Author Notes
Although I’m a voracious home cook and cookbook collector, sometimes I struggle with mealtime ideas for my kids. It’s my philosophy that all food – even kid food – should appeal to the whole family. In approaching food with this lens, I try to connect with my kids at their level by basing meals on flavors they already recognize – such as carrots, pears, and ketchup – and then adding flavors that are completely new –such as ginger and soy. The results, more often than not, are full bellies and empty plates. These ribs with Asian pear sauce are as delicious for kids as they are for adults. —Feed Me Dearly
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Ingredients
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1
small carrot, peeled and chopped
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1/2 tablespoon
grated ginger
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1
small clove of garlic
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1
green onion (+ more for garnish)
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1 tablespoon
grapeseed oil
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2 tablespoons
soy sauce
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2 tablespoons
tomato ketchup
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1
small Asian pear, peeled and chopped
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1 tablespoon
unsulphered molasses
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1 tablespoon
rice wine vinegar
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2 pounds
pork baby back ribs
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1
large yellow onion, sliced
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1 teaspoon
salt
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Freshly-ground black pepper
Directions
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To make the sauce, place the first 10 ingredients in a food processor and blend until it forms a thick puree. If you’d like an even finer sauce, you could strain but we liked it a little chunky. Adjust the flavors to suit your kids’ taste. Set the sauce aside in the fridge until you’re ready to use it to baste the ribs.
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To make the ribs, slice the onion and lay it on the bottom of a slow cooker.
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Season the rack of baby back ribs with the salt and pepper and lay the ribs on top of the onions.
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Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours or overnight.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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When the ribs are done, remove them and place them onto an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
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Brush the homemade sauce over the ribs and bake for 10 minutes.
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Flip the ribs, baste again with the barbecue sauce, and cook for another 10 minutes. The ribs should look sticky and glossy, and charred at the ends. If needed, baste with a little more sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes; make sure to check them frequently to make sure that they’re not getting burned.
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While the ribs are cooking, thinly slice the green onions lengthwise. If you’d like to make things fun for the kids, place the green onions in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes so that they’ll curl.
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When the ribs are done, plate them and have the kids top them with the sliced green onions. You can then eat the ribs at the table, with the sauce on the side.
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NOTE: This amount of ribs will feed 4 kids or two adults, so if you’re family is larger, simply make more ribs – no need to make more sauce since the recipe makes more than you’ll need. Extra sauce can be refrigerated for a week.
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