With Valentine’s falling on a Sunday, there was time to prepare a nice Valentine supper for David and I. When I did my grocery shopping at Kroger’s earlier in the week, they were offering a special two-for-one sale on their pork rib slabs. So I picked up two. Over the years I have felt intimidated to cook ribs thinking it to be quite a process. After looking up some recipes, I learned the secret is slow baking at a low temperature.
I wrapped up each slab individually in foil after giving them a rub of spices – season salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, followed by a generous sprinkling of brown sugar. After baking for at least two hours at 300-degrees, the meat was tender. I opened up the foil wrap and dabbed a BBQ mixture of catsup and A-1 sauce, closed the foil and baked for another 1/2 hour. Once again I opened up the foil, this time putting the ribs under the broiler to crisp up the BBQ sauce on the ribs.
I also made a pot of “Roasted French Chestnut” Soup. I sautéed chopped onion, celery and garlic in butter, then added flour to make the roux. To this I added chicken broth and chopped roasted chestnuts. The roasted chestnuts come from France, are packaged in a jar, and can be ordered through Amazon. Seasonings consisted of roasted chicken bouillon, season salt, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, sugar, and most importantly…ground nutmeg. Once the soup was cooked and the flavors marinated together, the soup was pureed in our Nutra-Ninja to make it smooth and velvety.
To round out our meal, I baked two whole sweet potatoes in the oven along with the ribs. I made a tasty side salad of leafy greens, blue cheese sprinkles, dried cranberries, and chopped pecans. A strawberry-balsamic dressing was drizzled on top. Additional items were Sweet Hawaiian rolls with butter, and a side bowl of the BBQ sauce. Very pink raspberry and strawberry macarons ordered on Etsy were our sweet treats. Heart shaped mugs of hot Earl Grey tea complimented our Valentine supper.
Dining room table set for our Valentine supper.
Red hearts, white lace and ceramic cherubs decorate the table.
A duo of cloth napkins held together with a cherub napkin ring.
Red tulips spill out of a Valentine vase.
Centerpiece grouping of tulips in vase, cherub holding a heart, pillar candle and checked hearts.
Plates laden with our Valentine supper food.
Leafy lettuce salad with bleu cheese sprinkles, dried cranberries, chopped pecans and a strawberry-balsamic dressing.
Roasted French Chestnut Soup, Baked BBQ Ribs with extra BBQ Sauce, halved Sweet Potato, and heart shaped mugs of hot Earl Grey Tea.
Sweet Raspberry and Strawberry Macarons on antique silver tray completed our special Valentine supper.
So lovely! I like the tulips in the center…I like the purple along with the red and white. The food looks pretty and delicious (not fair…should have taste and smell-a-vision). Hope you are enjoying the white snow along with your white tree theme. Have a nice weekend, Joyce.