A Treat And A Half

A few nights ago, I cooked spare ribs in the crock pot all day. I had important errands to do that day, like chauffeuring cousin Jan home from a minor surgical procedure, so I knew I wouldn't have much time for dinner. I quickly browned some meaty beef spare ribs, deglazed the pan with red wine, and dumped it all into the crock pot with a coarsely chopped onion, a few mashed cloves of garlic, and a frozen chunk of lamb goozle from a previous meal. S & P, sprinkle of dried thyme, yadda, yadda. Set it on high, said a little prayer that the goozle would thaw, and raced out the door.


When I arrived back home, the house was full of amazing scents and the dog was nearly delirious with anticipation. So was My Beloved, who came home in the meantime to find me gone and nothing in the oven that could account for all that tantalizing odor. When I whisked the lid off the crock pot, I felt like a magician successfully pulling that rabbit out of her tall, black top hat.


We had a lovely meal of spare ribs on noodles that night, he loving the dinner and me basking in his pleasure, but the best part came the next day when I reheated the pot, fished out the last two spareribs, removed the bones and fat, toasted good Semifreddi sandwich buns on the grill, poured the goozle into bowls for dipping, and assembled sandwiches for lunch.


The beef was similar in texture to pulled pork, soft and falling apart. This is the kind of sandwich that is so tall, I can't get my mouth around it. I had to squeeze it together, so hard that the seeds dripped out of my tomato and fell with a plop on the plate. Dipping a corner into the goozle not only softened the bun, it flooded the sandwich with amazing flavor.


Next time we have crock pot spare ribs, I'm deliberately making enough to stretch to lunch the next day. It was a treat and a half. 


(And I saved the goozle again. It just keeps getting better.)