Saturday, September 5, 2009

County Style Ribs, Cous Cous and The 4 Egg Cake


Before we get to dinner we had some visitors this morning. The male deer's antlers are just starting to grow. They have eaten every plant my husband has put in but they are so cute.


Holy cow or I guess that would be holy pig? What a delicious meal. Again I went to the freezer and grabbed a package of Pork Loin Country Style Ribs. I found a recipe on recipe.com. My only changes were to not add liquid smoke (no I don't have that in the pantry) and I did not add the garlic. The pork was so tender ans the onions were so sweet.

Country - Style Ribs
3 to 4 lbs. country style ribs
1 med. onion
1/4 c. brown sugar

Sauce
1 c. ketchup and 1/2 c. water

1 tbsp. liquid smoke
4 tbsp. vinegar

1/2 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Place ribs in roaster pan. Lightly salt. Top with slices of onion. Sprinkle brown sugar over
them. Mix sauce and put 3/4 of it over ribs. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Uncover and put on remaining sauce. Set oven to 400 degrees. Bake 1/2 hour longer.

As a side I found a recipe on foodbuzz for
Pearl Cous Cous Salad with Fresh Mango and Cucumber. It uses pearl (israeli) cous cous which is now going to be the only cous cous I will use. I like it more then the Near East brand I have been using.

I did not add the
star anise pods. I will have to do some searching for that ingredient.I did not add the mango, not ripe enough yet. But I will use it the next time.


Pearl Cous Cous Salad with Fresh Mango and Cucumbers
Serves 4 to 5


1 1/2 cups pearl (israeli) cous cous
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 shallots, minced

2 star anise pods

1 3/4 cups vegetable broth

1 large cucumber, slices (about 2 cups)
2 cups fresh mango chunks (about 2 average sized mangoes)
1 cup diced red pepper

1/4 cup chopped cilantro


Turmeric dressing

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 cup fat free or low fat sour cream

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1. Set a large pot over medium heat. Add vegetable oil, ginger, shallots, and star anise. Saute until shallots soften, about three minutes.

2. Add the cous cous and stir well to thoroughly coat each bead with the shallot mixture. Cook for an additional two minutes, until the cous cous browns slightly. Pour in the vegetable broth, stir and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer until all of the liquid as been absorbed, an additional seven to eight minutes.

3. Meanwhile, prepare the turmeric dressing by combining all of the ingredients. Refrigerate until read to use.

4. Once the cous cous has cooked, discard the start anise pods. Toss cooked cous cous with cucumber, mango, red pepper, cilantro and turmeric dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Now about that cake. The 4 Egg Cake was the go-to recipe my mom used whenever she needed a basic cake recipe that could be adjusted. By adjusting I mean add whatever she felt like putting in the cake. We needed a sweet in the house and instead of making cookies I thought this cake would be more practical. My plan was to cut the cake in quarters and freeze 3 pieces and just keep out one at a time.... We will see if that works. As for add ons I added a 1/2 of chocolate shots and a 1/2 shredded coconut. Also added a teaspoon of coconut extract.

The Four Egg Cake
1 cup vegetable shortening, like canned Crisco
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 3/4 cup sifted flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla

Grease and flour a 9x12 pan. Preheat ove to 350 degrees.
Mix shortening and sugar. Add eggs one at a time beating each for at least 3 minutes.
Stir in dry ingredients alternating with the milk and vanilla.
Pour batter into greased pans. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

2 comments:

Velva said...

I had to smile about the deer. I live in a residential neighborhood that is chock-full of deer. Last Spring, we had a doe that put her fawn in our yard. On any given evening, it is not unusual to see a dozen deer in our driveway. They eat everything in our yard! We had to get wise. Now, we have a lot of deer resistant plants ( they hate herbs)!
Recipes look fabulous!

My Little Space said...

Oh what a surprised! My kids and I are animals lovers...whatever they(the deer) did they meant no harm. I would very much love to have deer at my backyard too...ha ha!