I Did it My Way Ribs

Is there any subject, besides spaghetti sauce or chili, that brings out the competitive nature of man (well, Cook), than the proper barbequeing of ribs? I think not.

This makes it tricky to serve the aforesaid treat to others of the rib-making persuasion. They will be constantly comparing your ribs to "the right way," i.e., theirs.

And, given how many options there are for this dangerous terrain - baby-back v. country style, pork v. beef, brined v. rubbed, cooked with sauce, or sauced after the fact, smoked or not smoked. It makes my head hurt, and frankly, I wonder why I would put myself through such an ordeal, upon reflection.

And don't even get me started on the sauce.

Regardless, I served ribs to non-current-household family members last night. No oohing, no ahing. Serves me right. Won't do that again.

But, for the members of my family who only have them the way I make them, anyway, I've committed my technique and sauce to this blog, because one of the points of the blog is to preserve the memories of what we ate at home, while we were lucky enough to still all be together.

Sauce (we call this "Texas Butt Sauce" for reasons too complicated and tawdry to go into, but it's pretty good and the only kind of sauce I ever make).

Chopped onions
Garlic
a good fresh lemon
sugar - to taste
worcestershire sauce - to taste
hickory smoke seasoning (optional, sometimes I use it, sometimes not)
salt
pepper

Saute the onions and garlic, throw in the lemon juice and half the squeezed lemon, peel and all, add sauce and seasonings to taste, cook an hour or two.

Ribs

Generally pork, only baby-back if they are on sale, usually not ever the country style (see how rigid this all becomes?). I like to brine them if I have time - cover them in salted water with some bay leaves and peppercorns for a couple of hours.

Now, put them in a big heavy roasting pan and cook them on the barbeque the same way I roast a chicken - get the gas bbq really hot, stick the pan right in the middle, turn off all but the two side burners so that you have indirect heat. I cook them with the heat up high the first hour or so and then turn down the side burners for the last couple of hours. Aim for about four hours total.

Then, take the ribs out and cook them directly on the grill for the last few minutes. Here is where you have to be careful because the rib gods are jealous and would like nothing more than to burn the hell out of your ribs if you look away even for a second.

Grill until you have some nice marks on all sides. Bring in, rest a few minutes and cut them into individual ribs. Serve with Texas Butt Sauce on the side, and some bottled options for those who like something sweeter or smokier.

This is great with homemade coleslaw and some warmed up canned baked beans.

And lots of napkins.

If Dinner is Not Civilized.....

I've taken a bit of grief over the years over my candle obsession.

I hold that, barring technical difficulities, which I do experience from an exuberant fan during the summer, that dinner without candles, is not civilized.

My newest and most heart-felt quote is from a Nigella I've been reading: "if dinner is not civilized, then nothing (else) is civilized." Here. Here.

Please God, if you exist, save me from: eating standing, eating regularly in front of the television, eating "get'erdone" food, and anything that does not warm the hearts and soul of me and my family.

Please God, if you exist, teach my children that food is not fuel (well, it is, technically, but it is also so much more - psychic fuel), and that food is about civilized gatherings of our family to be together, to share each other's day over the food with which we nourish our bodies.

I've just come home from eating some pre-prepared "party" food, which means it made my stomach ache like crazy. It has something to do with preservatives, to which I react violently.

I had to fry some calamari and sprinkle it with some fresh lemon juice to calm my poor psyche and stomach down - talk it down - from the experience. Ouch. My poor stomach.

But, magically, when I went through the calming estate and routine of slicing squid, shaking it in the flour and cornmeal, and quickly frying and eating slowly with lemon and a bit of harissa mixed into mayo, I found myself feeling 100% better, calmer, happier and ever so much less sad and empty.

Home cooked food is the answer. Always. For any sort of happily ever after, cook it yourself.

Sicilian Chicken, or Fish, Depending on Your Mood

The weather is cooler, finals over, Christmas still over a week away, all sick kids are back in school. The dishwasher is running. The house is quiet. It has been raining. This, to me, is bliss.

And time to blog!

Last night was Sicilian Chicken, and also some fish, because I had some basa in the freezer and Alex asks me to make more fish. Something anyone should keep in mind who has a picky eater that they think will never develop a palate. In time, in time.

The chicken/fish was warm and rustic and bone-warming with polenta and bread. I could eat this once a week, but if I don't blog it I will forget it. Another one of the main reasons for this blog. Along with the other reasons: A) Obviously, my quest to avoid corporate stores to the extent I can (and shop in small locally owned ethnic stores), B) to leave my kids with recipes and memories so that when they leave home or when I leave the planet they can still cook and remember what home was like and C) because I'm such a space-case that I forget what we like for years at a time.

But I digress, this is a really good dish that I stole from Lydia Bastianich of Lydia's Italy, one of the best cooking shows there is. She made it with grouper, but I had chicken breasts and some basa, and most of the family, sigh, doesn't like fish. Don't forget to serve with some homemade polenta:

POLENTA
1 cup cornmeal, 4 cups water, start with cornmeal in cold water, add some bay leaves, sea salt, olive oil, bring to a boil while whisking, bring it to the point where it starts "bumping" and be careful you don't get burned. Stir until it is nice and thick - you will have to turn down the heat for this state. Turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let sit until the rest of the dinner is ready. The steaming time makes the dish. Don't buy that crappy polenta that is ready made in the stores. This feeds five and costs about twenty-five cents to make for goodness sake.

SICILIAN CHICKEN/FISH

Chicken breasts
Fish Fillets (something sturdy, but not too oily)
flour seasoned with salt and pepper for dredging
Olive Oil
Capers - about 1/3 c. for enough chicken to feed a family of five with some leftovers
Green pitted olives - about a 1/2 c for the same amount as above
1 - 2 chopped onions
3-5 cloves garlic
3-4 stalks celery
1 big can stewed whole tomatoes, crush them with your hands, use the juice, too (I felt I needed a little more tomato and had a nice ripe one on hand and just grated it on the box grater and threw it in, too).
2-3 tbsp tomato paste.
Fresh basil

Dredge the chicken and fish pieces. Brown off in a heavy skillet with olive oil. Don't cook all the way through, they are still going to go into the sauce to cook for awhile. Take out of pan and keep on platter until sauce is made.

In the same pan, saute the onions, garlic and celery. When you have some slight browning on the edges of all the veggies add the capers and the olives (break them up). Fry the tomato paste in a spot you clear the veggies away from, for about a minute. Then add the tomatoes and all the juice. Season with salt and pepper. Also some dried red chili peppers if you like it spicy.

When it comes back up to a boil gently add your chicken and fish back in, lower the heat, and cook about another ten minutes. Tear up a nice bit of fresh basil over the lot. Serve with polenta, bread and the good old standby, leafy lettuce salad with olive oil and sherry vinager.

Rustic, easy, delicious. Tutti a tavola a mangare!

Linguine with Mussels for Alex

One of Alex's favorite dinners (and certainly, mine, too) is linguine with mussels. We make ours with lots of good olive oil, garlic, wine, butter, freshly ground black pepper, sea salt, chopped tomatoes and a sprinkling of parsley. Optional ingredients at the table are dried red peppers and grated parmesan. This is a fast and easy meal with a baguette, and it makes some really great next day leftovers.

Linguine with Mussels

1 lb dried linguine
1 - 2 pounds of fresh or frozen mussels
good olive oil
chopped onion
fresh cloves of garlic
unsalted butter
white wine
One big ripe juicy tomato, chopped
salt, pepper
parsley

Boil the linguine in a great pot of boiling water. Saute a whole chopped onion in a bit of olive oil and butter - about half and half. Add as much chopped garlic as you like - negotiate with family members if that is necessary. I also like to add dried red pepper at this point, but if you have tendermouths, you might like to save this as a garnish at the table.

Once the garlic has turned translucent add about a half a bottle, maybe a tad less, of white wine, bring to a boil and then add in the mussels, cover with a lid and steam for about five minutes.

By now the pasta should be done, so scoop it out of the pot straight into the pan of mussels. Reserve some hot pasta water to use if the sauce dries out too much. Toss the pasta with the mussel mixture to coat. Add a little butter and a little olive oil for extra body and flavor. Turn off the heat and adjust the sauce with pasta water if necessary. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parley and tomato and ladle into bowls. You want enough broth to be able to dip your bread.

Enjoy! We do!

Lemon Love

I love lemons more than almost any other ingredient, with the possible exception of beautiful brown eggs. This is the time of year when the lemons are ripening on all of the trees I have staked out around Riverside, so I hope to be making many wonderful dishes with juicy fresh lemons, soon. Today I'm making lemon-yogurt muffins, with the left over yogurt from the post-Thanksgiving gyro-fest, and some gorgeous little creatures I got from Carol's neighbor's tree (with permission, of course).

I found the recipe online, and normally would have used Giada's Nonna's Lemon-Ricotta muffins, but I don't have ricotta and I do have yogurt, so there you have it, and I expect they will be grand.

Yesterday's trip to the 99 Ranch market yielded some incredible mushrooms. Fresh Shitake for $1.69 a pound and impossibly beautiful King Oysters for $1.89 and fresh and crispy asparagus for $1.69 a pound - all of these, if available at Von's and the like, would have cost a minimum of $4 a a pound - you can save so much by going to ethnic stores, and the quality is so much higher.

So they will all be on the menu tonight, and I'm sure there will be lemons involved with the asparaus, with lots of fresh zest. Yum.

I'll follow up with the lemon-yogurt muffin recipe if they turn out nicely.

Ham Croquettes, much enjoyed by all

I'm whiling away a few minutes before we head out to the 99 Ranch Market, the to-die-for Chinese store we love to shop on the weekends, and have just enough time to post about last night's dinner - Ham Croquettes.

When I was a kid my Grandmother used to make Salmon Croquettes out of dubious quality canned salmon. It was very fishy and had quite alot of bones that had to be picked out. Needless to say, I have had a more leave it than take it attitude on the subject of Croquettes for all of these years - something that couldn't be made without a trip to the banged up can stores my grandparents frequented. Something like 99cents stores, only rather alot worse.

However, since I have been making crab cakes and even sometimes salmon cakes with fresh salmon lately, and since I had a rather substantial bit of ham left from the Thanksgiving debacle, it occured to me to try ham croquettes, something I think used to be something of an American staple, back in the day.

The procedure I used was pretty much the same as for crab cakes, and they turned out really well. Even Alex, who is a hater of ham, loved them and made a special point of telling me so again this morning.

So if you have some left over ham and won't be using it for pea soup, which I hope you'll use at least the bone for, give this a try. Your family will think you slaved to make them happy, but it really isn't that much work at all.


Ham Croquettes

About 3 cups of finely chopped cooked ham (I used the mini - chopper for this)
1/2 an onion, finely chopped
1/2 a bell pepper - red or green - finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
2 eggs
approx 3/4 c good mayo (adjust if nec)
1 cup of panko crumbs
seasoning (I used cajun seasoning, salt, pepper, some tobasco)

Gently mix it all together, adding more mayo if it is too dry to hold together when you form it into patties. Once you've made patties about the size of your palm press them gently on each side into more panko. Set them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and set into the freezer for at least 45 minutes.

Make your side dishes - green beans and salad were what we had - and when everything else is ready start frying the croquettes. I use an electric skillet. Use a mix of about half butter and half olive oil to fry them. Cook on one side until gbd (golden brown and delicious) and turn and cook the other side until the same. Drain on brown paper and serve with wedges of lemon and tobasco. If you really want to gild the lily you could make a quick sauce with the pan drippings, a few tablespoons of flour (whisk in, cook slightly) and some wine - or milk, if you're a fan of that sort of thing. Don't forget to season.

This could probably be done very nicely with some cooked, chicken, too, and I plan to give that a try soon. And of course, this is a basic crab cake recipe which could also be used for any flaked leftover grilled or poached fish you might be lucky enough to have on hand. Even the dreaded canned salmon would work - just get a good one!