dark days challenge, week four: country-style ribs

dark days challenge dinner: barbecue-style pork ribs, steamed romanesco, buttered oatmeal bread

the best thing about romanesco, i think, is how it looks. fractals! it's pretty tasty too, a sort of 'greener' cauliflower flavor. i steam it just like i would with broccoli or cauliflower.

i've been on a bit of a search for locally grown bread ingredients. for all-purpose flour, Stone-Buhr is the closest i've found. i got some whole wheat from Gee Creek Farm that was grown within 100 miles, which is great. however, in a moment of radical self acceptance i have realized that i don't always want whole grain flour. i've had some good whole grain breads that i've purchased from the grocery store, but i like baking my own bread. anyway, i found this flour which comes from farms in oregon, washington and idaho. still over 100 miles away, but pretty local when it comes to flour.

it boasts of having this handy tracking program where you enter the date on your bag of flour in this site and it shows you which farm it came from. what a great idea! well, i did it and it didn't come up with anything, which was disappointing. i'm sure it's just a programming issue. still i like what they're trying to do.

there are all sorts of things in this bread that aren't remotely local: oat bran, wheat bran, yeast, maple syrup, but the wheat flour, white flour, milk and the oatmeal are, or maybe consider them local-ish... the oatmeal is from Snoqualmie Falls Lodge. i first started buying it in high school because it was featured in Twin Peaks as The Great Northern Hotel. also, the recipe on the side of the bag makes the best oatmeal cookies i've ever tasted.

here i used country-style pork ribs from Kookoolan Farms. this recipe is really delicious and easy. mix up a spice rub of chili powder, black pepper, sugar, salt and paprika (sadly all non-local). rub the mix on the ribs and refrigerate overnight. bring the ribs to room temperature and bake in a baking pan at 200 degrees for 3.5 to 4 hours, coat with barbecue sauce and cook 30 minutes more. eat and go to heaven. i was out of barbecue sauce so i made some out of the last bits of my homemade lactofermented ketchup mixed with some molasses, cider vinegar, and onion powder (also, not local). it was really good.