Oven Ribs with Bacon Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts

Oven Ribs and Bacon Pomegranate Brussels Sprouts Dish Guide

Serves 2-4

For the Ribs

1 Rack of Pork Baby Back Ribs

1 T yellow mustard

Salt and Pepper to taste

Remove Silver Skin from ribs and brush with the mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Place on a making tray or dish and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 300 for 2.5-3 hours or until your desired tenderness.

For the Pomegranate BBQ Sauce

1 cup pomegranate juice

1/3 cup ketchup

2 T dark soy sauce

2 T yellow mustard

1 T paprika

2 T honey

2 T vinegar (we used red wine)

½ tsp liquid smoke

1 T sriracha

Place the pomegranate juice in a sauce pot over medium heat and reduce by half, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Reserve half of the reduction (about ¼ cup) for the pomegranate vinaigrette. Add the remaining ingredients and stir for 3-4 for minutes over low heat until well combined. Set aside for the ribs or use as a tangy all-purpose barbecue sauce.

For the Brussels Sprouts

1 lb brussels sprouts

2 T pomegranate reduction

4 strips bacon

1 T Dijon mustard

1 crushed or minced clove of garlic

¼ cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the bacon until crisp in a large skillet. Remove and drain the bacon and keep the skillet and bacon fat. Let cool completely. Prepare the sprouts by removing any small or brown outer leaves and trimming any woody stems. Cut the sprouts in half lengthwise. Place cut-side down in the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid or foil and set heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes. Turn the sprouts over. They should be slightly brown on the bottom and bright green on the top. Turn them all over and cover and cook an additional 3-5 minutes or until your desired tenderness.

In a bowl combine the pomegranate reduction, mustard and garlic. Whisk in the olive oil to form a vinaigrette. Toss the warm brussels sprouts in the vinaigrette and finally add in the bacon in crumbles.

Dish Notes

This technique would work just as well with beef ribs or pork spareribs but you may need to adjust the cooking times depending on the amount of fat and size of the racks. The BBQ sauce can be made vegan by substituting brown sugar or maple syrup for the honey and the sprouts side dish could be kept vegan by omitting the bacon and using olive oil to cook the sprouts. Dark soy sauce is essential to getting the deep dark colors and gloss to the glaze but you’ll get a similar flavor without the great color if you use regular soy sauce.