Thursday Night at Prairie Manor

Cowboy Paul was marinating country style pork ribs when I got home from work.  He recently discovered a local store that carries thick juicy ribs that have so much meat on them you have to use a fork and knife to eat them.  Don’t tell anyone I used utensils to eat ribs, I would lose my hillbilly card! 

He fired up his giant Weber Rancher Kettle grill that is big enough to hold a whole pig or a couple dozen burgers and hotdogs all at once!  Our patio isn't big enough and I may have mentioned a couple of times that it is a little large when he’s cooking for just two of us.  Cowboy Paul said, “Its fine.”  Have I mentioned he is a man of few words?

My kitchen assignment for the evening was to make coleslaw.  I pulled out my trusty sauce pan, added 1/2 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/4 cup white vinegar, sea salt, fresh ground pepper and a few shakes of onion powder and heated over medium heat until the sugar was melted.  I set it aside to cool while I shook a bag of shredded cabbage into a large bowl. 

Paul was busy fixing BBQ baked beans and grating an onion.  He grated enough extra for me to add about half a cup to my shredded cabbage.  Once the dressing was cooled, I drizzled it over the cabbage and onion mixture.  After mixing well I let it sit for a few minutes on the counter.  To me the flavors seem to blend better at room temperature.  Cowboy has other ideas about these things and he stuck the bowl in the fridge. 

I prefer Paul's homemade chimichuri sauce on the ribs and he prefers BBQ sauce on his. Looks like he is putting me on a diet now that I see how many ribs were for me and how many were for him!

I would like to mention that vinegar based coleslaw is great when you live where it’s hot and you like to take slaw to outdoor gatherings.  You don’t have to worry about food poisoning like you do with mayonnaise based slaw sitting out in the heat.

Dinner was delicious!  No jalapenos!  It was touch and go, Paul wanted to put them in his BBQ baked beans.  They didn't need heat, they needed bacon!

I asked him to share his chimichuri recipe with you, but he is very secretive about these things.  They are locked up in his head and he plans to write a cookbook.  I do know he uses fresh herbs from our patio herb pots.

During dinner, Cedric Montfort, our noisy alien mostly hairless cat was hanging off my leg trying to convince me he wouldn’t survive without ribs.  Unfortunately for him he begged on the side where Paul sits and Paul doesn’t believe critters should be fed at the table. 

 Actually Paul never had an indoor critter before marrying me and thinks all cats belong in the barn.  Can you imagine Cedric Montfort in a barn?

He can't either!