Braising the day away

I know I’ve said it before that pork makes me happy. However, what makes me even happier is when I stumble upon a simple way to prepare it.

During one of my latest shopping expeditions I picked up some bone in country ribs. As usual, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with them at the time.

Ordinarily, I would let them sit in my slow cooker along with the basic elements of my barbecue sauce for six or eight hours. Not only is this very easy, but I can then reduce the braising liquid down into a very flavorful sauce.

However, I wasn’t much in the mood for anything spicy and many other slow cooker alternatives I investigated involved a lot of glazes, which would have wreaked havoc on my blood sugar. In the midst of my quandary it suddenly hit me – Italian style country ribs!

There are few things I like doing in the kitchen better than braising inexpensive cuts of meat. In my less than humble opinion I make some killer braised beef short ribs and figured that same method would be a quick, easy way to put these country ribs to good use.

There isn’t much to this recipe, no real advance planning other than giving yourself enough time for the meat to cook until it practically falls apart from your intimidating stare. I also decided to keep the presentation simple by throwing together some creamy polenta on which to serve the finished product.

The beauty of this dish is its simplicity. You can put all of this together the night before or the morning that you plan to have it for dinner, set the slow cooker and return home to an amazing meal.

Braised Italian style country ribs

Hardware

• Slow cooker
• Medium frying pan or cast iron skillet
• Tongs and other miscellaneous utensils

Software

• 3 to 5 pounds of bone in country style pork ribs
• 1/2 bottle red wine (I used Chianti)
• 1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large leek, roughly chopped
• 6 cloves of garlic, smashed
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil

Assemblage

• Wash and pat dry the rib, apply salt and pepper to taste
• Heat the oil in the skillet and sear the ribs for about a minute on each side
• Remove the ribs from the pan/skillet and place in the slow cooker
• Deglaze the pan with a splash or two of red wine
• Add onions, leeks and celery and saute for three to four minutes
• Add the smashed garlic cloves
• Work in the can of tomato paste and cook for two to three minutes
• Reduce heat to a simmer and add the crushed tomatoes
• Add the contents of the pan into the slow cooker and top off with a little more wine
• Set your slow cooker on a low setting for six to eight hours, depending on your model

Presentation

I prepared a creamy polenta to go with the braised ribs and added some toasted pine nuts to give it a different textural element. When the polenta was ready, I spooned it on the middle of a plate and piled two or three ribs on top.

I also took some of the braising liquid, reduced it in a saucepan on high for about ten minutes to create a sauce. Just a drizzle of the reduction and a touch of grated peccorino romano cheese finished off my slow cooker masterpiece.

If you like my kitchen posts, or are new the site, watch out for my free ebook ‘peaches en risotto: a dad’s place is in the kitchen’ which is due out on November 30, 2009.  It will be available to read online and for download over at peachesenrisotto.com.

Tagged as: Braising, Cook, Home, Pork ribs, Wine