Friday, April 23, 2010

FOOD FRIDAY!


BAKED PORK AND NOODLES

This one is so easy I can't believe I never ran across it before, and even though a big part of is it is a couple of canned soups, I'm not proud, if it tastes good.  

What I was really looking for was a way to make what my mother called "pork and noodles"--a good name, really, because that's all it was, plus some onion.  Somehow she could boil egg noodles, pork chops and onions together and make it come out a rich, delicious wonder instead of a gluey mess.  It can't have cooked for a very long time--the noodles take only 10 minutes to boil--and the pork not much longer.  Anyway, I never found a recipe for boiling pork and noodles together, but I found a slew of them for baking them, all about this simple.  Pork in North Carolina is a delicious and cheap protein, and I'm looking for more ways to use it.  But you don't have to live in the Tarheel State to enjoy this.  

Just one warning:  give yourself some time.  I takes 1 1/2 hours to cook.

6 country-style pork ribs
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can French onion soup
8 oz. uncooked egg noodles
1 medium onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Pat meat dry, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and brown thoroughly in bottom of a Dutch oven.  Remove meat from pan and set aside.

Mix soups together (do not dilute) and pour into Dutch oven.  Raise heat to a boil and deglaze bottom of Dutch oven with the soups.  

Distribute uncooked noodles evenly through soup mixture, making sure they are submerged, then nestle browned pork among the noodles.  Separate onion slices into rings and distribute evenly over all.

Cover tightly and bake for 1 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender.  Serve with salad or your choice of vegetable.  Yum!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ralph,

I can't believe I took country-style ribs out to defrost for dinner tonight. WOW. What timing. I will pick up the soup at the store today and give this one a try tonight. Thanks! YaY! Food Friday is back.

Ralph said...

Let me know what you think. A little bit of wine added to the soups wouldn't be a bad idea...I plan to try that next time.

Anonymous said...

I might try that too. Ann wants me to add those diced garlic tomatoes that Heinz puts out in a can. I may do that but usually those mild pickled peppers go with those and noodles. It makes a nice side dish. Pretty soon I'll have a different recipe for this dish.

Ralph said...

This recipe is basically a blank slate--you can add lots of things. Let me know what you come up with.

Anonymous said...

Excellent! It's a keeper here, thanks so much. And I served it with a combination of olives, mild pickled peppers, hot rolls and lots of butter. My kids showed up and had seconds, daughter Rebecca is the PC volunteer in the family, Zimbabwe, I told her all about you. Nice evening, thanks.

Peewit said...

Oh there's typical I don't log on for various reasons all weekend I come back and find 2 posts and a food Friday!

Have to say your Dutch oven looks remarkably like a Bucket (or is it pail in Americanese?) from above. I can just imagine you and Steve having mixed cement in that before pressing into service for what sounds a nice recipe. Any idea what us English would call country style ribs?

Peewit

Ralph said...

Indeed, Peewit, you must stay alert around here!

Yes, my Dutch oven is an old fashioned cast iron one that must weigh 4 or 5 kilos empty. It's huge and it does look a bit like a bucket (or pail--depending on where you are in the States) but it's a bit too shallow to mix cement in.

As to country style ribs, here's what I could find. An additional note, they are usually cut into long "fingers," 5-8 inches long (sorry can't translate that one into metric):

Country-style ribs are not really ribs. They are cut from the front end of the loin near the shoulder (the shoulder is also known as the "butt" for some strange reason) and a tray in the grocery store can contain contain few, if any, ribs. In fact, if there are bones, they are often part of the shoulder blade. Country-style ribs are more like chops, more meaty and less fatty than real ribs, and should be treated like chops, not ribs. Because they vary in size and thickness, they are hard to cook to an even doneness.