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.