Barbecue Ribs

I’m kind of a freak about not getting my fingers dirty.  Hate it, always have, always will.  So the best part about my dad’s ribs growing up is that they were so off-the-bone tender, I never had to dirty my fingers to consume them.  The second-best thing was that they tasted pretty good.

One day, I decided I too wanted ribs but didn’t want to wait until getting back to North Carolina to have them.  I’ve heard my dad tell my uncle hundreds of times how to make these, who claims every time that he will definitely try making these himself whenever he goes back to New York.  (Times he’s made ribs:  0).

I wanted to make sure I got the cooking time just right, so I did a little research on the internet and realized that there are two basic schools of thought:  to smoke or not to smoke.  Some people were positively  poetic about the importance of smoking the ribs for authentic flavor!  I didn’t have a smoker so the decision was made for me.  Decisions made for me are my favorite kind of decisions. 

Without a smoker, the key to tender ribs is lots of steam.  My dad boils his for awhile, but you can also seal the ribs up nice and tight and bake them in an oven for a long time (2+ hours) on low heat (300-degrees F or lower).  I didn’t have any barbecue sauce, so I was going to try to make my own, but each recipe called for ingredients I didn’t have on hand.

And this is how I found Alton Brown’s Who Loves Ya Baby-Back ribs, which used a dry rub and a white wine glaze.  These were my first glazed ribs, as opposed to saucy ribs, and I really enjoyed them.  I am definitely going to make these again, especially now that I have proven to Martin that ribs are meant to be enjoyed, not feared.

The only change I made to the recipe is using soy sauce, rather than Worcestershire sauce.  I could have sworn I had some in my pantry, but didn’t, and was forced to make a last minute adjustment.  I think the difference in taste was negligible and eight kinds of yummy.

So there you go.  I now open up the floor for “to smoke or not to smoke” debates.  What are your thoughts on this?

Pot Stickers, Take 2

I tried making pot stickers again recently.  I felt a little disappointed at my last attempt, mostly because my attempt at frying / steaming and steaming / frying did not come out so well.  I suspect it was because I didn’t put a lid on top of my skillet.  And, according to my dad, I didn’t use a nonstick skillet, which are the BEST for releasing those sticky pot stickers.

Well, I wasn’t going to run out and buy a nonstick pan just for pot stickers.  But I was going to try again.

This time, I tried a much simpler method of forming the potstickers.  I wanted them fat and plump and full of pork-and-mushroom goodness.  The squares, while pretty to look at, could not hold very much filling.  So let’s take a look at my second attempt, shall we?

Lay a nice chunk of your stuffing on top of your won ton wrapper.  Shape roughly into a triangle because you’re waiting for your boyfriend to take an in-focus shot.

While we’re on this picture, don’t my hands look really weird?  I mean, REALLY weird?  CLAWS!

Brush the bottom half of your triangle with water.  Growing up, my uncle and father finished the edges of their egg rolls with egg.  But the internet says water.  I guess you can pick it however you want.

Fold in half and pinch together to make plain and simple triangular pot stickers.  Not only do these take less time, but they store much more easily in the freezer, if you needed another reason.  My dad would wake up in the morning, take some out of our freezer, fry them on both sides and then steam ‘em.  In his non-stick skillet.

Build your army of pot stickers.  When I was finished, this entire cookie sheet was filled with them.

Then I had a conondrum.  My last attempt at one-stop steaming and frying didn’t work.  So I could either just steam them and save the calories - and the pain of frying.  Or I could suck it up and dirty that second pan, because ain’t nothin’ better than perfectly crisp pan-fried pot sticker.

You can guess which side won.

Bacon Jalapeno Poppers

I know what you’re thinking. “Did she just say bacon? Didn’t they ban bacon from their kitchen?!”

Yes, astute reader, we did. We had every intention of living a sad, bacon-less existence. Maybe every now and then, I would take a chance and eat it if we went out to brunch but only then! I envisioned a future crying over the limp, floppy bacon that accompanies brunches rather than my preferred way - extra extra crispy. Emphasis on extra.

Then I realized that there are other ways to cook bacon that don’t involve pan-frying (our main complaint). So Martin and I agreed that bacon could make a small return back to our kitchen only if it was cooked in such a way that it would not send clouds of grease and smokiness up in the air.

And that is how I came about making this dish. I saw it on a blog and decided it was the perfect finger food to serve some company we were having over. Unluckily for my waistline, unforeseen circumstances caused a cancellation and Martin and I had to eat these.

These were tasty good in a satisfying way. The tasty part comes from all the fat. The satisfying way comes from the fact you didn’t spend a lot of time prepping these bite-sized pieces of food. Even Martin, who will go out of his way to avoid anything potentially spicy / hot, loved these.

Here’s what you need:

Don’t judge my bacon choice! I have no clue what the “best” bacon brand is and just end up picking one at random. This generally involves “eenie meenie miney mo!”

Just slather in the cream cheese all nice and neat and wrap with half a slice of bacon. Bake for thirty minutes until the bacon is cooked and crispy to your desired crispiness and eat. Here’s what you end up with:

I am making these for a cookout we have tonight and am thinking of rolling the top of the pepper (the cream cheese part) in a mixture of Parmesan and cracked black pepper. We’ll see how that goes.

Should I be ashamed of the fact that these weren’t difficult to make, life-altering, classier finger foods? Maybe so. Am I? Sadly, no.

Pot Stickers and Back Story of My Childhood

I love Chinese food but I can probably count on two hands the number of dishes I’ve made myself. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of, but it’s just something that has never come up before. My father has worked in the restaurant business since he was in college and even owned his own restaurant for awhile. Growing up, cooking dinner fell firmly in his camp and I just sort of let him do it every night. And now that I live 3,000 miles from them, I am starting to miss some of my old favorites.

Every now and then, I’ll call him and ask for his recipe and the conversation will consist of a list of ingredients that he says to mix to taste. The first time I make something, I need exact measurements so I can figure out where to go from there. So this usually means I nod my head at what he says and then never make the dish.

One of my favorite things to eat are pot stickers. We actually don’t make them - my parents buy them 5 for $1 at our favorite dumpling vendor in NYC and freeze them. At Sunday brunches, my dad pulls them out and pan fries them. There is nothing better than dipping the dumplings into hoisin sauce, my spread of choice, and then biting into a meaty dumpling with a crispy skin. I am literally salivating now just thinking about it.

The reason we like this particular dumpling vendor is because he doesn’t use cabbage filler in his mixture, like many other places do. It’s all ground pork, crunchy water chestnuts, green onion and shitake mushrooms. So I decided I was going to try making my own dumplings and follow this recipe for success.

Mixing the filling and stuffing the won ton wrappers was easy. The hard part, I found out, is pan frying them to create the crispy skin. I know you’re supposed to boil them for water part of the time and pan fry them for part of the time. One way created crispy skins that stuck to the pan. The other way created soggy skins that stayed in tact. My plan is to call my dad and find his secret to success. Hopefully, he will say something more specific than “Fry and boil!”

Pot Stickers

1 small can water chestnuts
2 stems green onion
1 lb. ground pork
10 - 12 Shitake mushrooms
Ginger chunk, size of garlic clove, peeled
1 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
Pepper
2 - 3 garlic cloves
Won ton wrappers
Water
Canola oil

1- In food processor, combine water chestnuts, green onion, mushrooms, garlic cloves and ginger. Pulse until finely minced. Everything can be to taste - for more crunch, add more water chestnuts. For a spicier kick, add more ginger.

2- In medium mixing bowl, combine with pork, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt and pepper. Mix until well blended and chill for 1/2 hour.

3- Place one small spoonful of filling into middle of won ton wrapper and form into dumpling by folding over and moistening edge to keep shape. Either fold in half completely or fold in half and then fold remaining corners up to create a square shape.

4- Chill briefly.

5- In a large skillet, pour small amount of canola oil and heat until hot. Disregard any and all advice from me until future notice because I have not yet talked to my dad.

6- Serve with hoisin sauce and enjoy!

Servings: 24 dumpling

Wow, this looks like something gross but if I name it I might never be able to eat it again. And it is good when cooked. Oh so deliciously wonderfully good.

This is actually probably too much. But it’ll help you get the picture.

Wet edges and stick top together. Looks like cannoli now.

Stick ‘em together and get ready for some dumpling action. Sweet dumpling action.

So many dumplings, just waiting to be eaten.

Apple Bacon Cheddar Quiche

The other day, I decided to make a quiche. I don’t know why, I’ve never made a quiche before. And I am no Ferris when it comes to pie crust. All I knew was, I had fond memories of Alex making us one awhile back and I was going to make one too.

I mostly wanted to use up the bacon that we had in our house, leftover from a failed carbonara attempt (not enough bacon, too many noodles!). Martin has always been distrustful of bacon and, though I am a great lover of bacon, I dislike the mess it makes when frying. So we’ve decided to cut bacon out of our kitchen and this might very well be the last bacon we will ever make in our home. I wish I could say the quiche was a worthy vessel of our LAST BACON EVER but while it was incredibly tasty, there is truly nothing worthy of your last bite of crisped, salty, crunchy bacon.

Since I never made a quiche before, I did a Google search and came up with one from a North Carolina bed and breakfast. Something to tie me back to North Carolina? I was sold, even though I was doubtful about some of the ingredients. It called for Bisquik and no pie crust. The no pie crust was a plus but Bisquik mixed with eggs? I forged on, figuring it couldn’t be too bad, considering I found many variations of the same in other “Apple Bacon Cheddar Quiche” recipes.

I cut up the bacon into 1″ pieces and fried them up. I noticed that there wasn’t quite the sizzling / oil popping out of the pan eager to burn you effect when I did it this way versus in whole strips. Does anyone know the logic behind this?

Then I mixed everything up, poured everything into a pie plate and stuck it in the oven. The result was similar to an ABC sandwich from the Rockford, mixed with super-fluffy scrambled eggs. Overall, it was very tasty but very heavy - Martin and I didn’t get much into it. Also, I used sharp white cheddar, which added an extra edge to it. I think perhaps a meltier cheese next time would be nice. The next time I make this, I might save it for when company comes over - so Martin and I won’t be left with so many leftovers!

Apple Bacon Cheddar Quiche

2 Granny Smith apples
1-½ cups grated cheddar cheese
8 slices bacon, cooked and broken into 1” pieces
4 eggs
1-½ cups half-and-half
1 cup Bisquick
½ cup flour

1- Butter an 8” x 11-½” casserole dish.

2- Cube Granny smith apples and layer into the bottom of the casserole dish.

3- Sprinkle cheese on top.

4- Sprinkle bacon on top.

5- In a large bowl, beat eggs. And milk and beat together.

6- Add Bisquik and flour and beat into a batter.

7- Pour over everything in casserole dish.

8- Bake for 45 minutes or until top is well-browned and quiche is cooked through.

Servings: 6 - 8

Crustless quiche basically looks like a fritatta to me.

I’m puffy and golden, but not cheetos!

Meatloaf

Recently, I made meatloaf. Meatloaf is not something I have grown up with - in fact, I’d never had it up until two or so years ago. In total, I can count one one hand the number of times I’ve had meatloaf and twice was by my own creation! So I am not too much of a meatloaf expert. In fact, I always seem to have the same problems with meatloaf.

First, my onions never combine too well with the loaf. They’re always quite distinct and separate. I’ve tried dicing them into squares as small as possible and they still crumble off when you cut into the meatloaf.

Second, my meat is never quite as soft as I envision a meatloaf should be. Meatloaf, to me, is like a big loaf of bread - but made out of meat. So I always imagine it with a uniform texture and softness. My meatloaf always looks like I meant to make hamburgers but got the shape wrong. And when you cut into it, it is not uniform because it is speckled with onion.

Granted, these are not show stoppers because it is always super tasty. It just never comes out the way I feel that it should. So if anyone has any kitchen secrets and experiences regarding meatloaf, please feel free to share them! I want to learn!

With that said, here is my recent foray into meatloaf. I used this recipe and beef from a grass-fed Texas Longhorn because the meat is very lean and as such, there was no crazy fat draining to do. Overall, it was incredibly tasty and I’d like to make it again. This recipe made 6 half-cup loaves (I patted them into shape rather than squeezing) and the next day, Martin and I sliced them up and put them between rye bread for some yummy sandwiches. Overall, a very good recipe.

My favorite part was the glaze, which was tasty-tasty.

Alex’s Chili

My last post reminded me that something I recently made but didn’t discuss was Alex’s chili recipe. This recipe was in the book I sent out over Christmas, but I hadn’t yet had time to make it. A couple of days before making it, I’d pulled out some ground turkey from our freezer, intending to make meatballs. Then we ate these other meatballs the next night. Now what!? Meatballs twice in a row!? No, thanks!

So I decided to make Alex’s chili but with ground turkey rather than ground beef. The turkey was a nice addition, though it probably didn’t add as meaty of a flavor as ground beef would have. I think I should replace “probably” with “definitely.” I also didn’t add the can of black beans because I didn’t have them, although even if I had, I wouldn’t have because I hate black beans. I guess I wouldn’t have any if I hate them, though. Dang this cyclical logic!

Because I didn’t want to clean a skillet (when your boyfriend doesn’t do the dishes after you cook, you get lazy like that), I did all of this in my big 4-qt saucepan, even the cooking of the onions and garlic, which was sometimes hard to maneuver but I prevailed eventually. Everything came together great. I added beer (rather than water - Alex suggests either) and let it all simmer away for a really long time, a good 2 hours at least. Any beer that happens to be in our fridge is always beer that people have brought and left behind, so I used Miller High Life. I bring this up because Martin saw the bottle sitting on the counter and laughed. We had Fat Tire but I used that to make Beer Bread the other night so now …. it’s the pit, beer-wise for us. Nothing but Miller as far as the eye can see. Embarrassing!

I thought this was an incredibly flavorful chili. I liked it a lot, especially reheated the next day. I never thought I’d see the day I said I liked chili (I generally don’t, mostly because of the bean thing …) but this recipe was very tasty. I would definitely make this again.

Alex’s Chili

1 lb. ground beef
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
½ cup chopped carrots (optional)
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) can kidney beans, well-drained
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, well-drained
½ (15 oz.) can corn kernels
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. oregano (or Italian seasoning)
Cayenne pepper
1 – 2 tbsp. tomato paste
Water (or beer)

1- Note: Can be easily made into vegan chili by removing beef.

2- Sauté onion in olive oil (or fat from the cooking beef). If carrots are uncooked, add those as well. Otherwise, add carrots when you add the beans.

3- Sauté until onion is soft.

4- Add garlic and fry for another minutes.

5- Add tomatoes, beans, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Top with water or beer until solids are covered. When liquid is boiling, dissolve tomato paste into the chili.

6- Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste and let pot simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, adding water, beer or tomato paste as needed. The longer it simmers, the better.

7- Serve with corn muffins, sour cream and grated cheddar.

Servings: I think Martin and I made 3 - 4 meals of this each

Meatball-Kielbasa Soup

Sometimes, when I read blogs, I get annoyed that they don’t include a recipe with the yummy foods they post about. But now I can definitely see why it sometimes get skipped - when the instructions are easy-peasy, what’s the point of including one?

Take for example, a recent meal of mine - meatball soup. The best way to describe it is … throw stuff into pot and let cook. Add pasta and let cook until finished. Serve.

I thought that this recipe was actually pretty good, except I didn’t take the advice of a few reviewers and I added more than a cup of short pasta. I should have listened, as the pasta promptly absorbed any and all liquid and turned it more into pasta dish rather than soup.

Either way, it was pretty tasty, especially the next day. I did a mix of kielbasa and meatballs and it all came out pretty tasty. The original recipe was basically tomato sauce + pasta + meatballs, but I threw in whatever vegetables I happened to have in my crisper that I thought would compliment the dish. This happens a lot in meals, as I try to up the nutritional ante. I wonder if it works or if I’m following some hybrid bastardization of what Jessica Seinfeld has been preaching.

Meatball Soup

2 quarts water
20 small meatballs
1 cup chopped kielbasa
2 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt
Pepper
2 carrots, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (8 oz.) corn
1 cup elbow macaroni

1- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan.

2- Chop carrots into rounds and mince garlic.

3- Add meatballs, kielbasa, tomato sauce, oregano, basil, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, garlic, carrots and corn. Let simmer until cooked throughout.

4- Add macaroni and cook until pasta is done. Do not add more than 1 cup pasta or else too much liquid will be absorbed.

5- Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Servings: 6 - 8

Soup that oso quickly became pasta, you were yum!

Moussaka

Forgot the backlog.

I decided to make this dish because I really like moussaka. I don’t know if its fair to say that I like moussaka, I only had it once, at a Greek restaurant in Apex, NC. But it was damn tasty and I decided I’d try it again myself. I also had all the ingredients already on hand, making it nice and convenient.

I looked up a few recipes and sort of conglommed one together from suggestions from people and the different variations. Most of the people suggested including more spice of some sort and noted that the wine in the sauce was key to keeping it from getting too similar to shepherd’s pie. Many people also suggested cooking it the night before, making final assembly not as stressful and really allowing the flavors to meld. I followed all these suggestions and have to agree - the meat definitely had a great kick to it and was a great complement to the creamy white sauce.

Giving it time to rest was definitely key, as it didn’t fall helter-skelter everywhere when you cut into it. I forgot to squeeze the eggplant dry and the bottom was a little watery but that was only for the first couple pieces. And it was damn tasty. I loved the combination of flavors. Martin loved it. I was about to say that he called it one of his favorites but it seems like almost every post I make, I make this comment. I think its because he is like “Woah! Food!”

Reheated, the food was still pretty good. I didn’t bother keeping it in layers, instead mashing everything together on my plate. Moussaka free for all. Free for tasty! Yum!

I didn’t bother halving the recipe, but I should have, as it makes a ton. Luckily, I invited a very hungry friend over for dinner and between us, we managed to clear a sizable chunk out. I think it would be a great dinner party food - after the meat sauce and a simple bechamel, it spends most of its time in the oven, freeing you to do other important things.

Moussaka

3 eggplants
2 potatoes
Salt

1 lb. lean ground beef
Salt
Ground black pepper
2 onions
2 – 3 cloves garlic
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
Oregano, thyme, basil and tarragon to taste
2 tbsp. dried parsley
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
½ cup red wine
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

½ cup butter
6 tbsp. AP flour
4 cups hot milk
Salt
Ground white pepper
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs

1- Note: Meat mixture can be made a day in advance to allow flavors to meld and make preparation easier.

2- Vegetables: Peel eggplants and slice lengthwise into pieces ½” thick. Sprinkle with salt and let sit on paper towels for 30 minutes, to draw out moisture. Slice potatoes into rounds.

Brush with olive oil on both sides and broil vegetables until browned. Make sure not to overcook, as they will be mushy later.

3- Meat Sauce: Roughly chop onions. Mince garlic cloves.

In skillet, heat olive oil and add ground beef, salt and pepper to taste, onions and garlic cloves. After the beef is browned, spoon off fat and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg and parsley. Add oregano, thyme, basil and tarragon to taste.

Pour in tomato sauce and wine and mix well. Let simmer for 20 minutes or until thick enough for lasagna. Allow to cool. You can either refrigerate for up to one day or use immediately.
Béchamel sauce: Scald milk saucepan.

4- Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Lower heat.

5- Gradually add milk, whisking constantly until thick. Season to taste with salt, ground white pepper and nutmeg.

6- As sauce is cooling, separate eggs and beat egg whites until stick. Slowly add egg yolks one at a time to béchamel sauce until blended, then add beaten egg whites and mix until combined.

7- Layer eggplant and potatoes on the bottom of a lasagna pan. Top with meat mixture and sprinkle with ½ cup Parmesan.

8- Pour béchamel sauce on top and sprinkle with nutmeg. Top with up to ½ cup Parmesan.

9- Bake for one hour at 350-degrees. Allow to rest before serving.

Servings: 6 - 8

Preparing the meat

Check out those layers

Look at me! I’m moussaka!

Lasagna

I’ve been meaning to post but always get sidetracked. So I have a lot in my Flickr queue to keep me busy but I thought I’d post this recipe for the lasagna I made for dinner the other night, partly because there is no accompanying picture and I don’t want to forget about it and partly because it was pretty tasty.

The first time I followed this recipe, I used ricotta instead of cottage cheese and added salt where it asked for. I felt the whole result was very very salty and I did not enjoy it, which I felt sad about on two levels: 1/ I love lasagna and 2/ Lasagna has to be made in such big quantities that you almost have to have a special reason to make it, otherwise you and your boyfriend will be eating nothing but for the next 2 weeks.

Since our flight to NC was coming up quite rapidly, I was trying to get rid of all the things in our house that will expire while we were gone, one of them being a very big sized tub of cottage cheese. Perfect for this recipe! I tweaked it here and there to accommodate what I had in my refrigerator - for example, using all the cottage cheese rather than 3 cups and egg substitute (leftover from the cookie dough truffles) rather than eggs. Overall, I think it came out pretty well - soft, pillowy noodles and lots of hearty meat and gooey cheese. The recipe below is how I made it, though I took out 1 tsp. of salt in both meat and cheese mixture in addition to the other changes I mentioned earlier.

When I dumped the can of whole tomatoes into the skillet, I was a little doubtful - the sauce was very runny and the tomatoes were giant chunks. But I broke them up with my spoon and the tomato paste thickened up that sauce very nicely. It will spray little tiny tomato sauce dots everywhere, so be warned! And the original recipe (cottage cheese and NOT ricotta!) was great and definitely not salty at all. For those who don’t like cottage cheese - if I hadn’t put it in there myself, I wouldn’t have even known. It tasted great but was very much on the meaty side - I almost wished I’d put in another layer of noodles (the original recipe calls for just two layers). I love lasagna and I loved this recipe.

This makes a lot of food, which was perfect, as I had invited some people over to help us consume it. The six of us consumed all but a healthy single portion and everyone went back for seconds. Success!

Lasagna
courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com

1 lb. ground turkey
1-¼ lb. hot breakfast sausage
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. dried parsley flakes
2 tbsp. dried basil
2 cans (14.5 oz.) whole tomatoes
2 cans (6 oz.) tomato paste

8 lasagna noodles

3 cups cottage cheese
½ cup egg substitute
½ cup Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. dried parsley flakes

1 lb. shredded mozzarella
Parmesan cheese

1- Preheat oven to 350-degrees and lightly grease lasagna pan.

2- In a large skillet, combine garlic and beef and cook until meat has browned. Drain half the fat and add the next six ingredients. Simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, mixing occasionally with spoon.

3- Combine noodles, ½ tsp. salt and 1 tbsp. olive oil in pot of water. Boil until noodles are al dente and drain. Immediately lay out on flat surface for easier handling later.

4- Combine cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, salt and parsley in bowl.

5- To layer: Place 4 noodles, overlapping, in bottom of baking dish. Top with half the cheese, half the mozarella and half the meat. Repeat, ending with meat. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan.

6- Bake until it is hot and bubbly. Let stand 15 – 20 minutes before cutting.

Servings: 12