Chinese-style Pork Ribs on a bed of Butternut Squash shoestring fries

So much delicious going on in this.  =)  Adapted from a recipe on http://www.souschefseries.com/

Ribs:

4 cups Vegetable Stock
2 T Soy Sauce
3 Garlic Cloves, peeled and chopped coarsely
1 3" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped coarsely
~1/4 cup carrot, diced
~1/2 cup diced onion
1 stalk celery, diced
1 rack pork ribs (~2 lbs)

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients except ribs in a dutch oven, bring to a boil.  Remove from heat, and place ribs into braising liquid.  Place dutch oven into oven and bake until meat is tender (60-90 minutes, depends how thick the meat is).

Meanwhile, prepare the glaze:

1 T Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic
2 T minced ginger
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup Agave Syrup
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 t Chinese 5-spice
1 t minced habanero

Heat oil over medium heat with garlic, ginger, and green onion until fragrant.  Add all remaining ingredients.  Stir well.  Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, and slow cook until glaze thickens, about 20-25 minutes.  Remove from heat, and strain, reserving liquid.

When ribs are tender and meat is just starting to fall off the bones, remove from oven.  Reduce oven heat to 350.  Remove ribs from braising liquid, and place meat-side up on roasting pan (or wire rack on top of foil lined baking pan).  Cover thickly with glaze, and roast for up to 45 minutes, until meat is tender but still moist.  Baste with extra glaze every 10-15 minutes.

Allow ribs to cool at least 5 minutes before carving.

Nutritional Summary:  36g Fat, 36g Protein, 22g Carbs per quarter rack of ribs: total 523 calories.

Butternut Squash fries:

1 Butternut Squash

Peel entire squash with vegetable peeler.  (This takes a while, the skin is very tough to remove).

Cut squash into quarter.  Slice thinly into shoestrings.  Be patient, this takes a long time to do manually.

Heat deep fryer to highest setting, ~375 F.  When oil is heated, place shoestrings into oil and fry until tender and slightly crispy, about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, allow oil to drip off, then toss lightly with salt and pepper.

The squash itself has about 80 calories per cup.  A small amount of fat is added by deep frying, but when deep fried correctly, most of the oil drips back off.

I also served a side of broccoli (lightly heated with a dab of bacon grease) and drizzled toasted butternut squash seeds over the top.

Mushroom Reduction Sauce

1 T butter
1 clove garlic
1 sprig thyme
Mushrooms (portobello, shiitake -- take your pick!)
2 cubes vegetable bouillion
5 cups water
2 T Crème Fraîche

Melt butter in medium sauce pan.  Add garlic and thyme and mushrooms.  Toos to coat and start cooking.
Add vegetable bouillion and water.  Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer ~20 minutes until mushrooms are very tender.

Spoon a few ladles-ful of liquid into small sauce pan and bring to a boil.  (Make sure to strain out any mushrooms).  You can add some water back to the medium sauce pan, puree the mushrooms, and make a soup out of the rest.  Add a few dollops of Crème Fraîche to complete.

In the small sauce pan, boil sauce until reduced slightly more.  Add a little corn starch to thicken, then the Crème Fraîche.  Remove from heat.

Delicious over steak.

Crème Fraîche -- Easier than you'd think!

Crème Fraîche -- it's fancy, it's gourmet, it's delicious!  But it's expensive.  Unless you are just a little patient and willing to do it yourself.

1 cup heavy cream
5 T skim milk
1 T vinegar

Mix ingredients together in glass or plastic jar.  Mix or shake well. 
Cover loosely and set aside in a warm place, stirring every 12 hours, until cream thickens (24-48 hours, typically)
When cream reaches desired thickness, place in fridge, where it will last about 7-10 days.

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Yep.  That's it.  I'm not going to write a whole big thing here about why to use Crème Fraîche over sour cream or heavy whipping cream -- that's already well documented all over the internet.

I will point out that you want to find pasteurized cream, and not ultra pasteurized.  The only difference is how long it takes to age properly -- ultra pasteurized may well take >3-4 days to fully thicken.

Spinach and Feta Bread Pudding

A healthy breakfast with a creative twist!

4 slices sourdough bread (see previous recipe)
6 small honey whole wheat english muffins (i haven't posted this recipe yet...)
5 oz. spinach, chopped coarsely
1 oz Feta cheese
6 large eggs
2 cups skim milk
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 orange, juiced
1 tsp orange zest
salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Chop bread into ~1/2" cubes.  Toast in oven for about 10 minutes.

Allow bread to cool, then mix with chopped spinach and feta.  In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, mustard, orange juice and zest.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer egg mixture into bread mixture and stir until will mixed.  Spray medium casserole dish with cooking spray, then pour pudding mixture into dish.  Set aside for 2 hours, or refrigerate overnight.

Bake on 350 F for 40 minutes (pudding will be set and slightly rise).  Then spray top of pudding with cooking spray, turn on broiler, and broil ~2 minutes until top of pudding is crisp.

Makes 8 servings.

Amount Per Serving
Calories		200.3
Total Fat		4.8 g
	Saturated Fat	1.7 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.8 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.7 g
Cholesterol		143.1 mg
Sodium		138.4 mg
Potassium		310.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		28.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.0 g
	Sugars	3.4 g
Protein		11.0 g

Spicy Asparagus-Broccoli Soup

Delicious!  And, very low in calories while still rich in nutrients.

2 cubes beef bouillion
4.5 cups water
2 cloves garlic
1 white onion
1 serrano pepper, chopped
1 bunch asparagus, chopped
1 crown of broccoli, chopped (stems included)
Fresh thyme

Mix beef buillion, water, garlic, onion, and pepper in soup pot.  Bring to a boil.  When boiling, add asparagus and broccoli.  Continue on simmer until all vegetables are well cooked.  Add thyme.  Puree with hand mixer.

Yep, it's that easy.  =)  Makes 4 servings.

Amount Per Serving
Calories		76.5
Total Fat		0.6 g
	Saturated Fat	0.2 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.2 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	0.1 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		540.0 mg
Potassium		909.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		11.7 g
	Dietary Fiber	3.4 g
	Sugars	1.5 g
Protein		8.7 g

Vitamin A	17.0 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	17.8 %
Vitamin C	42.5 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	13.3 %
Calcium	5.7 %
Copper	18.7 %
Folate	44.0 %
Iron	10.8 %
Magnesium	11.5 %
Manganese	19.1 %
Niacin	19.5 %
Pantothenic Acid	2.9 %
Phosphorus	16.8 %
Riboflavin	24.7 %
Selenium	9.3 %
Thiamin	18.7 %
Zinc	7.4 %