Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash

Cider Braised Country Ribs
Originally uploaded by gergistheword

Pasture's A Plenty usually offers good deals on country style pork ribs at the Co-op. The price is right, but with all that connective tissue, they need some time under some heat to get nice and tender. What with cider and butternut squash readily available this time of year from local sources, I threw together a local, seasonal dish in an afternoon consisting of cider, ribs, and butternut squash.

Cider Braised Country Style Ribs and Butternut Squash (serves 3-4)

4-6 country style boneless pork ribs
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped roughly
12 oz. Cider
1 c. chicken stock
2 tbsp BBQ sauce
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 375.
Rub ribs with salt and pepper on both sides.
Brown ribs on all sides in hot oil in skillet. Add salt, pepper, water, garlic, and onion to pan.
Allow onions to caramelize until dark, but not burned.
Place ribs and onions in an oven casserole and set aside.
De-glaze skillet with 6 oz cider
Pour cider de-glazing mixture over the ribs and onions in the casserole.
Add remaining thyme, BBQ sauce, cider, and stock to the casserole pan. Stir.
Bake covered for 1 hour at 375.
Remove cover and bake for one more hour at 375.
Baste ribs 3-4 times with braising liquid from the pan while baking.
Serve with butternut squash recipe below.
Pour 2 tbsp. braising liquid over ribs and squash.

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1 medium butternut squash
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp olive oil

Cut squash down the middle lengthwise, scrape out seeds.
Rub cut surface with salt, pepper, oil, brown sugar.
Coat baking pan with butter or non-stick spray.
Bake upside-down in baking pan at 375 for 1.5 hours.
Scrape out the squash pulp, and mash until smooth.
Add more salt, pepper, brown sugar to taste.

Shepherd's Way Farms -- Cheesemaking Classes

From Shepherd's Way:

Want to make cheese at home? Curious about artisan cheese? Or, looking for a special outing for your group of friends? Choose from our one-day afternoon class, custom group classes at the farm, or classes tailored for your group and location.

Inside Artisan Cheesemaking – January 17 OR February 7
Spend an afternoon at Shepherd's Way Farms award-winning sheep dairy covering cheesemaking basics and techniques, learning some steps hands-on, and sampling and discussing cheese. We will cover information about several cheeses and walk through steps of a typical cheesemake. Includes a demonstration make of ricotta cheese and the final steps of fresh cheese. By the end of the day, you will have a good foundation for building your home cheesemaking skills -- for beginners or for those just wanting to know more. And you will get to take cheese home! (Portions of the class will take place in the cheesemaking facility and require some extended standing. Adults only, please!)

$65 Registration & prepayment required Limit 15 people

1 Day Afternoon Class January 17, Sunday 1pm-4 pm (one day class)

1 Day Afternoon Class February 7, Sunday 1pm-4pm (one day class)

(Preregister by email farmfriends@earthlink.net, we'll email you details so you can complete registration online or by mail.)

Shepherd's Way Farms, 8626 160th Street East, Nerstrand, MN 55053

(just outside Northfield, 1 hour south of Minneapolis/St.Paul)

Questions? Email them at farmfriends@earthlink.net or call 507-663-9040.

[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]

Free Films on Food and Agriculture

It's pretty cold outside. How about catching a free film?

7:00 PM TONIGHT at the U of M Bell Museum of Natural History Auditorium, the classic food film, Big Night, will be playing as part of the Films on Food and Agriculture series by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University of Minnesota

"Two immigrant brothers (Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub) run a small trattoria serving the finest of Italian regional cooking. Unfortunately, it’s 1950s New Jersey, and customers expect singing waiters to deliver heaping mounds of spaghetti and meatballs. Can their “big night” with a star guest save the day?"

The film series continues in the winter, on the FIRST Thursdays:

HomeGrown
Thursday, February 4
The Dervaes family grows over 6,000 pounds of produce on one
city lot in Pasadena, CA. Relying mainly on their own words, this
documentary provides a portrait of how they moved from conventional
homeowners to cultivating their own urban “homestead.”

The Gleaners and I
Thursday, March 4
Follow Agnes Varda, grande dame of the French New Wave, on this
“wandering-road documentary” that explores those who insist on
finding a use for that which society casts off, whether out of necessity
or activism.

The Real Dirt on Farmer John
Thursday, April 1
The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer who transforms his
farm amidst economic crisis and the difficulties of being different in
rural America. Brilliantly constructed from a lifetime of documentary
footage, this funny and haunting film heralds the renewal of the
Peterson family farm as a bastion of creative agriculture and one
of the U.S.ʼs largest CSA farms.

Julie and Julia
Thursday, May 6
Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is writer Julia Powell in
Nora Ephron's vivid and compelling story. Julia Child discovers her
gift for French cooking and writes the classic Mastering the Art of
French Cooking. Julia Powell resolves to make all 524 recipes in the
book in a year, and to blog about it. Both women achieve selfrealization
with passion, fearlessness and butter.

Sponsored and organized by the Agrifood Reading Group at the University
of Minnesota www.AgriFoodUMN.net

Co-sponsored by the Institute for Global Studies, Institute for Advanced
Studies, Bell Museum of Natural History, and Departments of History, Geography and Sociology.

The Bell Museum will remain open until 9pm on Thursday evenings, and the
new exhibit “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” will be up until May 9, 2010).



[where: Sustainable Food, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Twin Cities, Minnesota]