Spare ribs, roasted root veggies, gravy, and kale chips!

I haven't had the chance to detail many of my husband's cooking adventures on this blog. He does a lot of the cooking in our house, particularly in the winter. But I don't usually know much of what has happened during the creation process and so I hesitate to post about the food without much of a recipe to include. But tonight he suggested that we blog about the meal! So here goes...

Have I told you about our winter CSA share and the pork share? We have signed up for a 1/4 hog over the course of 12 weeks this winter. We've gotten pork chops, ribs, sausages, deli ham, bacon, and some amazing pates! This week we got spare ribs.

First, the fat was trimmed (and fried up it was a sinful treat!) and the ribs were rubbed: Penzey's jerk seasoning (~2T), coriander (2-3t), cumin (1t), oregano (1/2t), black pepper (2-3t), and salt (1t). The ribs sat in this rub for a few hours and then they cooked covered in about 1/2-3/4C of apple cider at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours and then 270 degrees for 15 minutes. They need to be basted every 1/2 hour while cooking. They can be finished immediately or after everything else cooks at 425 for 5-7 minutes uncovered to brown them nicely.

Along with this my husband roasted root veggies. He chopped carrots, parsnips, potatoes, and onions and sprayed them with oil. They were sprinkled with hot curry powder, oregano, salt and pepper. They cooked at 425 for 20-30 minutes.

And then there was the mushroom gravy! Saute diced red onions in the grease rendered from the fat trimmed off the spare ribs. Then saute the sliced mushrooms for a few minutes. Add 1/4C red wine and reduce for 5 minutes. Add 2T flour and mix until well blended. Add 2C water, reduce until thickened while stirring constantly.

And kale chips to boot! Trim the thickest parts of the stem off the kale and cut it into fairly uniform pieces. Spray or toss with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook at 425 for 10-12 minutes until crispy but not burnt.

What a delicious dinner!

Carrot Cake

Yummy carrot cake! (I promise we didn't already polish off the zucchini bread on our own. We froze half of each loaf and now we are in desperate need of cake!) The recipe I love for carrot cake is from the March/April 2003 issue of Cook's Illustrated. They recommend adding nuts (walnuts or pecans) and raisins. I only had walnuts, so I added about 1C of chopped nuts when I added the carrots.

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 13 by 9 inch pan.

Butter or spray the pan and then put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan and spray the paper.

In a bowl mix together 2 1/2C flour, 1 1/4t baking powder, 1t baking soda, 1 1/4t cinnamon, 1/2t ground nutmeg, 1/8t ground cloves, and 1/2t salt.

Meanwhile, grate 1 lb. carrots (about 6-7 large carrots). (Go

ahead and use a food processor because you are going to keep using it for the batter and the frosting.)

In a food processor, mix 1 1/2C sugar, 1/2C brown sugar, and 4 eggs. Process this for about 20 seconds until frothy and completely combined. With the machine running, add 1 1/2C oil (safflower, canola, or vegetable) in a steady stream. Process until the mixture is light and the oil is fully emulsified. Pour this batter into a large bowl. Mix in carrots and nuts and raisins (if you want).

Mix in dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time and stir until fully combined. Pour this into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (longer if you add nuts and/or raisins). Rotate the cake half-way through.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a rack for 2 hours. Remove cake from pan and frost when fully cooled.

For the frosting, allow 8 0z. of cream cheese and 5T of butter to soften but not fully warm to room temperature. Process the cheese and butter with 1T sour cream and 1/2t vanilla for about 5 seconds. Add 1 1/4C powdered sugar (I only used 1C) to the frosting mix and process for an additional 10 seconds. Spread this evenly across the cake! I like to the chill the cake before eating.