat and introduced us to kangaroo filet this summer. Last time we visted we picked up a rack of pork ribs. In celebration of Columbus Day, we made them for dinner tonight!

The recipe was from Food and Wine magazine and can be found here:


http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-glazed-barbecued-baby-back-ribs

I had to make a couple of modifications, 1) we did not get a full rack since it's just the two of us so I cut the recipe in half. The ribs were also not baby back, but still came out very tender, juicy and came right off the bone. 2) I searched two stores and could not find apple jelly! I settled on pear jelly and it worked as a fine substitute. 3) Since there was less meat, I also modified the cooking times keeping the ribs in the oven for 2 hours and 15 minutes.


To go with the ribs, I made mashed potatoes and roasted acorn squash.

For the mashed potatoes (serves 2):

Peel and cut up 3 small/medium potatoes and add to a pot of boiling, salted water. Boil until the potatoes are fork-tender. Drain. Mash up the potatoes. Add 3-4 tablespoons of fat free buttermilk, 1/2 tablespoon of butter, 1 minced garlic clove, 2-3 sprigs of finely chopped chives and a pinch of parmesan cheese to the pot and stir to combine. Add buttermilk or butter for smoother consistency.

For the acorn squash (serves 2):

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut an acorn squash in half, clean out and discard seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt and ground pepper. In a bowl, mix 1/2 tablespoon softened butter, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar and 1 tablespoon amaretto liquer. Spread the mixture over the acorn squash halves, it will pool in the middle of the squash. Place sage leaves over the mixture in the squash and roast for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with toasted almond slices.

If you have any questions about the recipes, just leave a comment here and I'll get back to you. I'm about to try apple donuts...if I'm succesful, I'll let post again!

Happy cooking (and eating)!

Lisa :-)