Country-Style Pork Ribs

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 10 to 12 hours (low) or 5 to 6 hours (high) to 10 minutes
Makes: 4 to 6 main-dish servings

1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings
2 1/2 to 3 pounds country-style pork ribs
1 1/2 cups vegetable juice cocktail
1/2 of a 6 oz can (1/3 cup) tomato paste
1/4 cup molasses
3 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp dried thyme, crushed
1/8 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

1. Place onion in a 3 1/2 - to 6 quart slow cooker. Place ribs on top of onion in cooker. In a medium bowl stir together remaining ingredients. Reserve 1 cup juice mixture for sauce; cover and chill. Pour remaining juice mixture over ribs in the cooker.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours.

3. For sauce, heat reserved juice mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Transfer ribs to serving platter; discard cooking liquid. Serve sauce with ribs.

Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup

8 servings

Great when you're sick~ I made this when recovering from the flu.

Ingredients:
1 quarts water
3 skinless chicken breast halves with bones in
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp onion powder
5 cubes chicken bouillon
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 clovers garlic, chopped
1 (16 oz) jar chunky salsa, spicy
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed tomato soup
1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

Directions:
1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken, salt, pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, or until chicken juices run clear. Remove chicken, reserve broth. Remove skin and shred chicken.

2. In a large pot over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly browned. Stir in salsa, condensed tomato soup, corn, shredded chicken, and 7 large spoonfuls of broth. Simmer 30 minutes.

Gougeres Bourguignonnes

Also from Louis Chabardes' Kitchen...

Gougeres Bourguignonnes (if you need help with the pronouciation, you
know where to find me) This is the perfect appetizer for the recipes
above

Ingredients:

4.5 ounces of flour
3 ounces of butter
3 eggs
0.63 cups/10.2 tablespoons of water (I hate the US units: 150 ml of
water is way simpler)
A drop of salt
7 ounces of Emental (swiss cheeses will do it)

In a casserolle, not a pan, but not as big as the previous one, pour
the water, the salt, and the diced butter.
Boil it until the butter has melted
Pour in one shot the flour, now this is the tricky part, you might
need a strong wrist for this, you need to stir the whole thing until
the whole flour is equally mixed, and you should have some kind of
doughy ball, the mix shouldn't stick to the casserolle, that is the
sign that it is right.
Add one egg, mix with the dough until the whole thing is uniform,
proceed with the second one, mix it again. Now before adding the third
one, check your dough, if it still fairly firm and look dry, you are
good you can add the third egg and mix, if it is already liquid,
something is messed up, if it is in between, you should be okay and
don't need the third egg. It really depend on the sizes of the eggs
etc.
Add the cheese and mix

Preheat the oven at 400 degres Farhenheit.

Dispose the dough on something like an oven platter, something flat,
where you can lay puffs of the mixture. The size of the puff should be
from one tablespoon of dough.
Place the platter in the oven. Now the golden rules: Don't open the
oven. It is going to smell really good in the kitchen, it is going to
be hard, you are going to want to look in the oven to check and smell:
DON'T DO IT. Wait 20 minutes. You can open the champagne (perfect
match with this) and start drinking. If your oven door is transparent,
check the puffs, they should be inflated and golden, if not or still
whitish wait another 5 minutes, if yes, get it out, and enjoy.

Burgundy Beef Stew

From Louis Chabardes' Kitchen...

This one is a stew, you can cook it in advance and leave it warm for diner.

Ingredients:

3 pounds of beef, sirloin or flank steak, it will be marinated and
slowly cooked so you don't need top notch steak. Dice it in cube of
about one inch.
2 carotts, slice them,
2 oignons, slice them
2 pieces of garlic, hash it.
2 large spoon of cooking oil
2 large spoon of flour
1 ounce of butter
1 bouquet garni ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouquet_garni) or
whatever close to it you can find here
Half a pound of lardons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lardon)
Half a pound of mushrooms, wash and slice them
Last but not the least: One bottle of Bourgogne Wine, not bordeaux

Cookingware: One large cooking pot or casserolle or crockpot,
something deep enough for everything, that you can cover and leave for
several hours, make sure your stove can cook something slowly without
burning anything.

Cooking:
Pre step (optionnal):marinates the meat in the wine for 12 hours

Put the oil at the bottom of the casserolle, warm it, don't boil it,
you know it is warm enough when it makes noise when you lay some food
on it
Put the meat at the bottom, and slight "roast" it 4 or 5 minutes max,
just so that it takes the color, no need to cook it, it will have
plenty of time for that later.
Add the lardons and let them color a little too, another 5 minutes
Add the butter
Add the mushrooms, carotts, oignons, let all that roast a little, 5-10 minutes
Spray the flour on top, just stir and let it brown. quickly. 2 3 minutes
Add the wine, the bouquet garni, the garlic
Let it cook slowly covered for at least 2 and half hour, but better 4.

At the end, the meat should be really tender, like in a stew, the wine
should be a sippy sauce, not liquid.
You can serve it with french fries (they are to die for with the
sauce), or mashed potatoes, or rice. A nice red wine is also a good
things to enjoy with it.

Deviled Short Ribs

4 Servings

RIBS

8 pieces English-style beef short ribs, about 6 pounds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 large onion, quartered
6 cloves garlic, smashed
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2.5 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
0.5 cup red wine vinegar

COATING
0.5 cup dry English-style mustard
0.5 cup honey
1 tbsp water
1 tsp kosher salt
5 oz sourdough bread, crusts trimmed, and torn into large chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

1. For the ribs: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the short ribs meaty side up in a large roasting pan and season with salt and pepper. Scatter the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and rosemary around the ribs. Add the chicken broth and vinegar. Set the pan directly over two burners and bring to a simmer over high heat. Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the ribs and transfer to the oven. Cook until the meat is fork-tender, about 2 hours. Remove from the oven and cool in the liquid, about 30 minutes. (The dish can be prepared up to this point 1 day ahead, covered, and refrigerated)

2. For the coating: Whisk the mustard with the honey, water, and 0.5 tsp of the salt. Pulse the bread to make coarse bread crumbs in a food processor. Add the garlic, parsley, olive oil, remaining 0.5 tsp salt, and the pepper to taste and pulse briefly to combine. Transfer mixture to a shallow bowl.

3. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the ribs from the braising liquid (reserve liquid for other uses) and pat dry. Brush the meaty side of each rib with some of the mustard mixture, then press it into the bread crumb mixture to coat. Arrange the ribs on a baking sheet and roast until the bread crumbs are brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve the ribs hot or at room temperature.

TIP: English-style short ribs are pieces of individual longish short ribs - not to be confused with flanken, which are thin, short pieces of rib that are connected by meat.