“Man who stand on hill with mouth open will wait long time for roast duck to drop in.” Confucius

The message is: If you are hungry, you better get cookin'

Actually, I have been doing a lot of cooking... some really tasty stuff. And, I've been taking a lot of photos. I just haven't been doing a lot of blogging.

One of my favorite food sites is Ovens to Betsy. I like many of her recipes, but she is also an inspiration for me. Betsy maintains another blog called Eat Drink Run Woman in which she chronicles her weight loss and fitness journey. She very bravely posted photos of herself "Before". I have not had the courage to do that yet, but I'm working on it. But I am still trying to become a runner, although I am mostly a walker at this point.

Anyway, I got this wonderful rib dish from Betsy's blog.

Although this recipe refers to roasting in a convection oven, you could certainly do the same thing in a conventional oven. You will need to increase the heat from 300° to 325° and increase the roasting time to about 2-1/2 hours.

I am so fortunate that when we started to remodel our house this last year, we bought new appliances first. I replaced the old range with this new Jenn-Air range


I love this range. It gives me conventional and convection capabilities. I used the convection mode for this recipe. As a side note... we are not finished with our remodel yet. But that is another story for another time.


These ribs are, to put it mildly, delicious and worth every single minute it takes to prepare them. I served them with a simple rice pilaf made with this rice mix.






And this is how they turned out.




Braised Korean-style Short Ribs
(Betsy adapted this recipe from the Culinary Institute of America)
Serves 6

6 to 7 lbs. of beef short ribs, trimmed
Salt & pepper, as needed
Powdered ginger, as needed
Garlic powder, as needed
Onion powder, as needed
Flour, as needed.

1 large onion, medium dice
1 carrot, medium dice
1 rib celery, medium dice
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
3/4 soy sauce
1/2 mirin
1 quart beef broth

2 tablespoons butter mixed with 2 tablespoons flour (beurre manié)

Toss the ribs in flour seasoned with the ginger, garlic, and onion powders, salt and pepper (I used about 2 cups of flour and a teaspoon of each seasoning). Place the mirepoix (the diced onion, carrot and celery) on the bottom of a roasting pan and place the ribs on a rack on top of the veggies (I used an oblong cake rack). Sear in a 450° convection oven until ribs are deep golden brown and veggies begin to caramelize.

Remove the rack with the ribs and set aside. Mix the brown sugar into the mirepoix and continue to roast until the sugar carmalizes with the veggies. Deglaze with the mirin, vinegar, soy sauce and stock and add the ribs back into the pan. Place a sheet of parchment paper directly on top of the ribs and cover the pan with foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 300° convection and braise until ribs are tender, approximately 1-1/2 to 2 hours (turn occasionally to ensure even cooking).

When done, remove the ribs to a cutting board and cut off bones and fat (you can see I did not remove them from the bones, but I did remove a good deal of the fat that remained). Strain the sauce, place it in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the beurre manié. Serve over the ribs.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Back in August, I saw a recipe on Nic's food blog for Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops that I just had to try. They looked so delicious and tasted even better. I couldn't believe that such a simple recipe could be so outstanding. I served them with Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts. Here is how they turned out...



Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops
(Recipe Courtesy of Nic in the Kitchen, who adapted it from Giada De Laurentis recipe)

3 to 4 pork chops (I chose the large, boneless butterflied chops)
2 eggs
Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese, fresh ~ finely grated
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate. Place the cheese in a third pie plate. Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Coat the chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere. Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side.

As I said, I used the large, boneless butterflied chops and 6 minutes on each side was not enough time for the meat to come up to temperature. In addition, I didn't want them to be any darker, so I did as Nic did with hers. I put the chops in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

They were perfectly done, juicy and tender on the inside, and crunchy on the outside.

The Rosemary Potatoes are simple. I cut up the potatoes into pieces (just larger than bite size) and put them in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to coat, salt & pepper to taste; sprinkle with a teaspoon or two of ground dried rosemary and some grated parmesan cheese. Toss to coat the potatoes really well. Pour onto baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees until done (about 45 minutes). Crispy outside, tender inside. Yummy and so, so easy.