Mango Chutney Glazed Ribs

I love ribs, just about any way I can get them.  However, I rarely make them myself.  Mainly because I'm the only one in the house who eats ribs.
But...
When I found some on a BOGO deal at a local store, I had to have them.  And it just so happened we had our monthly Community Potluck coming up.

So, not only did I make some for me, giggle, I shared some at the potluck.  Good thing I kept a few back for myself, because they were GONE!!!! in seconds, well, minutes really.

I like to season the ribs, wrap them in foil, and bake for a few hours.

After they've baked, I take them out of the foil, place them on a rimmed pan, and bake an additional 20-30 minutes to brown the ribs a bit.  I find that letting them 'color' up, adds to the flavor.   Always keep them meat side up.

While they're baking, I warm up the chutney with all the additions, using my immersion blender to break up the chunks of mango and candied ginger. 

I then brush the ribs with some of the chutney sauce, place them back in the oven for a few minutes at 375 degrees,

I then brush them again, a couple of times, I like when the sugars in the chutney start to caramelize.  I place them on a silpat or non stick cooking mat, add some of the 'juice' from the ribs when they were in the foil, or add a half to one cup of water around the base of the ribs.  (Remember, keep the ribs, meat side up).

After taking them out of the oven, let them rest, very important, that rest, then cut them into single ribs for serving. 
These ribs were St. Louis style which meant that the ribs were joined at the base. 

And there you have it, some of the best tasting, finger licking, bone sucking ribs you could imagine.

At least until the next time I make them.

Yield: 2-4 servingsAuthor: Sidsel Munkholm adapted from several online recipes

Chutney glazed Pork Ribs (cooked in oven)

prep time: 15 minscook time: 3 hourtotal time: 3 hours and 15 mins

These chutney glazed ribs are the perfect sweet, sticky, lots of napkins treat.

ingredients:

• 2 racks Pork Ribs ( I used some St. Louis style for these)
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup water

Sauce*

• 1 jar Mango Chutney
• 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 4 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon mustard
• 1-2 tablespoon(s) finely minced crystallized ginger
• 4 tablespoons sweet hot chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

instructions:

1. Wrap each rack of ribs in foil, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper and two tablespoons water.  Seal the foil package up, place on a rimmed cooking sheet  and cook in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours.
2. After two hours, open up each foil pack and remove the foil and place the ribs onto the rimmed baking sheet.  Cook for an additional half hour at 350 degrees. Keep the 'juice'. 
3. The ribs should be tender and almost falling off of the bone.  Add 1/2 cup of water  or the juice from the cooking ribs, to the baking sheet, then brush the ribs with the chutney sauce.   Turn oven up to 375 degrees.  Bake for 15 minutes, then baste with more sauce, bake another 10-15 minutes, brushing with more sauce until the sauce has caramelized.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving the ribs apart.  Serve. Make sure you have lots of napkins handy.

Chutney Sauce

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor or use an immersion blender to break up the chutney. 
2. Pour into a sauce pan and heat.  Let it cook a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so that it does not burn.  Take off of heat and set aside until the ribs are cooked.

Note: This sauce is also fantastic on Wings as well as chicken and even shrimp.  

Created using The Recipes Generator

Community Potluck for March.

I know I'm late posting this, but hey, life happens and well, better late than never. 

Pardon me, but I couldn't resist using a few cliches.

We had our monthly Community Potluck last week, no surprises, lots of great food.

Quite frankly, I'm running out of new ways to phrase this, so I'll go with the same old, same old. 
We have a lot of great cooks here, who love to make and bring not only great tasting food, but also food that is interesting visually as well. 
And here's the offerings,
Smoked Sausage and Sauerkraut

Lasagna

Biscuits

Meatballs

Pasta with ham

Broccoli Salad

Rice Stir fry

Rice Salad

Deviled Eggs

 and more Deviled Eggs

Chile

Chutney Ribs (I'll share how I made them in a day or so)

Cake

More Cake

 Red Velvet Cake

 Banana Pudding

 Strawberry Cake

 A shot of the desserts with Santa

 Who always accompanies the Pineapple

Well that's it for this month's food.

As always, thanks to the St. James Bay Golf Club for allowing us to gather in their Fountain Room for this food extravaganza.   

I swear if you go home hungry from one of our potlucks, that's your problem.

Klar suppe med melboller og kødballer (soup with meatballs and dumplings)

This month for Soup Saturday Swappers, the theme is Meatball soups.    Sneha of Sneha's Recipe is our hostess and she was the one who suggested Meatballs.   And I'm thankful she did because I got to make one my favorite Danish soups for this. Although I did twist it up smidge.

Mom used to make this once in awhile, although she'd also load it up with vegetables.
But...
This is a great tasting soup, and relatively quick to make as well.   I also realized it's been a long time since I've made Melboller, (flour dumplings) which just happens to be my favorite thing to put in soup.

So here goes.
True confessions time.  I was out of ground pork, so I made my own.  Which was so dead simple to do, I'm shocked, shocked I tell you,  that I've  never made my own.
HELLO!!!!  I think I'll be making my own from now on.  

I also played with some interesting seasonings.  I used some Healthy Solutions Italian Meatball seasoning in the meat as well as the soup. and figured if I was going to be that good and not use salt, I'd also throw in some Turmeric.
I'm glad I did.

Yield: 2 ServingsAuthor: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from my mother's recipe

Klar Suppe med Kødboller og Melboller (Clear Soup with Meatballs and Dumplings

prep time: 15 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 30 mins

This is a fun soup for kids and adults, or anyone who likes meatballs and dumplings

ingredients:

Meatballs

• 1/2 lb. ground pork
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup finely minced onion
• 1 teaspoon Healthy Solutions Italian Meatballs Seasoning

Melboller

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt (opt.)

Soup Stock

• 4 cups chicken stock, no salt added
• 2 teaspoons Healthy Solutions Italian Meatball Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon ground Turmeric
• 1 carrot, thinly sliced

instructions:

1. Bring the soup stock and carrot  to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn the heat down. 
2. Form the meat into small balls and add to the soup stock, but don't let it boil.   If it comes to a boil, add an ice cube or two to bring it back down.  (use the instructions for the melboller as a guide.)
3. Cook until the meatballs just rise to the top of the soup, about 6-7 minutes.  Remove to a bowl while you make the Melboller. 
4. When both are cooked, place some of the meatballs and some of the Melboller into a bowl and pour the stock over them and serve. 

Melboller

1. Bring water and butter to a boil in a saucepan, turn down the heat, add the flour all at once and stir it with either a Danish Dough Whisk or a wooden spoon. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the pot, leaving a thin film on the bottom. Remove from heat, let cool a little, not too much, maybe 3-5 minutes or so. Beat in one egg by hand. The mixture will look ropy and gloppy, but it will pull together. As soon as one egg has been incorporated, add the second egg and continue to beat, until it is also incorporated. Set aside for a few minutes while you bring your broth to a boil, turn down the heat, and then make the melboller. Take a small spoon, I used an Ice Tea spoon, dip it into the broth which should be just below the boil, then dip it into the dough, forming a nice little oval shaped ball. Place it gently into the broth, and continue to make the dumplings until all the dough has been used up. Keep the heat on under the broth/soup, but don't let it boil. If it does get too hot, and boils, dump a little cold water into it to stop it, or do as I did, put in a couple of ice cubes. If it boils, the dumplings come apart and while they may taste good, they won't look all that great. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes or so, until the dumplings are cooked through. Serve with the soup as is or take them out, cook some vegetables in the soup stock, and then add the dumplings just before serving so they get a chance to heat up.

All recipes and their respective images are either original or adapted and credited, and are all the sole property of Sid's Sea Palm Cooking © 2011-2020, with all rights reserved thereof.

This recipe and many more Danish Recipes are in my cookbook Hygge- Danish Food and Recipes Dansk Mad og Opskrifter til et Hyggeligt Hjemme, available on Amazon. Also available as an ebook.

Created using The Recipes Generator

Check out what the other Meatball Soup the  bloggers have made for March 2019!

Meatball and Noodle Soup (Sopa Albondigas con Fideo)  by Palatable Pastime
Zucchetti and Meatball Soup  by  Home Sweet Homestead
Green Gram & Chicken Meatball Clear Soup  by  Sneha's Recipe
Albondigas Soup by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Shrimp and Pork Meatball Wonton Noodle Soup  by  Karen's Kitchen Stories
Clear soup with meatballs and dumplings (Klar suppe med kødboller og melboller  by Sids Sea Palm Cooking
Spanish Meatball Soup with Saffron and Kale by A Spoonful of Thyme
One-Pot Fennel & Stout Beef Meatball Stew  by  Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice http://faithhopeloveandlucksurvivedespiteawhiskeredaccomp.

Margarita Shrimp Tacos for #FishFridayFoodies

Time for Fish Friday Foodies, in which we bloggers make and share a recipe and pictures, of course celebrating the theme of the month.
The theme this month is Tacos or Taquitos and our hostess is Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories.

Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm was the instigator for this group, and she welcomes new people all the time.  Just leave her a comment on her blog if you'd like to participate.
So...
I put my thinking cap on and debated, for about 15 minutes.  I was debating between something kinda sweet or something savory to stuff the taco's with.  

Well, last week I did a cooking demo at a local RV park and made and shared the recipe for Margarita Shrimp and Tomatillo Cheese Grits.  My take on Southern style Shrimp and Grits.  Both recipes are from my latest cookbook, Simple Shrimp Recipes - 25+ easy Shrimp Appetizers, Entrees and Sauces.  I know, shameless plug here, but if I can't plug myself, who will?  hmmmm...

I'd forgotten how much I like Margarita Shrimp, and then the thinking cap flew off.
I could stuff tacos with those shrimp.

So I got some more shrimp, made them up, and stuffed my newest obsession, Cauliflower Tortillas with the shrimp and my mouth went ERMAGARD, and promptly downed two of them.  They were almost totally guilt free as well, calorie, gluten and carb wise.  

Can anyone say Trifecta?
'
The only thing that might have made them better, would have been the addition of a slice or two of ripe avocado, or maybe a drizzle of crema or Creme Fraiche.

But for now, I'll take them any way I can get them.

Seriously, they're that good.

Yield: 2-4 servingsAuthor: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Margarita Shrimp Taco's

prep time: 10 minscook time: 10 minstotal time: 20 mins

These make a great light dinner, lunch or even a snack? You can serve them to pescatarians almost guilt free. You can even make them for your gluten free family and friends.

ingredients:

Poaching Liquid

• Poaching liquid for Margarita Shrimp
• 2 pounds shrimp, in shell or shelled.
• 2 quarts water
• 2 tablespoons lightly cracked peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon or more to taste, cayenne pepper
• 1 bottle beer
• 1 lemon, quartered and juice squeezed into pot
• 1 teaspoon dill
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 bay leaves

Margarita Shrimp

• Lime Tequila Shrimp
• 2 lbs. Poached Shrimp (use above recipe or make your own)
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 oz. tequila
• 2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Taco Shells - Corn, Flour or Cauliflower
Toppings - Lettuce, Tomato, Cilantro, Crema, Avocado, Cheese

instructions:

Poaching Liquid

1. Prepare poaching liquid by letting it come to a boil and simmering it for a few minutes to release the spices into the water.
2. Add the shrimp to the boiling water, one third at a time. Remove the shrimp after a couple of minutes, or when they start to float up and turn pink.
3. Place them on a baking sheet to cool down so you can peel them later if needed or desired. Set them aside while poaching the rest of the shrimp.

Margarita Shrimp

1. Melt butter in pan, add shrimp, tequila, lime juice and cilantro.
2. Warm through for just a couple of minutes or less, then serve, stuffed into the Cauliflower Tortilla shells, or your choice of taco shells.  
3. Top with a combo of Cilantro, tomato and avocado or crema or whatever you like

Created using The Recipes Generator

• Crispy Shrimp Street Tacos from Palatable Pastime
• Flaked Fish Tacos from Sneha's Recipe
• Margarita Shrimp Tacos from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Skillet Charred Cod Tacos with Roasted Pineapple Slaw from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Tuna Tacos from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Cauliflower Tortilla Shells

I've seen and read a lot about using Cauliflower to make pizza crusts and other things, like these tortilla shells.

As well as using them as a sub for mashed potatoes, or ricing them and eating them instead of rice. 
And well, gee, I was neutral on the whole idea. 

I love cauliflower, but I like eating it raw, or steamed with a little butter or my favorite,  Cauliflower with Herbs.

I don't make it that often, cause I can eat the whole head all by myself.   Which is OK, except for all that butter. sigh

And then last week, I bought a head of cauliflower and realized I already had one in the fridge, and we were going to be eating out a lot that week. 
What to do?
I decided to try making tortilla shells out of riced cauliflower. so I googled it and there were all kinds of sites out there with recipes.  Which all boiled down to the same basic recipe.  1 head of cauliflower, riced, 2 eggs and seasonings. A couple of places mentioned adding cheese to it, but the amount they suggested seemed like a lot.
So I did what I usually do with something like this.   I played with it.
And while I love corn tortilla's and flour tortilla's, I can happily make and eat these Cauliflower Tortilla shells.

 Literally, I can eat these plain, OK so a little cheese on top doesn't hurt either.

And...
They cook perfectly in my little toaster oven.  In fact, I cooked some in my big oven and some in my little toaster oven, and I liked the ones in the toaster oven better.  Which is a good thing because we're coming into the hot season here, and the regular oven tends to heat up the house.

I made these for Taco Tuesday last week, and I'm making more this week as well.  

 Cause they were that darn good.

 I had to include one picture taken with my phone,

I even used one under my Huevo Ranchero's for my Sunday breakfast.   And I didn't miss the regular tortilla at all.

If you make more than you'll eat at one meal, just wrap them well and keep them in  the fridge for up to 3 days.

Yield: 6 tortilla'sAuthor: Sidsel Munkholm adapted from several online recipes

Cauliflower Tortillas

prep time: 5 minscook time: 10 minstotal time: 15 mins

These don't taste exactly like a corn tortilla, but you don't miss the corn either.

ingredients:

• 1/2 head Cauliflower, riced in the food processor
• 1 egg - beaten lightly
• 1/2 cup shredded monterey jack/cheddar cheese (Cojack) (optional)

instructions:

1. Cook the cauliflower in a food safe bowl in the microwave for 1-2 minutes at 80 % power.  Press out as much liquid as possible, using either a cheese cloth or a cloth pressed on top of the cauliflower.  Allow to cool.
2. Mix in one egg, until it is well mixed.   Add 1/2 cup cheese if desired. 
3. Measure out 1/4 cup of the mixture, and press into a rough circle (4-5 inches wide) on parchment paper.    Bake in toaster oven at 400 degrees for about 8 minutes, then turn over and bake an additional 2-3 minutes.  (my toaster oven does two at a time).  Remove from parchment paper and continue until all the tortilla's are cooked.  Fill with taco meat and toppings.  
4. These are fairly sturdy, but will not act like a traditional taco shell.  They do sometimes come  apart as you eat them. 

Created using The Recipes Generator

Dumbo Style Cake

A friend asked me a couple of months ago if I would make a Dumbo cake for a baby shower.   I casually tossed off, sure no problem, happy to do it.

And I was, but then came the test, how to make a Dumbo.
I went online, I googled, I checked Pinterest and even Etsy.
Did you know you can buy Dumbo figurines made of fondant? 
You can, and you pay for the artist who made them.  They're not that cheap.

No problem, I thought, I used to do some clay sculptures, back in my way, way, way younger days and maybe I could play with fondant and make my own.

Well, that idea hit the skids almost right away.
I live in the south, and the humidity would have made for a sorry looking Dumbo, he would have been all flollopy.

Yes, that's a word, flollopy, the same way you get when you have one drink too many.
Sorry, I got caught up in a word there.

Well, last year I made Calla Lilies out of gum paste for a wedding cake I made and I decided to play with the gum paste.  I thought the Calla Lilies turned out pretty good.   

I'd made a few extra's so put them on a little cake for the Bridal Shower.

So I was pretty confident I could do something with Gum Paste.
Honestly, I kinda impressed myself with how well it turned out.


Here's a few pictures of the process of making my Dumbo.

I did use this website as a guide though, and I want to give Kudos to him/her for the clear pictures.

I also wasn't going to post about the process, so I just used my phone to take pictures, and then I thought well, maybe someone might be interested in the process. 

I used Gum Paste and made the basic figure, added the front legs, then the collar,  I used toothpicks to make a kind of ruffle around it.

Let it dry, and then added the ears, flaring them out slightly. 

After that, I made his little hat

Let him dry for a couple of days and then painted him using gel food coloring mixed with a little gum paste and water.  Next time, I'll thin it out with some vodka so that it may dry faster, I hope.  We had really humid weather that week.

Here he is on top of the cake.   Thanks to the high humidity, he still glistened as he wasn't completely dry.  I thought he resembled a porcelain figurine, myself.

And there you have it, my venture into modeling a figurine with Gum Paste.
I had fun with him.
I even bought some more gum paste to play with. giggle.