‘Feijoada’ Light

Black Beans

Today’s beans split the rib stock with the soup, and used a little bit of the rib meat. (See the other recipe on cooking the ribs.)

It’s inspired by a Brazillian dish, feijoada, but I want way less fat than would be typical. Feijoada often has pig tail, snout and ears cooked in the beans, and Liz wouldn’t be to keen on that in the beans either.

Black Beans

2 cups beans
1 cup rib stock
2 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic
4 cups water

1/4 lb rib meat

Soak beans overnight. Rinse and cook with bay, garlic stock and water. Salt to taste when done.

Serve with, rice, farinha de mandioca (toasted cassava root), sliced oranges and fried collard greens.

Rinsing the Beans

Farinha de Mandioca

Beans with Rice and Mandioca Flour

Sliced Oranges to go with the Beans

Black Beans

Vegetable Soup With Smoked Ribs

Simmering the Soup

Irene and Bill love their smoked ribs (Liz likes them too). As usual when cooking for Irene, cabbage and beans are out, even though they are the most traditional uses for the ribs. These ribs came from the Hungarian meat store in Yorkville (upper east side), which so far, have the best smoked flavor I’ve found.

Vegetable Soup With Smoked Ribs

2 tablespoons fat (I used what came off the rib broth)
2 small onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 bulb fennel, diced
1 bay leaf
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tbsp paprika
1 cup rib stock
3/4 pound diced rib meat (from boiling the stock)
Parsley, chopped

Roux
1 tablespoon fat
1 tablespoon flour

Simmer the ribs in water to cover for about 1 hour, until he meat is tender. Remove the ribs from the pot and when cool enough to handle, remove the meat, returning the bones, fat and everything else to the pot. Simmer another couple hours. Strain and cool in refrigerator until the fat hardens on top. Remove fat and set aside.

Sweat onions in 1 tablespoon fat until they start to get translucent. Add the fennel and sweat a little more. Add the tomatoes, garlic and apple. Cook until the tomatoes dry out and start to brown a little. The apple should be soft as well.

Add the paprika, rib stock with additional water to cover, bay leaf, carrots, parsnip, and celery and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Make a roux with any rib fat, bacon grease (I had some leftover, and didn’t have enough fat from the ribs), or butter. Add water or broth to the roux to thin it to a gravy like consistency.

Stir the roux into the soup and bring to a boil to thicken. Chop the rib meat and add, along with the parsley. Salt and pepper to taste (the rib stock should provide a significant amount of salt).

Simmering the Ribs

The Cooked Ribs

The Rib Meat

Simmering the Bones

Not a Beer (Rib Stock)

The Fat Removed from the Stock

Fennel

Tomatoes

Onions and Fennel

Adding the Tomatoes

Simmering the Soup

Vegetable Soup