The SRC Reveal: Braised Country Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce

It's once again time for The Secret Recipe Club reveal.  This month I was assigned The Keenan Cookbook.  The blog is run by couple Chris and Rachel.  They use their blog as a way to archive their family recipes, old and new.  While perusing the blog I bookmarked these Peach-Upside Down Muffins and this Caramelized Onion & Spinach Olive Oil Quick Bread to make at a later time.  However, I wanted to cook a dinner and ended up making this Braised Country Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce.  I wanted to fit in another cool weather, comfort food type dish while I'm waiting for the warmer weather to arrive.  (Yes, it's technically spring, but it's still feeling pretty chilly here in NY!)  I've braised ribs before in the Dutch Oven and I've cooked with hoisin sauce.  I thought that the ginger ale sounded like an interesting addition to this recipe.  Being a stay-at-home mom I had the luxury of being able to make this meal for a weeknight dinner for us.  However, Chris and Rachel left make-ahead directions, which I've also included.  Otherwise, this would be perfect meal to make when you have a nice, relaxing weekend.  This was super easy to put together.  The longest time was spent shredding the pork (I didn't use boneless ribs!).  I doubled the sauce, as suggested, because we also are a sauce-loving family!  We all enjoyed this dish a lot!  When my son eats all of his dinner and asks for extra sauce on his rice, it's a winner! 

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs in Ginger Ale & Hoisin Sauce
Recipe from The Keenan Cookbook via The Cookin' Canuck

Ingredients:
2 lbs. country-style (boneless) pork ribs
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 cup good-quality ginger ale
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp water

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2.Season pork ribs with kosher salt and black pepper. Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch Oven pan over medium-high heat. Brown the pork, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the pork to a plate and set aside.

3.Turn the heat to medium and remove all but 1 teaspoon of the oil. Add chopped ginger and garlic. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add ginger ale, chicken broth, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. Stir with a whisk until the hoisin sauce dissolves. Add the pork ribs to the pan and turn to coat. Put the lid on the Dutch Oven and cook in the oven until the meat is very tender, turning occasionally, about 2 hours.

4.Lower the oven heat to 200 degrees F. Remove the ribs from the braising liquid, place in an oven-proof dish, and keep warm in the oven.

5.Skim fat off the surface of the liquid. Set the saucepan with the braising liquid over medium heat and boil until the sauce reduces by half. In a small bowl, stir together arrowroot or cornstarch and water. Whisk into the sacue and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

6.With two forks, shred the pork into bite-sized pieces and stir into the sauce. Serve over rice. Garnish with sliced green onions.

7.Make-ahead: Once the ribs are cooked, let cool completely. Cover the Dutch Oven and store in the fridge for up to two days. When ready to use, uncover and skim off the fat. Reheat the ribs over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Remove the ribs from the pan, keep warm, and follow the directions above for finishing the sauce.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

The Weekend Chef: Dutch Oven Chicken

My in-laws were coming over for lunch a couple of weekends ago and I put my husband in charge of cooking.  He loves using his Dutch Oven and was excited to cook something in it for his parents, since they are the ones who bought it for us last Christmas.  He found this recipe, but instead of using a whole chicken, cut up, like the original recipe called for, we decided to use thighs.  Less prep work for the chef!  The ingredient list had me skeptical....canned mushroom soup mix and beer??!!  However, this dish came out really flavorful.  As always, when we use the Dutch Oven, the chicken was falling off the bone tender.  The kids ate this, which is always a plus!  It was a perfect chilly, autumn day weekend dish.

Dutch Oven Chicken
recipe slightly adapted from food.com courtesy of panner50

Ingredients:
3 lbs. chicken thighs, skin on
3 -4 medium potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, quartered
3 -4 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
flour (for dredging)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can beer
salt and pepper
1/4 cup oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dredge chicken in seasoned flour and brown in dutch oven or heavy pot.

After chicken is brown add veggies, garlic, and 1/2 the beer.

Cover and place in oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes add the soup and the rest of the beer, cook another 30 minutes or until everything is done.  

Famly Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Mughlai Chicken

This past month's supper club theme was "Spice Grab Bag."  Each of us wrote down the name of a spice, put it in a bag, and pulled out a slip of paper.  We each had to make a dish using whatever spice we picked.  At of all the spices out there, we ended up with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and three paprikas!  What's even more surprising is how amazing the dinner turned out.  All of the dishes everyone made seemed to complement one another and were really tasty.  I picked cardamom and since we were hosting I decided to make a chicken dish.  I found this recipe on the foodnetwork site.  Nigella Lawson cooked this on her "Spiced Up" episode which I found very fitting.  Plus, it got a lot of really good reviews.  Looking at the recipe list I was a bit daunted....and only for supper club would I even think of cooking something with a ingredient list this long.  But thanks to one of my husband's friends from work, we had a bag of cardamom pods and pretty much everything else minus the almonds to make this.  This is really easy to make and cooks fairly quickly.  I don't cook with chicken thighs very often and didn't know if they'd taste very fatty, which I often find is the case. The results were sooo good!  This dish is really flavorful and the chicken was so tender, which I think is because I ended up cooking this in the Dutch Oven.  We had leftovers for lunch the next day and it tasted just as good.  The kids ate the chicken and rice, although they weren't huge fans.  Unforunately, the dish doesn't photograph that well, as seen below.  And it was just too crazy in the kitchen the day of cooking to get a pic of the dish cooking in the pot.  I served this with a rice dish (see tomorrow's post!). 

Mughlai Chicken
recipe from foodnetwork.com, courtesy of Nigella Lawson, Nigella Feasts

Yield: 8 servings


Ingredients:
1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes
4 tablespoons ground almonds
1/2 cup water
5 cardamom pods, bruised
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 pounds boned chicken thighs, each cut into 2
2 onions, finely chopped
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sultanas (golden raisins)
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flaked almonds, toasted, to garnish

Directions:
Put the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and chili into a food processor, or into a mortar and pestle, and blend to a paste. Add the ground almonds and water and then blend again, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the chicken pieces - in batches so they fry rather than stew - and cook them just long enough to seal on both sides, then remove to a dish.

Add the spices and turn them in the oil. Add the onions and cook them until softened and lightly browned, but keep the heat gentle and stir frequently, to avoid sticking. Pour in the blended paste, and cook everything until it begins to colour. Add the yogurt, half a cup at a time stirring it in to make a sauce, then stir in the stock, cream, and sultanas.

Put the browned chicken back into the pan, along with any juices that have collected under them, and sprinkle over the garam masala, sugar, and salt. Cover and cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes, testing to make sure the meat is cooked through.

It's at this stage, that I like to take the pan off the heat and leave it to cool before reheating the next day.

So either now, or when you've reheated it, pour into a serving dish and scatter with the toasted flaked almonds.

Mommy & Daddy Rating:  2 thumbs up!

The Weekend Chef: Braised Herb Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

Recently, I've been doing the grocery shopping on Thursday mornings.  So  on Wednesday nights I'll ask my husband what he plans on cooking over the weekend.  This usually gets an, "Oh yeah, let me check the grocery circular."  Sometimes I'll give him a recipe to make and other times he'll find or create a recipe of his own.  I think that he picked this recipe for two reasons.  First, because chicken quarters were on sale at the grocery store and second, he got to use the Dutch oven.  Since we've started using the Dutch oven that we received as a Christmas present he can't get enough of the thing!  He's always looking for an excuse to cook something in it!  Not that I blame him though.  I think everything that we've cooked in it so far has been delicious.  This dish was no exception.  It was very comfort food-ish with the chicken and potatoes.  I thought the sauce was delicious.  And though I'm not a big eater of chicken on the bone, this chicken was so tender from braising, that it came off the bone very easily with a fork.  Our son, as usual, didn't eat very much.  But the rest of us really enjoyed this.

Braised Herb Chicken Thighs with Potatoes
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light,  January 2005

Ingredients
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 chicken quarters, skinned and split (4 thighs, 4 legs)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 dozen white mushrooms, cut in half
1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered

Preparation:
Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken; seal bag, shaking to coat.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chicken and remaining flour mixture to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly brown. Add mushroom and onion; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add broth, wine, and potatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

The Weekend Chef: Soy and Cola-Braised Pork Shoulder

We have wanted a Dutch Oven for the longest time and finally got one as a Christmas present from my in-laws.  Knowing we had the oven, I saw this recipe and thought it would be a perfect time to try it out.  I just picked the recipe and bought the ingredients, then left the rest for The Weekend Chef.  We opted for the Asian-style tacos and served the shredded meat in soft tortillas with marinated match-stick cucumbers (in rice vinegar).  This really is a weekend type recipe because it cooks for almost two hours and requires occasional turning.  However, depending on the size of the pork shoulder and the size of your family, you may have leftovers which can either be eaten as lunch or another dinner.  We served ths with some roasted potato wedges.  All I can say is YUM!  The tenderness of the pork with the sweetness of the sauce.  Amazing!  The Weekend Chef is now pysched to cook up some more deliciousness in the Dutch Oven, so stayed tune for more recipes!

Soy and Cola-Braised Pork Shoulder
Cooking Light, October 2011

Serve this East-meets-West pulled pork on hamburger buns or Kaiser rolls with shaved cucumber and carrot ribbons tossed with rice vinegar. Or stuff it into tortillas for Asian-style tacos with matchstick-cut cucumber and carrot.


Ingredients:

1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1 (3 1/2-pound) bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups cola (such as Coca-Cola)
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce
1 cup diagonally sliced green onions

 Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 300°.

2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan. Sprinkle pork evenly with salt. Add pork to pan; sauté for 8 minutes, turning to brown all sides. Remove pork. Add ginger and garlic; sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in cola and the next 3 ingredients (through soy sauce); bring to a boil. Return pork to pan; cover. Bake at 300° for 1 hour and 50 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally. Remove pork from pan, and let stand for 10 minutes. Shred pork with 2 forks. Skim fat from cooking liquid.

3. Place pan over medium-high heat; bring cooking liquid to a boil. Cook 15 minutes or until reduced to about 2 cups, stirring occasionally. Combine pork and 3/4 cup sauce in a bowl; toss to coat. Top with green onions. Serve pork with remaining 1 1/4 cups sauce.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!