Category: Recipes (Page 24 of 26)

This is an incredibly easy recipe for ribs with BBQ sauce, it makes delicious, succulent ribs with little work. I got it from All Recipes.com. I’ve used both country style ribs and spare ribs for it, and I’m sure it’d work just as well with every kind of ribs. I’ve always made it with two bottles of BBQ sauce (my favorite is Jack Daniels) though I think next time I’ll try using just 1, adding more water and boiling it down afterwards. As it is, there is too much BBQ sauce left over which seems like a waste. The original recipe is for 2 1/2 lbs of ribs, but I use it for whichever size package of ribs I buy.

• a slab of ribs
• 1 tsp. salt
• black pepper to taste.
• 1 onion, qurtered
• 2 bottles BBQ sauce
• water

Salt & pepper the ribs. Place them in a large pot along with the onion. Cover them with the BBQ sauce and enough water so that they are submerged. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Remove the ribs and boil off excess water from the sauce.

Oil the grill and preheat it for high heat. Grill the ribs, basting and turning frequently, for about 20 minutes.

It’s summer so it’s grilling time, and that means burgers. Or at least it does when ground beef is on sale at the local supermarket. Yesterday I made burgers staffed with goat cheese – they were delicious. All you have to do is season the ground beef with salt and pepper, make a thin patty (about 1/8 lb), put a slice of goat cheese in the middle and cover it with another thin patty. You then bring the edges together and flattent he whole thing as much a you can. Remember, burgers shrink when you cook them.
I used ground beef with 7% fat (the goat cheese will add moisture, so you don’t need a higher fat meat) and herbed goat cheese. I served them with the usual accrutements and condiments, I particularly liked ripe avocado on mine, it softened the flavor of the goat cheese.
Give them a try!

I like celebrating holidays. All sorts of holidays, whatever their cultural or religious significance. I’m all for partying, whatever the cause. So when St. Patrick’s day snack on me, I wanted to do something to mark it. Corned beef and cabbage is just not my style, but I had a great Irish stew at the Wilkenny Irish pub & restaurant in my home city of La Plata and I figured it’d be enjoyable to make it myself. And, as we were going to spend St. Patrick’s evening with a bunch of friends at a cabin in Truckee, I’d get to share it as well.
I found this highly rated
IRISH BEEF STEW Recipe at Epicurious.com and made some of the recommended modifications, such as using more beef, reducing the amount of beef broth, adding salt and a guiness. The stew was certainly better the next day, but I was all in all disappointed with it. It’s not that different from the stew I usually make (except that rather than broth and beer I use tomato sauce and wine, and add a bunch of different herbs and spices) but more work (in that you have to cook the veggies separately) and the results are definitely less tasty.
Oh well, at least we had a little of the Irish on St. Patrick’s day.

I’m not a huge fan of Macaroni and Cheese (Ok, Ok, I don’t like it) but Mike loves it and, predictably, Mika does as well. I hate the idea of her eating that stuff that comes from a box (what is it, anyway?) so I’ve finally decided to make my own. Someone in craigslist recommended this Macaroni and Cheese recipe by Alton Brown, and as it got quite a lot of good reviews I tried it. I wasn’t sure if Mika would like the sharp cheddar, and I found that 10 oz of cheese was just not enough taste, so I ended up using 14 oz of combined medium cheddar, white cheddar and jack cheese. Next time I’ll try the sharp cheddar instead. The original recipe also called for 1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, but I didn’t have any so I ommitted it. In any case, Mika is so weary of anything slightly spicy that I wouldn’t have wanted to tempt fate. I’m sure it makes a difference, though, so if you don’t have picky kids around, by all means add it.
The results were good. Mika didn’t like it at first (but she may have been put off it ’cause it was hot – I have to remember to wait until the food is tepid before serving it), but later she had a bowl with her dad and asked that we send some for lunch at school today. My friend Desiree loved it and Mike said that it was very good, it tasted better than the boxed stuff, but he still prefers it out of a box. *sigh*
My version of the recipe:

This recipe for ginger scones is from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s “The Bread Bible” and was posted on the Craigslist food forum by “claymonkey”. It got well-deserved raves. It’s easier to make than it appears at first and simply delicious. The original recipe called for unsalted butter, I used lightly-salted European style butter and that worked well enough. I made this recipe for the tea I hosted at my house and served it with a variety of butters & jams.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/3 cup sugar

• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• a dash of salt
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 12 tbsp. butter, cold
• 3/4 cup whipping cream, whipped
• 2/3 cup crytallized ginger, chopped
  ground ginger – 1 tsp

• 2 tsp. whipping cream
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Oil and flour a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, salt and lemon zest. Cut the butter into pats, add them and mix by hand until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Mix in the crystallized ginger.
Make a hole in the center and add the cream. Mix with a rubber spaturla until the flour is moistened. Knead the dough inside the bowl until it holds together and then turn it onto a lightly floured working surface. Knead it into a smooth ball and chill it.
Remove the dough from the fridge, divide in two and shape each half into a ball. Press each ball into a disk, about 3/4″ high and 6″ across. Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for 15 minutes.
With a sharp knife, cut each disk into 8 wedges. Brush with the cream and sprinkle with sugar. Place the wedges onto the baking sheet. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until the edges start to brown, about 15 minutes.

I made this chicken salad for the sandwiches I served at the tea party I threw last weekend. It was wonderful and I’m planning to make it again. All of the quantities are approximate, so modify them to your taste. I cooked the chicken breasts on my George Foreman, but you can cook it anywhere you want.
-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-2 large celery ribs, chopped
-2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped
-3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
-1 cup mayonnaise
-1 tbsp. lime juice
-1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
-salt & pepper
Combine the chicken, celery, apples and walnuts. Add mayo, a little bit at a time, just enough to join all the ingredients. Add the lime juice and vinegar, salt and pepper, tasting to make sure the proportions are to your liking.

I had a pork tenderloin left over after I made the pamplona a couple of days before and I wanted a quick and easy way to make it. I got this suggestion from a user of the craigslist food forum who uses the moniker “Voltaire”.
Marinade the pork tenderloin in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, with some chopped garlic and rosemary. I didn’t have rosemary so I ommitted it but I did add a tablespoon or so of hoisin sauce to the marinade. Then we grilled it over medium-low heat until done. It was very good, in particular the outside part that had caramelized with the marinade. Next time I’ll butterfly the tenderloin so as to maximize the caramelized area.

A couple of nights ago I made this very easy recipe for pork roll, an Uruguayan classic I took from the Barbecue Bible cookbook. The recipe below serves 4, I halved it for the two of us. Note that pre-packaged pork tenderloins usually come two to a package. I served this with a salad and leftover grilled corn.

Yesterday I wanted to make something French to celebrate Bastille day and as it’s summer we are grilling. I looked into my dear Barbecue Bible for something French and came up with this extremely simple recipe which, according to Steven Raichlen at least, can be found all over Provence. It was very good, so much so that my 3 yo asked me to make them again tonight.
Basically, mix 1/4 cup of olive oil with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (I didn’t bother measuring anything). Baste the lamb chops with the mixture, season with salt and pepper and herbs de provence. Let rest for 10 minutes at room temperature and then grill on a high until done, 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. You can baste the lamb while grilling but we didn’t bother to.

I wanted to make something Mexican for Cinco de Mayo and Carnitas came to mind. I found this incredible recipe at Epicurious.com. It’s super easy and delicious and will likely become part of my repertoire.
As it turned out, we went to Pee Wee’s instead (that’s where our friend Percy wanted to go) so I made the carnitas the following day.
I made the recipe according to the instructions, though I used bone-in short ribs. The bones they had were very small in any case, I just cut them out, added them to the meat and removed them before serving. I found the recipe too salty, next time I’ll start with 1 tsp of salt and add more later if needed. I did use regular salt rather than the “sea salt” it asked for. You can also use chicken broth instead of water, if so you may want to use even less salt. You can also substitute good quality tequila or possibly another liquor for the brandy, and you can use pork shoulder or another (somewhat fatty) cut instead of the short ribs.
Carnitas