Country Style Pork Rib Stew

Preheat oven to 325ºF. Pat the ribs dry and season them liberally with salt and fresh ground pepper on both sides.

Take a large, oven safe pot (I like to use a 6-quart oval Dutch oven) and place it over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons avocado oil.

Once oil is shimmering, add ribs to the pan. Do not crowd the pan! If they are too crowded, they will not brown but will steam instead and you want them to get crispy edges. If necessary, brown them in several batches. Leave the ribs to brown and resist the urge to turn them over unless they lift easily from the pan (this means they are nicely brown). Most recipes will tell you this takes a few minutes per side but I don’t want to lie to you. This step will likely take you about 15–20 minutes per batch. Don’t skimp on this step! Once done, remove the ribs to a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining tablespoon of avocado oil to the hot pan. Add onions, carrots, celery and garlic to the pan, sautéing until fragrant and translucent, about 5–7 minutes.

Add tomato paste and stir cooking for a few minutes until whole mixture turns dark red. The brown bits at the bottom of the pan will lift as you stir, you want this. Add red wine and continue to lift the brown bits from the pan. Add vinegar, chicken stock, mustard, bay leaves, thyme and red pepper flakes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Add the ribs to the pan and raise the heat to high until it starts to boil. Once boiling, turn off heat. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Cook for about 2 hours, until ribs are fork tender and falling off the bone.

When done, remove the pan from the oven. Take out approximately 1 cup of liquid and vegetables (be sure to get some carrots and celery). Puree this mixture using a hand blender, until relatively smooth. Add back into the stew and stir to combine. This step makes the stew a little thicker.

Serve over mashed potatoes and sprinkle with chopped parsley.