Worth the Wait

This is not a recipe to start at 4:15pm on a Tuesday.
This is not a recipe to skimp on.
This is not a recipe to brush aside because its "too complicated."


Sure, there are lots of steps and requires lots of patience, but its not a difficult recipe to make! If you're looking for a really special dish to make, this is the one. I can say this since it wasn't my recipe, but these ribs are amazing. Really. Totally worth all of the work.


I originally saw this recipe on "Paula's Party" on the Food Network when Sugar Ray Leonard was a guest. Then, about 4 years ago, I made them for my sister and brother-in-law as a "thanks" for letting me take a Spring Break vacation at their house in Arizona. Mark then said they were the best ribs he's ever had, and since he's quite the connoisseur of ribs, then I took this as a pretty high compliment!


I told Steve that I was making a recipe from Sugar Ray Leonard and he started laughing. Then I told him I was making ribs and he did this:

Here's what he was getting so excited about:

Here's a great veggie to go along with the ribs:

And here are the recipes!

Finger Lickin' Ribs

From Paula Deen, who featured the recipe from Sugar Ray Leonard
Ingredients
1 rack ribs, about 3 pounds (not baby-back, the full-size)

Dry Rub
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cups salt
2 Tablespoons ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons paprika

Barbeque Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
Combine all of the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl. Rub onto all sides of the ribs. There may be some leftover, but you should rub a good amount in, and then also leave some excess on top, so that as it marinates, even more can be integrated into the meat. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and set on a baking sheet (with a rim, just in case...). Marinate in fridge for 8 hours or overnight.

Heat oven to 275 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, unwrap ribs, and place in pan. Cover tightly with additional foil and roast for 2.5 hours.

While ribs are roasting, make barbeque sauce. (If you want the sauce to pack a little more punch, make it at the same time you apply the dry rub to the ribs and then let it sit in the fridge.) Combine all ingredients and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer on low for 25 minutes, being careful to not let it scorch.

Once ribs are finished roasting, heat the grill. Cook approximately 6 minutes on each side, until the thickest part registers 150-160 degrees. Remove from grill, cover with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Cut ribs apart into 2-rib sections, cutting down right next to the bone. Reheat barbeque sauce and serve alongside the ribs.

Serves 4

Sauteed Zucchini

Ingredients

4 medium zucchini (don't use huge ones; they tend to decline in flavor and texture)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat. While the pan heats, trim the ends off of zucchini, slice lengthwise, and then into 1/2-inch half-moon slices.

Add butter and oil to the pan, then add the zucchini. Don't stir it around too much, just enough to make sure its not sticking. Once the zucchini is nice and golden brown, turn off the heat and sprinkle the Parmesan over the top. Give one or two more stirs and serve.

Serves 4

Welcome, Summer!

Summer is completely here - bugs, humidity, and fireworks. And GRILLING!

Steve and I decided that July would be a good month to concentrate on eating food that's better for us. (This decision following our fantastic trip to St. Louis in which we each ate something called a Concrete. Its not called a Concrete for nothin'...) The last day of our trip was July 1. Do you know how hard it is to eat healthily in a roadside diner?!?

Sometimes this "eating healthy" thing means avoiding sweets, pop, fried foods, and junk food, but I still will use butter, oil, and other "whole ingredients." Personally, I'd rather eat food that is as natural as possible, rather than something that has a few less calories but a whole lot of fake ingredients. Personal choice, yours may be different!

So back home, we kicked it into full gear. Fresh fruits and veggies are overflowing on our countertop. The best part about having so many of these on hand is that you never have to think about what to have with supper. Corn, asparagus, green beans, watermelon, tangerines, blueberries, tomatoes, potatoes... they all work. These are short recipes, but really, during the summertime, isn't that what we're looking for anyway?

Note: Whenever you're marinating meat, it works so well to do so in a Ziploc bag and put that bag in a bowl, giving it a squeeze now and then. It keeps the marinade all over the meat, rather than the meat just sitting in the marinade in a dish.

Note II: We didn't serve the bruschetta on toast... we had it on grilled portobello mushrooms. Wow, that was good!


Roasted Country Ribs
Adapted from Epicurious.com
Ingredients
1.5-2 pounds country pork ribs (4-6, figure about 2 or 3 ribs per person)
2 Tablespoons coarse grain mustard (you can use dijon, but I like the tang of coarse grain)
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon Montreal steak seasoning (substitute your favorite seasoning mix here. Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt would work too)
1 Tablespoon water

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

In a bowl, whisk together mustard, vinegar, oil, seasoning, and water.  Put ribs into a large Ziploc bag and pour the dressing on top and seal. Squeeze to cover ribs, and let sit for at least 15 minutes, but not more than 1 hour.

Put the ribs in a shallow glass baking dish and pour out all of the marinade on the top. Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, until meat is between 160 and 170 degrees. Remove from oven, loosely cover with foil, and let rest for about 10 minutes longer (they're still cooking, but rather than getting over-cooked, this allows them to raise their temp and become more tender too).




Green Bean Bundles
From Paula Deen & Friends: Living it Up, Southern Style
Ingredients
Green beans, washed and trimmed (about 1 cup per person)
Butter (1 Tablespoon per person)
Salt & Pepper

Directions
Preheat grill for medium-high heat.

For each person, tear off a square of tin foil (12"x12" should do it).  Put the green beans in the middle, and top with the butter (cut into small cubes), and salt and pepper to taste. Make each square of foil into a tightly-sealed bundle.

Place each bundle on the grill (direct heat) for 15 minutes.




Bruschetta
Adapted from "The Maroon Spoon" (Holland Christian Cookbook)
Ingredients
For Bruschetta:
6 chopped Roma (plum) tomatoes
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
1-14 ounce can artichoke hearts, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. vinegar (balsamic or white wine)
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. olive oil
For Toasts:
1 large french baguette, thinly sliced on diagonal
3 Tbsp. olive oil

Directions
For bruschetta, mix all ingredients together and let sit for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. (Doesn't keep well for more than 48 hours if you use fresh basil. If you choose to use dried basil, you'll need less and it might keep a bit longer.)

For toasts, brush slices with olive oil and toast under broiler until golden brown, flipping once.

To serve, top toast with a spoonful of tomato mixture. Top with shredded parmesan if desired.

Men in the Kitchen

Today, Steve and I teamed up for dinner, and the recipe came out of a Men's Health magazine. We actually ate this maybe two years ago, but if you're like me, your recipe file/box/cupboard is a smash-up of different clippings/notes/cards.  While I was cleaning it out last week, I ran across this recipe and it looked pretty good, and pretty healthy too! Plus (and this is no coincidence), the kind of steak I needed was on sale:).

The only beef (haha!) I had with the dish is that in the picture, the onions look quite a bit more red than mine turned out. I wonder if they used red wine vinegar instead of balsamic? Or a mix? The balsamic was nice, though I know the flavor isn't for everyone. Next time, what would I do differently? I would change up the vinegars a bit, and maybe combine some Yukon Gold potatoes with the beans for a little lighter texture! Time will tell.

Grilled Italian Steak with Smashed Beans
From "Men's Health," January/February 2008

Ingredients
12 oz. Skirt, Flank, or Flatiron Steak (we used Flatiron)
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-15oz can cannellini beans
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Directions
Salt and pepper both sides of the steak(s). Let rest for a few minutes before grilling.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil for 10 minutes, until it's soft and slightly brown. Add the vinegar and cook for another 5 minutes.

Heat another skillet/pan with the rest of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, beans and about 1/2 of the liquid from the can of beans (discard the rest). Cook for 5 minutes. Use a potato masher, fork or back of a spoon to roughly mash the beans. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a grill/grill pan/cast iron skillet over high heat. Grill steaks for 3-4 minutes per side for medium rare (again, for a flatiron steak; may be longer for a thicker cut).  Slice and serve with beans, top with onions.

Serves 2

All-American?

In my humble opinion, I think hamburgers are the best example of an All-American food. They're not some far distant cousin to its original form like pizza, or an Americanized version of the real-deal, like Kung Pao Chicken. Sure, its named after a city in Germany, but from what I've read, that probably has more to do with where the inventor's parents came from, not the food itself.

So... burgers on the grill for supper tonight! We took some advice from Emeril and "kicked it up a notch." When we eat burgers, Steve usually requests this cucumber salad to go along with it. Its a nice contrast with the burger because of all its crunch and tangy-ness. The burgers were really good - I wouldn't go so far as to say fantastic, because they seemed a little dry.  Granted, I did over-cook them slightly, but I wonder about making a goat-cheese spread and mixing it with some sour cream to give it a little more moisture. And some chives too? We'll have to see next time...

I don't have a specific recipe for everything we ate, but I'll walk you through our tasty summer supper!

Cucumber Salad
You could use regular cukes for this recipe, but I found out they're really hard for your body to digest unless you peel and seed them first. They make cool little half-moons if you do that, but I like crunchiness of hothouse cukes too. And they were on sale. :)
1 kirby/hothouse cucumber, thinly sliced
1/4 cup vinegar (be creative and use apple cider, rice, white wine, or distilled vinegar, or a combination! I usually use part rice vinegar and part distilled vinegar)
1/4ish white onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper

Mix all of the ingredients and let sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving.

Turkey Burgers with Red Peppers and Goat Cheese
Wash red peppers, remove any stickers, and put them on the grill whole over high heat. Turning occasionally, grill until most of the skin is black and blistered, but not smoking. Remove and immediately put into a lidded bowl (I used my Pampered Chef classic batter bowl). Cover and let sit for 10-15 minutes, and then remove skin by rubbing it off. Slice open, cut out the stem, and scrape out any seeds and remaining core. Rinse under cool water, pat dry, and cut to desired size. 
We roasted two red peppers for ourselves, but one would have been enough for the two of us. However, the leftovers will be great on sandwiches and in omlettes for the next few days!

Mix 1 package of ground turkey with a few cloves of chopped garlic and a handful of shredded white cheese (we used an Italian mix). Form into 4 patties with a slight depression in the middle - this prevents them from taking the shape of a football when grilling. Grill over medium-high heat, turning once, until cooked through (160 degrees inside). 

For goat cheese/chevre, go to the store and buy goat cheese. (I like things that are homemade, but come on, I'm not making my own cheese! Not yet anyway...) Four ounces should do the trick for 4 people, but I bought the bigger one because I'll be using it tomorrow for breakfast!

Place turkey burger on a whole wheat bun and top each with a few slices of goat cheese and roasted red pepper.