Tortellini en Brodo with Greens

I don’t think I’ve opened a food magazine in the past two years without seeing an article about greens.  Swiss chard, mustard greens, beet greens, collards, spinach and more.  These leafy edibles are current darlings of the culinary world and come by their accolades honestly—high in nutrition and fiber, low in calories.  You can even forage for some of them in urban areas and this fact alone makes them absolute stars in the culinary universe.  

The trouble with being the food media’s current fascination is the eventual backlash and ennui.  Soon writers will move on to another super food and greens could be left on the shelf, growing more bitter with each passing month out of the spotlight and off magazine covers. 

While their moment in the sun may soon be over, there are those of us who will always have them in our back pocket to add to stews and soups, omelets and gratins.  We’ve been filing away some of the newer recipe ideas for a rainy day. 

What does any of this have to do with the simple classic soup tortellini en brodo (stuffed pasta in broth)?  Greens may be the only thing you can add that won’t overpower the delicate balance of this hydrating comfort meal. 

Traditionally a dish for cold dark nights, even when the weather gets warmer a handful of cheese tortellini cooked in homemade chicken broth is restorative.  Try it after a day riding surf at the beach, a few sets of tennis or a backcountry bike ride when your muscles are sore and a little chilled. 

Toss a large handful of rinsed baby spinach leaves into the bubbling broth when the tortellini are cooked and just before serving. You have something that no energy drink could ever compete with.

Note: You can make this soup with canned broth but if you've never made homemade chicken broth, this is the recipe that deserves it.  See this blog's entry for November 27, 2009, What's Next, to learn how to make a broth from roasted poultry.

Chick Pea Salad for Picnics

Here’s a weekend bean salad for summer inspired by a pasta salad I saw at my local deli.  The base is chick peas (aka garbanzo beans) in a tomato-based vinaigrette that can be changed up to suit your refrigerator’s or garden’s bounty.

Just abut any recipe for macaroni or pasta salad can be updated and given a jolt of fiber by substituting beans for all or part of the pasta. 

This weekend I add steamed sliced zucchini, but you can also toss in green beans, fresh peas, zucchini blossoms or tiny cooked potatoes from your garden.  Fresh chopped herbs like basil, Italian parsley or dill are also great additions. 

Chick Pea Salad
Serves 6 –8 as a side dish
Ingredients
2 cups cooked or canned chick peas (about a 14 oz can)
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
1 zucchini, steamed whole then sliced in half moons
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small celery stalk, sliced
1/4 cup chopped black olives
3 scallions, chopped up to green part
3/4 cup tomato juice
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard powder
Salt & pepper
Optional: hot sauce

Method

1. Drain the chick peas if canned.  
2. In a medium bowl, toss beans with remaining ingredients.  
3. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour before serving. 

Mushroom Salisbury Steaks

Just because a dish has become a TV dinner classic, doesn’t mean it can’t be tuned up for a family meal that qualifies for greatness with pure and fresh ingredients.  Mushroom Salisbury Steaks are a little more than hamburgers and a little faster than meatloaf but satisfy like both.  This is also a meal stretcher.  The bread crumbs in the patties not only extend the portions, they keep the patties light and moist.  The ‘steaks’ are browned in a skillet then finished in a hearty mushroom gravy in the same pan. 

Mushroom Salisbury Steaks
Serves 4
Ingredients

Steak patties
2 lb lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon each dried basil and thyme
1 egg
1t Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon oil (for browning)

Mushroom Gravy
1/2 lb sliced mushrooms
1 T butter
1 T flour
1 14-oz can beef broth
2T ketchup
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 T molasses
1 14-oz can chicken broth
2t+ Worcestershire sauce
salt & black pepper
(If needed to thicken sauce further: 2 t cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup cold water or cold broth)

Method

1. Mix ground beef, bread crumbs, egg and Worcestershire sauce together.  Form into 4-6 oblong-shaped patties.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside while making gravy.
2. In a large skillet, sauté mushrooms in butter.  Add flour and brown over low heat.  Deglaze with 1 cup broth.  
3. Finish making gravy by slowly adding remainder of broth, ketchup, mustard and molasses.  Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper to taste.   Remove mushroom gravy from skillet and set aside.  
4. Wipe skillet out and add 2 teaspoons oil.  Brown patties, 3 minutes each side in a bit of butter or olive oil. 
5.  Return gravy to skillet and cook patties 10-12 minutes until cooked through.  If gravy seems a bit thin, add cornstarch in cold liquid and simmer an additional 2 minutes.  

Serve with noodles or mashed potatoes.
You probably won’t have leftovers, but if you do, this meal freezes well.  Just like a classic TV dinner should. Store Salisbury Steaks in the type of container you will reheat them in.  For a microwave safe container, reheat on medium power to 6 minutes, then on high for an additional minute.  If reheating in an oven, store in a glass or metal pan and reheat, loosely covered, in a preheated 350˚F oven 35-45 minutes.


NOTE: Dr. J.H. Salisbury, who pressed Americans to eat leaner meats during the 19th century, is credited with inventing this dish.  His was a simple lean meat patty, broiled under a moderate flame and served with condiments like Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, lemon juice or mustard.

Grandma's Roast Duck

A 4-5 pound duck will serve 4 people when served with a hearty serving of vegetables.

At no time is it more obvious to me that my mother’s side of the family is from eastern Europe than when duck is being discussed.  Most of my friends know duck only from Chinese restaurants where the crisped skin and tender meat is nestled into pancakes with plum sauce and scallions.  I love that both Chinese and Czech cuisines know how to coax out the fat from beneath the skin to cook up a dichotomous meal of juicy meat under brittle crisp skin.  

Every culture that celebrates duck has identified its local flavor counterpart.  Plum sauce and scallion cut through the unctuous tones of the meat in Asian cuisine.  The French have found that oranges do the trick as in Duck a l’Orange.  Tart cherries make me think of German or Austrian preparations.  Czech tradition calls for saurkraut cooked with onions and potatoes to accompany the bold meat. 

I recently used my grandmother’s recipe for roast duck that I had transcribed from her directions to me when we cooked duck together in the early 1980s.  I’ve updated it with a few tricks to help prepare the skin but her method remains simple and successful.  Next time you see fresh duck at the store, try her recipe.  She used a very sharp carving fork to pierce the skin while the bird roasts, releasing the fat to render a crispy skin.  I use a well-sharpened knife to do the deed.  The sharpness helps pierce the skin just to the fat strata so you do not pierce the meat.

If saurkraut is not your thing, place vegetables like quartered potatoes and carrot chunks at the bottom of the roasting pan for the last 1/2 hour.  This step adds some humidity and helps keep the meat tender while the skin continues to crisp.  Serve the duck with a tart fruit sauce made from dried cherries, marmalade and lemon for balance.

My grandmother would use the carcass and any leftovers to make duck soup.  I make a brie and duck panini with cherry-apricot relish.  The duck carcass joins chicken bones in my freezer for a future poultry stock.

Grandma’s Roast Duck
Serves 2-4, recipe is easily doubled. Roast birds side by side in a large roasting pan. 
1 4-5 pound fresh duck
2 stalks celery, halved
1 onion, quartered
parsley
1/2 small orange or tangerine
salt and pepper
1 cup boiling water

Sides: Prepared and rinsed saurkraut, par-boiled potatoes quarters, sliced onion or potatoes and carrots chunks, parboiled. 

Method

1. Remove duck from packaging and wipe inside and out with paper towels to dry off skin and meat.  Optional: place duck on a rack and refrigerate uncovered 24 hours to dry out skin.    
2. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Spray a roasting rack with spray oil to prevent sticking.  Salt and pepper inside and out of bird.  Place onion, celery, parsley and orange in cavity of duck.  
3. Using a very sharp knife, score the breast skin just to the fat level in 4 1-inch slits on each breast.  Lightly pierce the thigh skin  also.  
4. Pour boiling water over duck, especially the breast area and let water drain into bottom of roasting pan.  Roast with water in the pan at 350˚F for 1 hour.  Periodically, repierce skin with knife to release fat into bottom of pan.
5. Check bird with a thermometer.  Your ultimate goal is 170˚F.  After one hour, the bird should read about 110-130˚F.  Once it reaches 130˚F, remove bird from oven and place bird with rack on a platter.  
6. Drain duck fat into a dish to keep for later use*. Leave a tablespoon or two in the pan.  
7. Toss together rinsed saurkraut, parboiled potato quarters and onion and place in the roasting pan.  Stir to coat vegetables with some duck fat.  
8. Take duck off roasting rack and place it directly over the vegetables in the roasting pan.  Return duck to oven and roast an additional 1/2 hour or more until internal temperature of breast meat reaches170˚F.  
9. Remove duck from oven and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.  Discard vegetables from cavity.  Use kitchen sheers to cut duck in quarters to serve with potatoes and saurkraut. 

*Duck fat can be used to saute potatoes and other vegetables.  It is very good with cabbage for example and can also be frozen for the day you are tempted to make liver pate. 

And here are my grandmother’s verbatim instructions for handling duck.  She did not use a roasting rack:
"In a roasting pan, place bird with a large onion, celery, parsley, caraway inside cavity.  Put a large glass of water in bottom of pan to stop sticking.  Cook for 1 1/2 hours at 350˚F.  Pierce skin frequently to release fat.  Serve with potatoes and saurkraut.  To make saurkraut, rinse it, then heat it up with some onion, and sugar maybe.”

Baked Jalepeño Poppers

I thought I’d miss the fried version of jalapeño poppers but I think I like these better.  The baked topping has all the crunch I crave in a bar snack and baking them means I can make lots and reheat them.  They even freeze well after the first bake.

We make two basic fillings- one with veggie cream cheese mixed with grated cheddar and the other with equal parts soft goat cheese and cream cheese topped with crispy bacon pieces.  Try the goat cheese version using a nice aged goat cheese like Pico or le Boucheron to pass these around at a grown up cocktail party like a wedding rehearsal dinner.  Add the cheddar version to a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Here’s the basic recipe for 12 jalapeño poppers using 6 whole jalapeños.  The recipe can be doubled and tripled. 

Baked Jalapeño Poppers
Ingredients
6 jalapeño peppers, split lengthwise
3 oz cream cheese, softened
3 oz soft goat cheese (try an aged version, rind and all)
2 strips cooked bacon, chopped in large pieces
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup flour + salt and pepper
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  
2. Prepare peppers.  Seed and de-vein the jalapeño halves.  The curve of a serrated grapefruit knife makes this easy or use a regular serrated knife.   
3. Place pepper halves in a lightly oiled metal baking dish (like a cake pan or 8X8 brownie pan).  Bake at 400˚F for 10 minutes while preparing filling.  
4. Mix cream cheese and goat cheese together with a fork.  Turn off oven and remove peppers from oven.  Allow peppers to cool a few minutes so they are easy to handle.  When cool, fill each pepper with about 1/2 ounce filling (a little under a tablespoon) and press a few bacon pieces into each.  
5. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour (or overnight).  Cooling stuffed jalapeños makes easier breading them before baking easier.   If you are in a hurry, skip this step.  A touch messier but it won’t ruin the final result. 
6. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  
7. To bread chilled peppers, set out three small dishes.  Place flour mixture in the first, egg/water mixture in the second and bread crumbs in the third.  Have your metal baking pan ready (lightly oiled).  
8. Dip the filled side of each pepper into flour, egg and then bread crumbs.  Place in baking pan.  
9. Bake at 400˚F for 20 minutes, checking halfway through to make sure filling is not oozing out of peppers.  Poppers are ready when top is crisp and cheese is soft and melty. 

Alternate filling:
4 ounces plain or veggie cream cheese plus 2 ounces grated cheddar or Monterey jack cheese.  Bacon optional.

Handling Hot Peppers
The oils from cutting and prepared any hot pepper can linger on your hands and give you a jolt if you rub an eye hours later if you do not wash (not rinse) your hands including nail beds with hot soapy water after you are finished prepping them.  Once roasted, jalapeños retain very little volatile oil and handling requires less concern.  If you are very sensitive, wear food safe gloves when working with peppers.

Poached Pears in 20 Minutes

This is a last minute recipe that can be put together after the main course is in the oven.  You peel the pears while the sugar is melting into the water to create a sugar syrup. By the time the sugar syrup is ready and simmering, the pears are also ready to go into the pot.

Twenty minutes later, the pears are tender but still firm enough to stand on their own and the luscious flavors of the poaching liquid have combined with the pear’s natural character.  The poaching liquid is boiled down to a golden syrup while the peas cool on their serving plate. 

We had these with drizzled with melted chocolate and a dollop of whipped cream.  If we’d had vanilla ice cream we’d have enjoyed Poire belle Helene.  My favorite way to eat these is over pound cake with the extra syrup drizzled everywhere. 

Poaching liquids are simple.  This one uses a light sugar syrup (e.g. the ratio of sugar to water is low) plus a vanilla bean, star anise, lemon peel and a good shot of Drambuie.  If you don’t have star anise, proceed without it’s light anise tone.  Drambuie is a liqueur made from whiskey and provides a mellow butterscotch flavor that pairs really well with lemon peel.  Look in your liquor cabinet for your favorite or use fruit juice if you don’t want to use alcohol.  Dark rum, pear liqueur, port, red or white wine can all be used in place of Drambuie.  If substituting with fruit juice, try apple or pear juice.  Cranberry juice will add a light rosey hue to the pears. 

Poached Pears
Ingredients
4 Bosc pears
Water- place unpeeled pears in a pot so they are close together.  Fill with water so that most of each pear is covered.  Remove pears, measure water. 
Sugar- use 1/2 cup of sugar for every cup of water.
Peel of half a lemon
1/2 vanilla bean
1 star anise, whole
2 ounces Drambuie

Method

1. Over medium heat, melt sugar into the water.  Stir to help the mixture combine as it begins to simmer.  Sugar syrup is ready when the liquid is no longer cloudy, but crystal clear.  
2. While sugar melts, peel pears, leaving stem intact.  Slice a small piece from the bottom of each to create a level surface if pears cannot stand on their own.  
3. Add remaining ingredients to poaching liquid with pears.  Lower heat and poach pears for 20 minutes with the pot covered.  The liquid will barely bubble.  Do not let pears boil; it will damage the flesh.  
4. After 20 minutes, test the pears with a sharp knife.  They should be very tender.  
5. Remove cooked pears to a platter and turn up heat to boil down liquid to a golden syrup, about 1/3 its original volume.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.  Pour over pears to serve.  

Store leftover pears in syrup.

The poaching liquid is very clear until boiled down.

Solving Tomatoes

While we wait for our gardens to grow and farmers markets to stock up on the real thing—a perfect, vine ripened sweet tomato—there are those if us who still need a good tomato now.  What look very much like ripe tomatoes are masquerading in grocery stores this very minute but none of us are really fooled.  They may be red, they may be soft, but they just miss the mark and we all have the taste bud sense to know it.

My mother used to say that the great benefit of modern food distribution in America is that we all get to eat a tomato.  The only problem is, it will not taste like a tomato.  She used to resort to canned peeled tomatoes for salads when she sought that sweet red flavor in February.  Years later, the winter supermarket can provide tomatoes on the vine and greenhouse grown globes but still the flavor is a little sapless. 

I have two solutions that will bridge the gap until summer provides for us tomato fans.  Fried Red Tomatoes and Roasted Tomatoes.  Both concentrate the flavor of the red-looking but green-tasting fruit to bring out the right balance of sweetness to acid. 

Roasted Tomatoes are like sun-dried tomatoes you make in your oven except you don’t go quite so far as to actually dry the tomatoes.  Just dehydrated enough to concentrate the flavor.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F, cut tomatoes in half or in thick slices and lightly dust with a few grains of salt and if they look very under-ripe upon slicing, the merest wink of sugar.  Place tomatoes on a aluminum foil lined roasting pan coated with a thin film of olive oil and bake 30 minutes for halves, 15 minutes for slices.  Allow tomatoes to cool then use in sandwiches (drain on a paper towel), sauces, vegetable dishes and salads.  We topped halves with chopped black olives, capers, red pepper, red pepper flakes and a smear of pesto then ran them under the broiler with some grated parmesan cheese.  These were great eaten politely with a knife and fork but exquisite on a slab of rustic homemade bread.  Ultimate bruschetta. 

Fried Red Tomatoes are perfect when you suspect your tomatoes will rot from the inside before they come near to ripening on the kitchen windowsill.  Last year, while visiting family in North Carolina and sampling fried green tomatoes at every restaurant where I could find them, I learned the secret to a good fried tomato that photos in magazines and cookbooks had blinded me too.  All the pretty pictures show thick tomatoes with a golden crust.  But everywhere I enjoyed a good fried green tomato, the slices were no thicker than a 1/4 inch.  The thickness, or rather thinness, makes all the difference. 

Slice firm tomatoes, coat them with fine cornmeal spiked with salt, black pepper and a little oregano, then fry in a scant amount of vegetable or olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, flipping once*.  Throw that into your BLT with a red pepper mayonnaise until the vines are ripening near you. 


* Most recipes have you dip lightly floured tomato slices in some buttermilk or an egg wash to help the cornmeal stick better.  Recommended if you have the patience but not absolutely required for this version.  Also, if you don’t have fine cornmeal, use bread crumbs.

A Side of Mashed- Cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower has been a staple at spa restaurants for years.  Low in carbohydrates, cauliflower is an excellent and satisfying alternative to potatoes.  If you’ve tried mashing boiled or steamed cauliflower yourself, you might have found that something was missing. The resulting mouth feel is a little lean instead of the voluptuousness of mashed potatoes.  One smart addition-- that still keeps it pure- can make all the difference.

Our secret ingredient is cream cheese.  It adds body, depth of flavor and a little protein to the mix.  Now your mashed cauliflower can stand up to any entrée.

Mashed Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower
1 14-oz can chicken broth or water
1 ounce cream cheese (low fat OK)
salt and pepper

1. Cut away green leaves at bottom of cauliflower.  Cut remainder, including stem into small chunks if similar size.  
2. Place cauliflower in a large pot with a lid. Pour broth or chicken stock over cauliflower until it is just covering the vegetable.  Bring to a boil then lower temperature to simmer.  
3. Cover and cook until cauliflower is almost fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. 
4. Remove lid and allow liquid to boil off, watching carefully and stirring as needed for about 5 minutes.  
5. Remove from heat when cauliflower is soft enough to mash with a fork with no resistance.  Drain any excess liquid.   
6. Using a potato masher, mash cauliflower until smooth,  (You may put cooled cooked cauliflower in a food processor to create smooth texture and reheat).  Stir cream cheese into hot cauliflower so it melts into the mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Cooking with Beer: Chicken

March ends on an up note with one last beer braised dinner for early Spring.  Either chicken breasts or thighs are fine for this.  Go with skinless since the cooked chicken will want to nestle into a tortilla or become a spicy chicken salad after it is shredded gently with a fork.  Use cuts on or off the bone, just remember the bone does add flavor to the cooking broth. 

Chicken Cooked in Beer
3 servings, easily doubled
Ingredients
2 large skinless chicken breasts (or 4 thighs)
1 cup beer
1 cup chicken broth
olive oil for browning
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
dash cayenne (up to 1/8 teaspoon)
salt and pepper

Method

1. Salt and pepper skinless chicken breasts.  
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown chicken in a bit of olive oil on both sides.  
3. Drain any excess oil.  Lower heat and add 1 cup beer and 1 cup chicken broth to skillet.  
4. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon cumin and a dash of cayenne.  
5. Cover skillet and simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes.  Chicken will be very tender and pull apart easy with a fork.  Continue cooking another 5-10 minutes if needed.  

Serve with roasted jalepeno peppers, sliced avocado, a scattering of black beans and a dollop of sour cream in a warm flour tortilla. 

Spicy Beer Chicken Salad
To make rough-chopped, spicy chicken salad, let chicken fully cool in the broth.  When cool, remove chicken pieces from broth and shred with a fork or chop into bite-sized pieces and place in a medium bowl. To the bowl, add the flesh of 1 avocado, roughly chopped, a large bunch of fresh, chopped cilantro (about 1/4 cup chopped), 1 chopped tomato plus 1 tablespoon good quality olive oil (try Goya), the juice of 1/2 lime and 1 squirt of hot sauce (like Cholula brand).  Taste for seasoning and add a bit of salt and pepper,  more hot sauce or a touch more lime juice as desired.  Serve in a roll, warm pita pocket or over chopped lettuce.  Sliced black olives, pickled jalepenos, chopped scallions—all nice garnishes.

Cooking with Beer: Lamb

This fast lamb chop meal is inspired by the Peruvian lamb dish called Seco de Cordero.  That famous stew flavors lamb shanks with beer, cilantro, onions and peppers.   Stripped down to cook in just dark beer and cilantro, these lamb chops take on an attractive gloss and slough off their fat in just half on hour.

Fresh mint is added at the end with some extra cilantro to really brighten up the flavor.  I like to remove the meat from the bone in chunks and serve it in a warm flour tortilla with some shredded lettuce and more herbs, plus a little mild goat or feta cheese.  The chops also do very nicely as is alongside a green vegetable and baked potatoes or salad. 

Beer-Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops
4 servings
4-6 thin shoulder chops (1/2 inch think)
salt, pepper, cumin
olive oil to brown
1 cup dark beer
2 tablespoons pureed cilantro sauce (Puree1/2 cup chopped cilantro including stems, juice of 1 line, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 cup water or broth)
2 tablespoons each chopped fresh cilantro and mint

To serve:
4-6 flour tortillas
1/2 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
shredded lettuce
extra cilantro and mint to garnish

Method

1. Sprinkle salt, pepper and cumin on each side of chops.  
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown chops on each side, until they are deep brown—about 4-5 minutes per side.  Transfer chops to a separate platter as they are browned.  
3. Return all chops to skillet, lower heat to medium-low and add beer. Cover and simmer chops.  
4. Meanwhile, make cilantro sauce by pureeing cilantro with lime juice, olive oil and water.  
5. When chops have cooked for about 15 minutes, stir in cilantro sauce.  
6. Cover skillet and cook another 15 minutes, until meat is falling off the bone and meat looks glazed.  Very little liquid will remain.  
7. Remove chops from skillet and serve with cilantro sauce garnished with chopped fresh cilantro and mint.

To serve with warmed flour tortillas, remove meat from bone and cut into chunks or strips. Stuff each tortilla with meat, lettuce, herbs and cheese.

Cooking with Beer: Ham

Take any last of winter chills out of March by cooking meats in beer.  It is a simple technique.  Ham, chicken and even lamb benefit from a slow braise in full bodied or light beers.  You can even use non-alcoholic beer and there are some better ones on the market these days. 

This is a one dish meal of ham and vegetables oven-simmered in a tightly sealed package of beer and chicken broth.  The slightly salty broth is the secret ingredient in the special gravy made from the pan drippings.  You can toss in some new potatoes with the other vegetables or bake sweet potatoes alongside.  We’re loving the sweet potato option of late. 

Ham Dinner with a Beer Gravy
Ingredients
2 pound (cooked) ham or smaller
1 large cabbage, cut in sixths
6 carrots, peeled and cut in large chunks
2 celery ribs, cut in half
optional: 6-8 new potatoes
1 cup beer
1 cup chicken broth
(If your ham is very small (1 pound or less), use about 1/2 the liquid.)

Gravy
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
Broth from pan (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup cream or milk
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.  
2. Place ham, cabbage, carrots and celery in a roasting pan with high sides.  Pour on beer and broth.  
3. Use a large sheet of aluminum foil to cover pan, making sure edges are sealed. Bake for 1 hour (some larger hams will need 1 1/2 hours). The ham is ready when it reaches an internal temperature of 140˚F.  
4. If the vegetables are tender but the ham has not yet reached the ideal temperature, remove the vegetables and keep warm while the ham finishes. 

When the ham is ready, make the gravy.

1.  In a medium skillet, melt the butter.  Sprinkly flour over the melted butter and stir to combine, creating a roux.  Cook 1-2 minutes.  
2. Slowly pour a few tablespoons of broth into the roux and stir well to smooth out any lumps.  Add 1/2 cup more of broth, stirring mixture as liquid is added to create a thick gravy.  Stir in another 1/2 cup broth and taste.  
3. At this point you may want to add either the remaining broth, or if a bit salty, some plain water.   
4. Just before serving, stir in cream and parsley.  Serve over ham and cabbage.  

Spare Ribs, Slow in a Flash

“What are you doing?” asked my husband.  He eyed me incredulously as I opened a package of uncooked spareribs three minutes before we were leaving to meet friends. 

“I’m making spare ribs for dinner.  I’ll be ready to go in one minute,” I replied as I tossed them with salt, black pepper, smoked paprika and brown sugar.  These were singles—already cut apart---and I stacked the seasoned ribs against the sides of a crock pot, meaty side facing the pot’s inner surface.  The curve of each rib matched that of the pot perfectly. (Two full racks can fit with the ribs standing up.)   I turned the crock pot to low and was finished prepping dinner.  Washing my hands took longer than preparing the ribs.  We left on time. 

When we got back 3 hours later, the ribs were cooked but not yet truly tender.  A small pool of fat had fallen to the center of the crock pot.  I turned the heat to high and left them another hour.  When the meat was falling off the bone, I removed the ribs and let them drain on a few paper towels.  Later we reheated the ribs in a hot oven (375˚F at least) where the edges crisped and a light coating of BBQ sauce formed a glossy coating. These ribs are served with more warmed BBQ sauce on the side for those who like their ribs well sauced.

Any favorite BBQ sauce  will do.  My BBQ sauce is “ketchup & molasses” based and has a touch of orange in it.  Come by and try it sometime. 

Crock Pot Spice Rub for one rack of spare ribs:
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Acknowledgment: Versions of this clever technique can be found around the internet.  I learned the base technique from About.com but apply a simpler (faster) rub and "finish" the ribs in the oven, away from the extruded fat.  You can use this easy technique during the summer months too and finish the ribs on the grill rather then the oven.  Keeps the kitchen cool.

What Goes with Ribs?
My favorite side with ribs is collard greens, another simple to prepare dish that only requires time to develop its personality (like ribs).  See my recipe in the Feb. 25, 2010 entry of PureFoodsProject.  Another nice side is corn pudding.  Find it in the Oct. 26, 2011 entry.