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Balsamic, Basil

St. Louis Ribs
st. louis ribs.jpg

"Smoked St. Louis style pork spare ribs basted with a sweet & tangy balsamic vinegar- basil sauce, with Italian parsley-green onion-garlic, Chimichurri shrimp"

with Chimichurri Shrimp

Ingredients

1 slab St. Louis style ribs (about 4 pounds)

Salt & pepper

Apple juice

Sweet Marsala wine

Spray bottle

Butcher paper

Balsamic Basil Sauce

3/4 cup tomato sauce

3 tablespoons red balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Star anise

Fresh basil leaves

 

Chimichurri Shrimp 

4 large garlic cloves, minced

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped, Italian parsley

¼ cup olive oil

Salt & pepper

Uncooked, jumbo shrimp peeled & deveined (3-4 ounce per serving)

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Directions

Set your smoker at 250F.

Mix 1 part apple juice with 1/2 part Marsala wine in the spray bottle. Remove membrane from back of ribs, pat dry with paper towels and season both sides with salt & pepper. Make the sauce while ribs are cooking.

 

Place in the smoker and cook for 3 hours. Spritz the ribs every 30 minutes during cooking. After 3 hours, place slab on a large baking sheet and bring inside to wrap in butcher paper.

Tear off a piece of butcher paper long enough to wrap the ribs lengthwise and place top side up in the middle. Brush liberally with some of the sauce, fold the ends up tightly and then fold the sides up. Tear off another sheet of butcher paper and repeat 2 more times so ribs are wrapped tightly. Place back on the smoker grate and cook 1 more hour. After 1 hour, open the layers of butcher paper and brush the ribs with more of the sauce. Let cook another 15-20 minutes, remove and let cool.  

Balsamic Basil Sauce

Add all the ingredients except the basil and star anise to a small sauce pan and whisk. Add the star anise, bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened. Macerate a small handful of fresh basil leaves and stir into the sauce. Taste for basil strength and remove leaves. Set aside until ready to use.  

Chimichurri

Add all ingredients to a small bowl, season with salt & pepper and stir.

 

Pat dry the shrimp, season with salt & pepper and toss with some olive oil. After the ribs are removed from smoker, arrange the shrimp onto the grate and cook at 250F-300F until shrimp are opaque in color, turning shrimp over halfway through cooking. Remove shrimp and toss with some of the Chimichurri.  

Serve the ribs on butcher paper with the shrimp. Drizzle remaining chimichurri over ribs.  

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