Made super good ribs yesterday. Made a rub with 1 t paprika, 1 T freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt and 1 T brown sugar. Rubbed this all over the pork baby back ribs after I removed the white skin stuff off the back of them. Then I rubbed them with a glaze of 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 chipotle, 1/4 cup dried mustard. Let them sit in the fridge for at least four hours (or so). Then bake for 2 hours in the oven, tightly sealed with foil, at about 350 degrees. They should be falling apart.
Make bbq sauce meanwhile: mix ketchup and some bbq sauce if you have some you need to get rid of to make 2 cups. Pour in a pan. Add 1 chipotle chile, 3 T brown sugar, 2 T molasses, 1 t freshly ground black pepper, 3T vinegar, 1 T mustard, 1/2 red onion finely chopped. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for at least half hour. Try it and add more brown sugar if it's not sweet enough, or more vinegar if it's too sweet.
When ribs are cooked, preheat the grill to medium heat. Brush the ribs with some sauce and grill about 4 minutes per side until a crust forms.
accompaniments that I made
pasta salad with goat cheese (cooking light, may 07) not worth repeating.
spicy coleslaw (I served the ribs on the slaw and it worked great). From NYT magazine, 5/24/09
Another mac and cheese attempt. THis one was quite bad. I don't know if it was me or the recipe. This one emphasized aged gouda and edam, and lots of it. The cheeses didn't have much taste once I cooked the mac and cheese. You layer the mac and cheese with swiss chard which I thought might be a good use of this common CSA veggie, but it didn't really work. It just got in way of the texture. Overall, I wouldn't make this again. (From bon appetit, may 09)
Made banana bread this morning that was excellent. It was almost like dessert. The recipe is from Williams and Sonoma quick breads and calls for 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour which you would think would make the bread dried out, but instead it was light and sweet and quite tasty. I will definitely make this again.
Last week I made carrot bread starting with a recipe from Cookinglight, apr 09 but wildly adapting it.
1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 t cinnamon, 1 t baking soda, 1/4 t salt, 1/4 cup flax seed (mix this together)
2/3 cup grated apple, 2/3 cup grated carrot, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 2 T oil, 2 large eggs (mix together)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add the nuts, stir and bake in a greased bread pan at 350 for 45 minutes.
Hot weather last weekend led us to select some meals that could be done on the grill. We had people in and out all weekend so the food had to be flexible, quick to cook and not likely to heat up the house. I made salmon burgers from cooking light (May. 09) that were good but needed a bit more flavor. I served these on some great Brioche buns from whole foods which I highly recommend. These were easy to prepare, just throw everything into the food processor, form and they are ready to go. I refriged them for a while, making them stay together better. We put these on the grill and they didn't fall apart.
Also on the grill, we made the Sausage, sourdough and bell pepper spiedini (bon may 09). The kabobs were drizzled with a mustard vinaigrette which was also tossed with a light salad that the kababs were served on. This was light, easy and tasty.
Farm Stand brownies from bon may 09 looked really good (with 3 1/2 cups of chocolate chips) but they ended up a bit dry. I don't know if I overcooked them or what. They taste great but the texture isn't so good.
Curried carrot salad with nonfat yogurt from bon, may 09 was a great use of both the carrots from the CSA and some hot serranos (the recipe didn't call for). I put the carrots and the serranos through the shredder and the salad was very tasty and spicy (just as good the next day too).
Lots of great recipes over the past month but hadn't the opportunity to post on them.
Potato au gratin (off the web, but I can't remember where) used dutch gouda, aged asiago, cheddar and gruyere cheese with just a bit of liquid. I thought it would be dry but it turned out great.
Halibut with coocnut red curry sauce (from Cooking Light 3/09). This is the best fish dish I've made. It is so flavorful and intense. Major flavors are the coconut and curry paste.
Creamy Caramel Pudding, Food and Wine 3/09
This is fast and good and almost healthy. Make sure to cook the caramel to an almost dark brown color to get a good color for the pudding.
Best ever nut brittle (food and wine on the web). This is very good and not difficult but it didn't have as much flavor as I would have liked. I sprinkled it on the caramel pudding.
Radish, cucumber salad with tarragon pesto (from bonappetiti 4/09). This was really tasty and a good use of CSA veggies. It calls for grilled chicken but we used it as a side instead.
Waldorf Salad, Cook's Country, 4/09
I love apple salad and this one is tasty, crunchy and flavorful.
goat cheese and roasted corn quesadillas (cooking light 3/09) These aren't particularly flavorful. I wouldn't make it again.
Cucumber, buffalo mozzarella and farro salad (gourmet 4/09) This salad is wonderful, light, lemony and flavorul. The fresh mozzarella is great.
Chocolate pistachio biscotti (everyday cooking, 4/09, p. 139) Not very chocolatey. I'm wondering if I need a better brand of cocoa.
scrambled eggs with sausage, mushrooms and fresh herbs (bon appetit, 2/03). Very good, sweet and flavorful
Pear clafouti, bon appetit 2/03, very good, I also used apples
Pan roasted new potatoes with rosemary (bon appetit, 2/03) just like the mission! Great with both red skinned, idaho russet and yukon gold (which melt in your mouth). I've also added sweet potato
black bean burgers (gourmet 2/09). Kesh loved these and asked for them again. Simple recipe.
Brunch panini (rachelray 4/09) not as good as my other breakfast sandwich (see below) but pretty good. Includes raspberry jam and prosciutto.
Cucumber and radish salad (internet off Martha Stewart) another CSA recipe that was excellent and simple
Gnocchi nicoise (food network magazine 2/09) Kids loved this and the sauce of tomato, bacon, carrots, beef is very tasty.
Chilled cream of corn soup with white truffle oil (bon appetit--really old I don't know the year) This soup is almost other worldy. Very simple flavors that accentuates the corn and truffle. Really good.
Baked potato soup (cooking light, 10/02). I made this for a party and people didn't want to eat it because of "all the cream". When I told them there wasn't any cream just blended potato and milk with some sour cream, they loved it.
Corn chowder with green chiles (vegetarian times, 11/02) Good but not very flavorful
Kale and white bean soup (gourmet 2/02) We really liked this soup even days later (especially days later). It is very tasty and the texture is smooth and silky. YOu can add Kielbasa for more flavor.
Southwestern style mashed potato cakes (cooking light 12/08)
Okay
Rigatoni with salami, oven roasted tomato and olives and capers (Food and wine) Very flavorful and very easy. Can be served hot or cold.
We did one of our wine/food dinners Saturday. This time the theme was Central Mexican. At first, I was concerned that this region lacked the flavor and spice of Northern and Oaxacan Mexican, but we were more than pleasantly surprised at how everything turned out. Not one dish bombed and most of them were fantastic.
The menu was taken entirely from The Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook (which by the way is a great cookbook but a horrible disaster to cook with because the book is so darn big and won't fit anywhere)
Our menu:
Mexican Dinner, II
(May 9, 2009)
Starters (from Jalisco)
Melted cheese with mushroom and chile, German Riesling or Pinot Gris
Chicken Tostado, Albarino
Soup
Sopa de pasta, Riesling or Pinot Gris
Mains
Green Enchiladas (from Aquascalientes), Cote de Rhones and Red Burgundy
Sailfish with tomato sauce, (Colima), Sangiovese and Barbara
Sides (the sides will be served with the mains)
Green rice with poblano (Morelos)
Green beans with onion and tomato (Guanajuato)
Dessert
Flan
Mango Sorbet (Colima), Asti or Champagne
Tres Leches Cake (Guerrero)
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