Easy Caribbean Tonight, Romanian Tomorrow...

We had picked up almost everything needed, awhile back to make my Easy Creole Beans - cans of pork & beans, dijon mustard, ginger beer, habanero hot sauce, pineapple - but we hadn't gotten around to it. Walked over to Safeway today, being its my day off, and discovered their thick-cut bacon on sale (3 pounds for $4.49!), so I brought that home. I whipped up a batch and popped it in the oven to cook. We had some country-style pork ribs leftover from the other day - ones that were even more irregularly cut than the ones I grilled (i.e., they're country-style ribs in name only). I put them in a pot of water with some onion, herbs and spices to cook until tender enough to shred. While they were simmering, I made some Haitian-style coleslaw, flavored with lime juice and dijon mustard, garlic and dill. Finally, I threw a few things to create some tasty Caribbean Sauce to soak the shredded pork. Here's the recipe for the sauce:

Caribbean Sauce

1 cup ginger beer

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, strained

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons ketchup

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

A dash of habanero sauce, or to taste

A large pinch of dried thyme

A large pinch of ground allspice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is somewhat reduced and thickened.

I simply dumped the shredded pork into the sauce and let it had heated up, then would remove it with a slotted spoon, so that the sauce drained back into the pot, before putting the meat on buns.

Tomorrow is going to be a Romanian dinner:

Mititei (Romanian sausage rolls)

Mamaliga Prajita (Fried, sliced cornmeal mush)

Gebakeneh Beblach (Baked beans in tomato sauce)

Varza (Baked red cabbage with apples)

At least I think it is...