BBQ Ribs (okay, BBQ sauce FOR BBQ ribs)

I had a craving for some slow-cooked ribs the other night.  And as usually happens when I have a craving, I give in.  I usually make up a bbq sauce on the spot, but this time I went hunting for one.  I found a really interesting one by Tyler Florence - and when I say "really interesting" I mean it's not spicy at all.  Unusual for me - but a happy moment for my husband.

I followed Tyler's suggestion about bought 2 slabs of baby back ribs.  To be honest, I'm much more of a country-style rib guy.  They're just so much more meaty.  So while I loved the sauce, next time it will be with some heftier ribs.  The baby back were good, but got a little overdone in my opinion.

When I hunker down for some ribs, I usually pull out my big baking dish and line the bottom with sliced onions (for some additional flavor).  250 degree oven, cook for a period of time first with nothing but salt, pepper and olive oil on the meat (sometimes a dry rub is good too).  And then I begin basting so that the sauce cooks in and seals the meat, as well as forms a lovely coating/crust.  So while I didn't follow my gut on this one, I will next time.  However one thing Tyler suggested that I loved:  when the ribs are done, give them one more baste with the sauce and throw them under the broiler for just a few minutes.  It gives the crusty & sauce a really nice texture.

Don't get me wrong, the ribs were fantastic.  My husband couldn't stop telling me how delicious they were.  And they were complimented quite well with a big pile of cheddar mashed potatoes.  But I digress...here's the sauce, courtesy of Tyler Florence (okay, the version I made based on his recipe).


Ingredients:
3 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
2 bacon slices
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
3 large-ish spring onions - 2 cut in half, 1 chopped (or 1 large onion, cut into quarters - chop 1/4)
3 smashed garlic cloves
2 cups ketchup
1 cup peach preserves
2 Tbl. Dijon mustard
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbl. Zinfandel vinegar (red or white wine works just fine)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground paprika
Kitchen twine

Wrap the bacon around the middle of the thyme (make sure there is plenty of thyme sticking out on both sides) and tie with kitchen twine.  Heat the olive up in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the bacon/thyme bundle and let it cook for 4-5 minutes.  You get some great flavor from the bacon & thyme, and wrapping them together makes it easy to remove them later.  Add the large chunks of onion and whole garlic cloves, cook for about 5-6 minutes.  Stir in the ketchup, peach preserves, mustard, sugar, molasses, vinegar, cumin and paprika.  Turn the heat down and let the mixture cook for 20 minutes or so in order to bring all of the flavors together.  I used a splatter guard - just FYI.  Pull out the bacon/thyme package and the onions & garlic before using.  If you're going to baste meat with the sauce, remember to separate some out in case you want to serve it with the dish later.

Breakfast Sandwich for Dinner

I had some soft potato buns and really wanted to use them before they started to get firm.  I often make egg sandwiches for breakfast, but this time - since it was for dinner - I wanted something a little heartier.  Admittedly, these sandwiches were a touch on the "Dagwood" side (and I'm only 34...but "Blondie" was around for a lot of my youth, so if you don't get the reference...I hate you...haha).

I basically just decided to take everything that would be in a really nice omelet and make a sandwich out of it.  And for some reason right off the bat I knew that I wanted to make a chipotle mayonnaise for the sandwich.  Lo and behold, I found a jar of it at the grocery store and didn't have to do it myself.  And I'll tell you what, it's quite tasty!

So this was dinner one night this week.  Really quite easy - and delicious if served with tater tots!  :)  And while it's not the most photogenic sandwich I've ever made, it certainly was yummy!

Ingredients:
1 thick slice of ham (I found a packaged "ham steak" slice about 1/2 inch thick)
Potato buns
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 Tbl. olive oil
6 eggs, scrambled (I generally scramble my eggs with a little cream, salt & pepper)
2 Tbl. butter
Salt
Pepper
White cheddar cheese, sliced (2 slices per sandwich)
Chipotle mayonnaise (feel free to make it yourself, I didn't!)

Heat up the olive oil in a pan, and throw in the peppers and onion.  Add some salt to make them start breaking down.  Saute these for about 4-5 minutes until they begin to get tender.  While that's cooking, in a bowl scramble the eggs and set aside.

Cut the ham into pieces the same size as the buns.  You can either heat the ham up on the stove in a pan (both sides) until heated through, or simply throw it in the microwave for a minute.

Add the butter to the peppers & onion, once melted add the eggs and cook over medium-high heat.  Do not continue scrambling them in the pan, instead you should try for a frittata-like consistency.  Move the eggs around to ensure even cooking on the bottom.  Once the bottom of the eggs is cooked, place the pan under the broiler to cook the top.  This shouldn't take more than 2 minutes.  Slice the frittata into pieces relatively the same size as the buns.  Add a smear of the chipotle mayonnaise to each side of the bun, place the cheddar cheese on first followed by the hot ham, and then the eggs.

Chicken Burger

I recently got an amazing gift from a reader of the blog – a couple of boxes of fantastic cook books!  I’m starting to work my way through them, and yesterday I picked up one by Spike Mendelsohn (of Top Chef fame) – it’s a fun cookbook dedicated to food that makes you feel good.  There are about 20 recipes for burgers; recipes for shakes, floats & freezes; and all kinds of fun stuff.  As I was flipping through, my eye caught on a Chicken Burger.

Spike’s recipe calls for some smoky bacon & garlic laden wilted greens, and some homemade gingered honey mustard.  I changed the recipe entirely – I think the only thing I kept from his original was the mixture of spices inside the chicken itself.  I did wonder if a ground chicken burger would be flavorful and juicy enough – well let me tell you, these were awesome.  I even went back for seconds a few hours later (so bad, right?).

Ingredients

1 ½ lb. ground chicken (I made 4 HUGE burgers out of this)

1 large sweet onion (Vidalia…Walla Walla…whatever sweets you have near you), sliced

Olive oil

Canadian bacon (1-2 slices per burger)

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 Tbl. Paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

Salt

Pepper

Flour

3 eggs, beaten

Bread crumbs

Potato Buns

Mayonnaise

Horseradish sauce

BBQ Sauce (I used Jack Daniels right off the shelf)

1 tomato, sliced thick

In a pan, heat up some olive oil and add the sliced onions.  Over medium heat, cook the onions (stirring frequently) until they caramelize.  Do not add salt – this will sweat them instead of allowing them to caramelize.  This could take 15 minutes or so, but watch to make sure you don’t actually burn them.  They should be brown to dark-brown in color around the edges.  Once they are nicely browned, remove and set aside.

While the onions are cooking, heat up a large pan with a little olive oil and cook the Canadian bacon on both sides (just until cooked through).  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Leave any liquid in the pan – although you will probably still need to add some olive oil.  In 3 bowls, have the flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs standing by.  In another bowl, combine the ground chicken, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, and some salt.  The quantities worked for me, but by all means experiment with them (or change up the spices all together – rosemary might have been nice in this as well).  Mix it all together thoroughly and separate into balls to make burgers.  Shape your burgers, and then coat each one in flour, then the egg mixture, then the bread crumbs.

Heat up the same pan again over medium-high heat.  Place the burgers in the pan and cook for 6-8 minutes each side until browned and cooked through.  While these are cooking, in a small bowl combine some mayonnaise and horseradish sauce (this is completely to taste – I generally have to make 2 versions, a spicier one for me and a not so spicy one for my husband).  Spread this mixture on both sides of your buns.  Then add a dollop of BBQ sauce to the top bun.  Place the finished chicken burger on the bottom bun, top with Canadian bacon, then tomato slices, and finally the caramelized onions and the top bun.

Optional:  I served mine with seasoned waffle fries to complete the comfort food feel.  Enjoy!

Corned Beef Hash

I wanted to make a hearty breakfast on Saturday before we ventured out to Fort Tryon Park and The Cloisters Museum.  So I thought I'd make some corned beef hash.  I love making hashes for breakfast - it's a great way to use up some leftover meat from a previous meal.  One of my past favorites was duck confit hash (talk about decadent) - and I once had a STELLAR salmon hash in Astoria, Oregon.

The hash is pretty easy to make - I par boil the potatoes instead of cooking them all the way in the pan (just easier).  After boiling, they go into a pan with some butter & oil and some stock.  The stock cooks mostly away and imparts another level of flavor into the potatoes.

And of course, no hash is complete without eggs.  And naturally, my favorite is the star - the duck egg.  I LOVE the yolk of duck eggs, so to make sure they stay creamy & yellow, I fry the eggs in a pan with butter and then finish them under the broiler for just a minute (instead of turning them in the pan).  Now this is a breakfast that will give you energy for the day.

Ingredients
3-4 red potatoes per person (depends on the size), par boiled & chopped
1 lb. corned beef hash, chopped
1 cup beef stock
Olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
Salt
Pepper
2 duck eggs per person

Drain the potatoes after boiling them, and heat up a pan with some olive oil and the butter.  Toss in the potatoes and some salt & pepper.  Let them cook for a few minutes and then add the stock.  Turn the heat up to medium-high and let some of the stock bubble away (most will be absorbed into the softened potatoes).  Cook until the potatoes are simple to crush with a spoon.  Add the corned beef, stir it through to combine, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

At the same time, heat up some butter in a pan and fry the duck eggs.  Let them get nice and done on the bottom, and while the top of the whites is still slightly translucent, put the pan under the broiler for a minute or so until the whites are cooked through.

Pile the hash into the center of a plate, and place the eggs on top.  I served this with some fantastic crunchy bread and a homemade honey butter.

Grandpa's Pizza

keith, his brother Roger and I had a fantastic lamb chop dinner - and the rosemary martinis kept flowing.  After some board games, and lots of talking & laughing, I decided it might be prudent to have something else in our stomachs (it was 1am at that point).  So off I trot, downstairs, to Grandpa's Pizza.  They are an Inwood staple that serves fantastic brick oven pizza.  Our friends Lana & Jason would probably live on Grandpa's pizza if given the chance.  And nothing hits the spot after copious amounts of liquor at 1am than a big, cheesy pizza!

Lamb Chops with Pistachio Tapenade

I found a really interesting recipe via Smitten Kitchen for lamb chops with a pistachio tapenade.  So I used that recipe as a base, and took some liberties with  it.  I got enough lamb chops for four per person (okay, there were 2 left over - as we were winding down from the meal I snuck into the kitchen and ate them standing over the stove - seriously, that tapenade is killer delicious).  So then I started brainstorming what would go with these chops.  As we were wandering around Chinatown searching for Dragonfruit, I found some beautiful baby bok choy, so I bought a bag full.  Immediately I knew I was going to saute them in some spicy, saffron oil.

The night before, I had decided that the base of my plate was going to be pan fried polenta.  So I whipped up a huge batch of polenta and put it in the fridge to cool down.  I wanted to be able to cut it up into pieces and fry it in some butter.  I made it with chicken stock instead of water, and I added a generous amount of butter.  So I had my plate planned:  polenta as the base, bok choy layered over the polenta, and then the chops on top.  But it was missing one thing...some kind of sauce to bring it all together.

I had some Lingonberry Syrup which is wonderfully tart.  I knew it would complement every component of the meal, so I made a reduction of Lingonberry syrup, pomegranate juice and honey that I drizzled over the plate.  WOW - I kept eating it by the fingerful after the meal - dangerously scrumptious!

The meal went over very, very well!  This recipe is staying in my repertoire!

Polenta
Ingredients
3 cups water or stock
1 cup cornmeal (I used white)
3 tablespoons butter


Most cornmeal packages have simple polenta recipes on them, and they probably work just fine.  I tend to use 3 parts liquid to 1 part corn meal.  In this case I used chicken stock, which I brought to a boil first and then whisked in the corn meal.  If you've never made polenta before, be warned - it bubbles and spurts as it's cooking!  Stir it frequently - both to keep it from sticking to the bottom and to help break down the cornmeal.  20 minutes of cooking over medium heat seemed to do the trick for me - and at about the 15 minute mark I threw in about 3 tablespoons of butter and stirred it through.  The cornmeal begins to soften and you can see the grains disappear, and as it's about done it starts to pull away from the sides of the pot as you're stirring.  You can serve it hot like this (it's great), but I like to pour it into a lightly greased dish and let it cool.  Once cool you can cut it up anyway you like.  Then I heated up a pan with some butter and fried it for 2-3 minutes on each side to get it a little crispy.

Baby Bok Choy
Ingredients
3-4 baby bok choy, removed from the main stem/base, whole
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Pinch saffron
Salt


This works just fine with large/regular bok choy, I would just cut it up into large pieces.  Wash the bok choy very thoroughly - mine was certainly gritty with sand & dirt.  If using baby bok choy, leave them whole.  Heat up 1/4 cup olive oil in a pan with a generous pinch of red pepper flakes and a pinch of saffron.  Throw in the bok choy and toss to coat.  Turn or toss them every so often, and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until the leaves are mostly wilted and the white flesh starts to soften just a bit.  You still want to have to be able to cut them up to eat them.  Add a little salt at the end before tossing one final time.

Lingonberry & Pomegranate Reduction
Ingredients
1/4 Lingonberry syrup
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/4 cup honey

Combine everything into a sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a bubble, and reduce the heat to medium.  Let the mixture cook down by 1/3, stirring frequently.  If the flavor is too tart, simply add more honey.

Lamb Chops with Pistachio Tapenade
Ingredients
1 cup pistachios, shelled and toasted
1 cup pitted green olives
4 tablespoons capers
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
Olive oil
Zest of 2 lemons
12 lamb chops
Salt
Pepper

Start with the tapenade.  Combine the pistachios (lightly toasted in a dry pan over medium heat for a few minutes), olives, capers, garlic, oregano and parsley in a food processor.  Once it is all combined, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to incorporate - it should become like a thick paste.  Once the tapenade is at a consistency that you like, remove from food processor and set aside.

Most lamb chops come with 2 bone segments in each - I cut these in half creating small/petite lamb chops - one per rib bone.  You can buy them like this, or buy a rack and cut them yourself.  Make sure they've been out of the refrigerator for at least 10 - 15 minutes before cooking.  Sprinkle salt & pepper over the chops to season.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Coat the bottom of a large saute pan generously with olive oil over medium-high heat.  Allow the oil to get very hot - but not smoking.  Sear the chops for about 2 minutes on each side.  They should caramelize beautifully.  Remove the chops from the heat, and cover each with a generous dollop of the tapenade.  Place all of the chops in the oven (cookie sheet works really well) for 4-5 minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

To combine all of this, I placed 4-5 pieces of polenta in the center of the plate.  I then laid a small heap of bok choy on top of the polenta, and stacked the lamb chops over everything.  Finally, drizzle around the plate and lightly over the chops with the lingonberry reduction.

Rosemary Martinis (again)

I figured that having keith's brother in town was a reason to break out the big jar of rosemary infused vodka.  A spritz of vermouth, two huge Spanish olives, and the martinis were flowing.  And yes, we paid dearly for it the next day.  :)

Mac Bar

My brother-in-law, Roger, is visiting this weekend.  And while I'm documenting all of the things I put in my mouth, I probably won't get around to posting them until after he's left.  :)

Yesterday when he first arrived we wandered a bit through Chinatown.  I was hoping to find some early Dragonfruit - I was certain I wouldn't but I tried anyway.  I did buy a bag full of baby bok choy for only $1 - gotta love that!  We met up with keith for a late afternoon snack at Mac Bar in SoHo.

I had the Mac Rueben (just as it sounds...basically a rueben mixed in with mac n cheese!), Roger tried the Mayan Chipotle, and keith had the Mac Quack (one of my favorites - duck confit is the main ingredient).  While the photo doesn't do it justice, here's my Mac Rueben and keith's Mac Quack in the background.

We found a happy hour, and then decided that Rosemary martinis at our place sounded much better.  A couple of those went down way too easily though.  But I did manage to make a fantastic dinner of fried polenta, sauteed baby bok choy and seared lamb rib chops with a pistachio tapenade (more later!).