Pineapple Infused Apple Smoked Spareribs

Mrs. Tom wins Limbo contest

Mrs. Tom is flying high headed to the Hawaiian Island of Maui and has decided to pass on the space jump and opted for a smooth landing on the Island last Friday. We should be looking for a dish inspired by the Pacific Rim and some of Mrs. Tom’s festivities this week.

Extra Extra Mrs. Tom WINS LIMBO CONTEST in Maui! The island is a buzz talking about Mrs.Tom setting the bar for the weekly limbo event and Hawiian feast. After she feasted on the spareribs claimimg them to be the best she ever had.

She talked her Hawaiian host-chef into discussing the details of how he made those ribs. This is the last of the grilling season before we have to talk pumpkins and turkey sandwiches. So we finish the the season off with the king of all back yard grilling fare, ribs done Mrs.Tom's Hawaiian Style.  

Serves 4

¼ cup Asian fish sauce
½ cup fresh pinapple juice¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 / 3 and down spareribs

6 handfuls of apple wood chips soaked in water for 1 hour and wrapped in foil with holes poked in the foil.

In a bowl mix all the marinade ingredients

Cut off the excess flap meat and slide a knife under the membrane on each of the ribs and loosen so that the marinade can penetrate. In a tall kitchen bag doubled up place the ribs and marinade, tie the bag tightly. Let them marinade over night refrigerated. You can cut the ribs in half if the space on your grill dictates.

Light the grill and leave a low two zone fire for 10 minutes fro gas and 20 to 30 for charcoal, one side on low and one on medium heat. Fill a drip pan with water and place the wood chips wrapped in the foil on the back of your grill and close the top. Pull the ribs and let them come to room temperature while the grill heats up.

Reserve the marinade and transfer to a small sauce pan and reduce at a boil for a few minutes to use later as a basting sauce. If you have a charcoal grill you can spread some of the wood chips over the coals and add coals as you need them to maintain a low fire. Make sure you poke the holes in the foil with the wood chips.

Place the ribs bone side down on the grill on a low to medium heat. Leave the ribs for an hourbefore you begin to rotate and turn the ribs. Begin using the basting sauce and cook at a low indirect heat for about 4 total hours.

Mrs. Tom’s SecretRemove the ribs wrap them in foil and let them sit for 15 minutes. They should pull nicely from the bone and licking your fingers is suggested and acceptable.

Vermont Pepper-Pot Soup

 

We are entering the most beautiful time of the year here in Vermont. The trees are beginning their turn into a majestic kaleidoscope of color and wonder. Proctor Gas has never experienced a busier fall in our 45 years. We are thankful.

Mrs. Tom is busy installing fireplaces, wood and pellet stoves, propane generators, and lava lamps to heat your patio and still her favorite Proctor Gas product… the phenomenal line of outdoor Twin Eagle and Saber gas grills. Mrs. Tom likes to say that cooking is akin to love, passion and family. It is where it all comes together around the gathering of the table.

It’s time for apple picking and pumpkin carving and the emergence of very short spooks goblins and monsters lurking about our neighborhoods looking to satisfy their sweet tooth. Beware some will have large fangs! As we send our most special and prized possessions into the streets for Hollows Eve we all need to be frightfully aware and keep them safe from harm and accident.

Mrs. Tom has a great fall soup to go with all that candy!

Vermont pepper-pot soup w/sweet or hot sausage, broccoli rabe, potatoes and finger size apple dumplings

Make a Roux

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter

3/4 cup all purpose flour

Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter over a medium low heat and then whisk in the flour and incorporate until smooth, let it cool to room temp
 

The Soup Ingredients

1lb sweet ground sausage or pulled from the casing

3 medium size russet potatoes peeled cut into ¼ inch squares blanched and reserve the water

1 small can white kidney beans with liquid

2 shallots sliced thin

1 bunch broccoli rabe chopped
¼ cup fresh oregano and basil chopped

3 boxes organic chicken stock or your own

6 table spoons olive oil
Teaspoon red pepper flakes
S&P taste

In a heavy sauce pot put the oil, heat then add the shallots. Cook for 3 minutes and then add and brown the sausage, the broccoli rabe, crushed red pepper. Then add the blanched potatoes and fresh herbs. The kidneys beans with the liquid and then the reserved water from the potatoes.

Now add the stock and bring to a simmer, then whisk in the rough until it is all incorporated. Spoon in the dumplings.

The Apple Finger Dumplings

1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour or unbleached white flour, sifted
1 1/4 cups water
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped chives

2 apples peeled and cored chopped fine

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, pressing out any lumps with a spoon. When the mixture is smooth, add the water, stirring to blend well.

Remove from the stove and mix in the eggs and chopped chives, apples making sure that the mixture is uniform in consistency. Allow the mixture to cool.  

Bring two cups of chicken stock to boil. Ladle a rounded spoonful of dumpling batter into the stock to test. If it separates in pieces, blend in as much additional flour as is needed to keep the dumplings whole. Add the rest of the batter by spoonfuls to the soup and cook for 20 minutes, or until firm.

Serve immediately with the soup.

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