with White Beans and “Rice”
Hands-on time: 30-45 minutes // Time from start to finish: 45-75 minutes
(Gluten-Free, Lactose/Dairy Free, Diabetes Diet, Low Fat/Low Cholesterol, Cardiac Diet)
Chop pork country ribs in half (the cut is less important here than the other flavors; use what you have—I usually use whatever I can find in the “manager’s special” bin), and marinate in cabernet vinegar, balsamic vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, cloves (just a couple; they’re strong!), thyme, salt.
This is a good time to prep your cauli rice (see below). I left the pork in the marinade for about 1.5 hours and it came out great. Doing this out of the fridge also lets the meat come to room temp, which is better for cooking (just don’t let it hang out here too long).
Remove from marinade and sear both sides in cast iron.
Add the marinade (include the bay leaves, etc!) back in and finish by braising in the oven at 350F for about 10 minutes. (Maybe check at 8 minutes. Overcooked meat is no fun, and every oven is different.)
While the meat is cooking, dice ¼ a yellow onion. Saute for a few minutes in a medium pan with a little olive oil. Drain a can of white navy beans (don’t look at me, I didn’t name ’em) and add those to the onions. Turn the pan down to low. You want to warm the beans, not fry them.
When your meat is done, pull it out of the oven to rest. Spoon some of those juices over your white beans. They’ll be surprisingly sweet!
For the cauliflower rice:
Chop a head of cauliflower into florets or other similar-sized chunks. You’re about to food process them, so they really don’t have to be pretty.
Steam them for about 15 or so minutes over a pot of boiling water.
Make sure not to let the cauliflower touch the water while it’s steaming. This will introduce too much water and you will end up with mashed potatoes instead of rice.
Once knife tender (but maybe not yet fork tender), pop ’em in the food processor and run in spurts until you have small rice-sized chunks.
These don’t need to be cooked again before being eaten, just warmed up.
I like to make several heads worth of cauliflower rice at a go and pull out a container each week for meal prep—doing this could cut down your hands-on time for this recipe to 15-20 minutes.
The Accidental Nutritionist 