THE BEST SLOW COOKED AND GRILLED SPARE RIBS

Hi again, tonight, slow cooked and BBQed spare ribs.Some time ago I was recomended to do slower and longer cooking times. I started surfing on the net, and there are so many recipes, so I decided to buy the slow cooker, and I use it a lot, meat, pasta, specially lasagna, even bread can be made  this way.
And so easy, all the ingredients in the pot, program and leave it to itself  for the hours the cooking needs.

All my friends and my family tells me that my spare ribs are the best they ever tried.

The ingredients for the Best Spare Ribs    


The shopping list

6-7 pers.

4 kg costillas de cerdo            (spare ribs)
Sal y pimienta                          (salt and pepper)

My own Teryaki marinade;

4 cucharadas de salsa soja       (spoons of soy sauce)
4 cucharadas de Sake              (spoons of Sake)
4 cucharadas de Mirin              (spoons of Mirin)
3 cucharadas de Miel               (spoons of honey)
2 dientes de ajo                        (garlic cloves)
Jengibre fresco                         ( fresh ginger)

Mix the ingredients to My Teryaki Marinade, the ginger grated , a pice about 2x2 cm. and the garlic too.
Rub the meat with salt and pepper, and top with My teriaki Marinade, you can buy ready made Teryaki sauce in many supermarkets, but I use it a lot, so I do it myself, and I think it's cheaper too. And have a little feeling that it really gets better,
Set in the fridge for 3 or 4 hours, then put the spare ribs in the slow cooker, and add the rest of the marinade, if you have the time, on slow, and count 7 hours, if not it's ok on fast, count 4 hours.

Take the liquid out of the slow cooker, to a skillet, and let boil until it gets sticky, let it cool for a while and take the fat away , the spareribs are still in the slow cooker, on "keep warm"

10 min before you are going to dish up, transfer the spare ribs to a baking sheet covered with foil, paint with the marinade and put in the oven for 10-15 min on 160 degrees, in the summer nights the BBQ can also be used, with BBQ foil anyway, also for 10-15 min.

We use to enjoy the spare ribs with the vegan spaghetti and the quinoa with apricots, some of us does't eat much meat, but a fresh salad is also a good alternative.

Ready to enjoy, so tender, and caramelized.

I hope you and your family will enjoy it as much as we do, a German style potato salad is also a good accompaniment, i will come back to it next time I make it.

Have a good night, i'm off to bed with the book, Harald el Vikingo, (the viking),author Antonio Cavanillas de Blas, nice to read the Norwegian history again.

HALF VEGAN LASAGNA

Good warm summer morning;

I really wanted to begin a more vegan life style some time ago, but what do I do when the beloved husband is·t very keen on the idea????????

I try to make a compromise, half you, half me, and I let the other part get used to this new foodie , half him is deep fried stuff and all that the pork can give, and  in Spain I can tell they use it all. I will come back to that in the autumn when the "Matanza" time comes (slaughter). Here in Spain , and specially in the south, people pretend to make any event a party, and  the matanza is one of them.

Slow-cooker.

I also wanted to try a kind of old fashion cooking, like my grandmother, everything was slow cooked in the oven for hours, the kitchen smelling better every time one pass by, so I bought a Keenwood Slow-Cooker, some times  called Crock Pot, and everything comes out deliciuous and tender, but you can also make this recipe in the oven.



So this week we had this for lunch, here is the shopping-list:

500 gr. carne picada        (minced meat)
200 gr. soja texturizada    (textured soy)
300 gr. lagasaña precocinada ( precooked lasagna)
200 gr. mozarella de bufala  ( mozarella cheese)

1          calabacin grande       (big zucchini)
1 cucharita sal                    (teaspoon salt)
1/2 cucharita pimienta         (teaspoon  pepper)
2 cucharitas oregano           (teaspoon oregano)
100 gr. queso emental rallado     ( grated emental cheese)
3-4 cucharas de AOVE              ( spoons of Extra Virgen Olive Oil)
Tomate frito                                (home made tomato sauce)

Textured soy back, and minced veal in front.

I start to drench the textured soy ( you can find it in healt-food shops) in lunk warm water for 20 min. Then I do the "tomate frito" see recipes, basics, you can also use 2 bricks  of Tomate Frito from the supermarket, but the final result is nicer with the home made.

The meat and the soy ready to mix wit.h the "tomate frito"

Then strain the soy very good, remaining as little water as possible , and give it 30 sec on half speed in the food procesor. Have a couple of spoons of the oil in a frying pan, and add the meat, I use veal from the local butcher, the salt, the pepper and oregano, and stir with a fork while it·s frying, when it has good colour, add the soy and give it 5 min.more in the frying pan, before you add the "tomate frito" , mix well, and try for salt and pepper, let it simmer for 3-4 min. and set aside.

Sliced zucchini and mozarella cheese.

Cut the zucchini in slices, using a mandoline or a cheese cutter also goes easy, cut the mozarella cheese in thin scices with a knife, and grease the slowcooker or an ovenproof platter, start with a layer of lasagna,  a layaer of the meet, then a layer of the zucchini and mozarella cheese, and repeat, as long as you have ingredients, the last layer should be the meat and on top you toss the grated emental cheese, and ready for cooking.

Zucchini and mozarella layer.

Last layer of tomato/soy/meat and emental cheese.

In the slow-cooker I use the fast run and program 4 hours, in the oven on 180 degrees,for  about 1 hour.

Four hours later....................................

As the slow-cooker is oval, some of the lasagna sheet has to be broken to fill the whole surface, and when it·s ready, I use to part it like a cake in triangles, like you see on the photos. Add some  halved sherry tomatoes to the plate , I use a lot of different salts, but the tomatoes are so good with Pink Himalaya Salt, and a drop of AOVE.

Looking good, and taste better.

My dear husbond din·t  realice he had soy in the lasagna, and for the future, I will take less meat, and more soy, and he will get used to it, less animal protein, I feel a lot healtier, and the family can eat the same dish. My husband is very good in the kitchen and has lots of proper recipes, and I don·t mind to cook meat, but  sometimes I feel that we have a "a la carte restaurant " at home. So this way maybe we can come together over the same dish.
I hope this can inspire you to take a new  half vegan treat.
Have a good week-end.