Super Simple Sugar Glazed Pork Ribs

I have a 9 year old son that dearly loves ribs.  He has begged for them repeatedly in the last few weeks, ignoring my protestations that it's too darn cold to grill them outside.  Not to mention that it's dark at 4:30 p.m.  He went grocery shopping with me on Saturday night, a really exciting kid date to be sure, and steered me toward the ribs when we got to the meat section.  OK, OK, I can take a hint.  He likes bone in, but I don't, so I exercised my mom-veto powers and went for the boneless country style pork ribs. 

One of my chief complaints about meat in general is that it can easily wind up tough and chewy.  I put my trusty crock pot to use for this recipe, and finished it off with the broiler and wound up with perfect ribs.  They didn't fall apart like I was afraid, but were tender, moist, and had a nicely caramelized glaze on the outside.  I neglected to take a picture before my ravenous kids dug in, and after very enthusiastic reviews, I hurried and snapped this one of the lone ranger still left on the pan.  It wasn't even the best looking one of the bunch, but it's better than no picture at all.  My 3 year old ate two whole ribs herself, and every person at the table enthusiastically cleaned their plates.  I served it with a side of gouda and garlic infused mashed potatoes and buttery sweet corn.  It's definitely staying on the favorites list.

Super Simple Sugar Glazed Pork Ribs

2 pounds boneless country style pork ribs
1 cup barbecue sauce of your choice (we like Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse)
1/4 cup brown sugar

Place your ribs in an appropriately sized crock pot (I used my standard round that I'm guessing is 2-3 quarts).  Pour the sauce over them and toss to coat evenly.  Cook on high for 4 hours.  Line a baking pan with foil and use tongs to pull the ribs out of the crock pot and space them evenly on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle brown sugar generously over each rib and heat under the broiler for 3-4 minutes, until the sugar is bubbly and golden.  Use tongs to flip the ribs over and sprinkle the newly exposed bottom with more brown sugar.  Broil again for 3-4 minutes.  Serve promptly with additional barbecue sauce.  (This will serve 4-6 people, depending on how big appetites are.)

Garlic n' Gouda Spuds
6 large redskin potatoes, peeled if desired, and diced into 1/2" chunks
water
1 T. salt
~~~
4 T. butter
1/2 cup shredded gouda cheese, preferably aged gouda for more flavor
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper
1 t. garlic powder (not garlic salt!)

Boil the potatoes in enough water to cover them completely with the salt added to the cook water until they are fork tender.  Drain the water, add the butter, and mash until fluffy.  Mash in the cheese, pepper and garlic powder last, and serve immediately.

Dutch Oven Heaven - Ribs, Potatoes and Apple Crisp

We went camping this weekend with my hubby's family.  Perfect time to bust out the dutch ovens.  We have one much loved and well used Lodge 12" oven, and I finally opened the box of a Cabela's brand 12" oven that his parents gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago.  While Lodge has always been the go-to brand of choice for me, I was very impressed by the quality of the Cabela's oven.  It has the awesome bonus feature of the lid being shaped nicely on the inside so that it can be used as a griddle.  My point with this rambling is that it is worth it to spend good money on a solid oven.  If you see a no-name brand one for sale for 20 bucks, run the other way.  It will drive you crazy and not yield the results you hope for.

I am not a scientific dutch ovener.  I have a few cookbooks that I've been given over the years in which the authors expound on the number of coals on top and bottom to achieve the right cooking temperature, rotating the lid every twenty minutes, knocking the ash off, using only a particular brand of coals...blah blah blah.  That takes the fun out if it, in my opinion!  Just like the way I cook at home, I especially do dutch oven by the seat of my pants and 90% of the time it works just fine.  The other 10% of the time it still tastes good because something about being outside = extra hungry.

I would like to bring up a couple of basic points for success, though.  Work in a well ventilated area.  We had a deep concrete fire pit at this camp site that we didn't use because the air flow would have been poor and taken the coals longer to heat up.  We simply laid down a square of heavy duty foil and heaped half a big bag of match light coals up.  Purists wouldn't use match light, but I'm not a purist :).  They work just fine and are far easier to get going than plain briquets.  I had the men fire up the coals while I prepped the food, and by the time the food was ready to go, the coals were too.  Perfect.

You need to make sure you have a pair of heavy duty leather gloves and some tongs to move coals around.  I have a lid lifter tool as well, which I think is on the "really nice to have but you can get by without it" list.  The tongs I use are my favorite el-cheapo stainless steel all purpose kitchen tongs.

In general, you will need more coals on top than on bottom since there is dead air space to heat between the top and the food.  For the things I cook, I just put as many coals as I can fit on top and bottom, evenly spaced.  Especially at higher altitudes, you need as many as you can get.  I don't have experience cooking dutch oven below 4,500 feet, so I can't give advice on the number of coals needed for you lowlanders.

If you're doing a few pots at once, stack them.  I check the food every 20-30 minutes and change the stack position if necessary.

Boneless Pork Ribs

5 pounds boneless pork ribs

1 large sweet vidalia onion

2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce (we love Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse and Sweet Baby Ray's)

Cut the onion into thick slices, then quarter the circles so that you are left with good size chunks.  Place the ribs and onion slices into a 12" dutch oven and douse them in sauce.  Stir it around until everything is thoroughly coated.  Put the lid on, place it over a bed of coals, cover the lid with coals and let it cook merrily away.  Stir it after 45 or so minutes, then check it every 20 minutes or so thereafter and stir if needed.  Cook time will be 1 - 1.5 hours, depending on how hot your coals are.  You want them to be fork tender, so the longer they simmer, the more tender they'll be.

Awesome Potatoes

2 bags frozen O'brien style potatoes

2 cups carrot "pennies"

1 sweet vidalia onion, diced

1 pound bacon

2-3 T. butter or oil

salt and pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese

Heat a 12" dutch oven over a bed of coals and toss the bacon in.  Cook until browned, then remove to dice.  Dump in the potatoes, carrots and onion and stir around until evenly coated with bacon grease.  If there wasn't enough grease left over, add another 2-3 T. butter or oil as needed and stir well.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, stir in the diced bacon and put the lid on.  Cover the lid with coals and let cook for 30 minutes.  Stir, and cook for another 20 minutes.  The vegetables should be tender at this point and lightly golden.  Sprinkle the cheese over the top in an even layer and put the lid back on for another 10-15 minutes.

Feed the thundering herd of hungry people, and chances are good that this is all you'll have left over.  The quantities in these recipes fed a crowd of 13, with 4 of those people being little kids that didn't eat much. 

Apple Crisp

6 large apples of assorted varieties (jonagold, golden delicious, gala, granny smith, etc.)
3 T. flour
1 T. cinnamon
4 T. butter, cubed
Cloves, nutmeg, ginger as desired

Topping:
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 cup whole wheat or all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 T. cinnamon

Stir together the topping ingredients except for the butter until well combined, then cut in the butter.  I often do this part with my hands to make sure that the butter gets evenly distributed.  I also usually make the topping in advance to make prep easier at the campsite.

Thinly slice the apples.  In a small bowl, stir together the flour and spices.  Sprinkle over the apple slices and toss gently to coat.  Dot butter over the apples, then layer the topping evenly over all of it.

Lay on a bed of coals and place a layer on top as well.  Cook for 30 minutes, then check apple tenderness.  Cook for up to an additional 20 minutes until the topping is nicely crisp and brown and the apples are fork tender.  Serve warm with ice cream.

Valentine's Dinner 2009

The menu for this year's Valentine's dinner started with a salad of caramelized almonds, strawberries and blueberry stilton cheese on baby greens with a blush wine vinagrette dressing, followed by buttery potato crescent rolls, Alan's chicken creation and crash hot potatoes. We rounded out the evening with classic creme brulee, which I will do in a separate post. Alan tends to be pretty bold and fearless in mixing flavors and textures together. This was a last minute sort of a creation that sent him running to the store for sharp provolone while I got everything prepped. The results were delicious, interesting and different than your ordinary chicken dinner. He initially intended to stuff the chicken breasts, but found that we had too much good stuff to pull them shut...so we opted for just leaving the good stuff on top. Butterflying the breasts is important, because otherwise you'd have a huge thick hunk of chicken that would be overwhelming. We made enough to serve eight, but you can easily pare it down.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half and butterflied

2 sweet italian sausages (we prefer Colossimo brand)

3 bell peppers (we used one each of red, yellow and orange), sliced in 1/4" rings

2 large shallots, cut in 1/4" slices

olive oil

1 T. brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed and minced, divided

2 lemons, zested and juiced, divided

2 T. honey

8 slices sharp provolone cheese

3/4 cup cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Grill the sausages until they are crispy on the outside and cooked through, then slice into thin medalions. Saute the peppers and shallots in 3 T. olive oil over medium low heat with a lid on, stirring every few minutes. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper, and once they are very soft and lightly browned, sprinkle the brown sugar on and cook with the lid off for another few minutes until nicely caramelized.

Sprinkle each butterflied chicken breast piece with about half the rosemary and lemon zest, as well as some salt and pepper. Grill for 7-8 minutes on each side until cooked through. Baste the last couple minutes of cook time with a couple tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with the honey. Remove to a baking sheet.

On top of each chicken breast layer a generous helping of the caramelized peppers/shallots, several slices of sausage and a slice of provolone. Broil on low for 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

In the mean time, in a medium saucepan, heat up the cream until just simmering. Stir in the parmesan cheese, remaining couple tablespoons of lemon juice, remaining zest, remaining rosemary and a dash of salt and pepper to taste. Stir over medium low heat until the cheese is melted and well incorporated.

Serve chicken breasts with a generous drizzle of sauce.

Crash hot potatoes are so simple that even Rachel can make them! She had a great time smashing these.

8 medium sized red skin potatoes (about the size of a large plum works nicely)
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
fresh herbs if desired

Boil the potatoes until they are fork tender. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Drizzle a baking sheet with olive oil and spread it around with a brush (or your fingers if you're lazy like me) until it's evenly coated. Set the potatoes evenly around the baking sheet and use a potatoe masher to smash each one down about half way until they split open nicely. Generously drizzle more olive oil over each one, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and whatever herbs you want.

Bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the edges and peels are a nice crispy golden brown. That's what makes these so awesome - the crispy edges!

Hamburger Stroganoff Potato Topper

My mom is a pretty good cook--though she'd never claim to be. One of my favorite meals is her hamburger stroganoff over baked potatoes (the Idaho variety, of course). Hope you all enjoy this little recipe as much as we did growing up. It's easy & great to serve to a large crowd.

1 pound ground beef

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon instant minced onion

1 beef bouillon cube

½ teaspoon garlic salt

½ teaspoon paprika

1 3-ounce can sliced mushrooms

1 envelope sour cream sauce mix

1 6-ounce can evaporated milk

Brown meat in 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in flour and next 4 ingredients. Add 1 cup water and mushrooms with liquid. Cover; simmer 10 minutes. Combine sauce mix with milk; stir into meat mixture. Heat through. Serves 4-6.

What's for dinner?

Last night I made dinner for our good friends and neighbors since the hubby decided it was in his best interests to get his inflamed appendix out. For some reason, I always feel compelled to try out new recipes when I'm cooking for other people. Sometimes it comes out really well (like last night), and sometimes not so much. Murphy always hangs around my kitchen and it seems like at least one element of the dinner has to flop - last night it was my fool proof rolls. Oh well. The rest of it was really tasty, so I'm going to share my recipe finds with you.

The main dish was Spicy Honey Chicken, courtesy of Sara and Kate at The Daily Bite (please note that they've changed their address due to some crabby copyright laws - update your bookmarks accordingly). I actually purchased boneless skinless chicken thighs for the first time in my life for this recipe. Raw meat grosses me out, so I typically stick with the frozen pucks of chicken breast that don't resemble the actual bird. I was pleasantly surprised at how forgiving thighs are to barbecue. One of my big stresses in barbecuing chicken breasts is getting them cooked but not overcooked. Seems like the thin part of the breast is always dry and the thick part is still pink. The thighs cooked through nicely and were juicy and moist with a nicely caramelized exterior. Very worth the purchase, and I'm grateful to the fine fellas in the Harmon's butcher shop that took care of all the messy business for me. I cooked up 12 pieces of meat thinking mistakenly that I'd have leftovers to use later this week, but alas, they all got gobbled up. Ethan commented that it was a little "hot" for him, so I should probably go even easier on the cayenne next time I make it just for the kids' sake, but I thought it was just right.

Here's the recipe for you:

Spicy Honey Chicken

Rub:
2 t Garlic Powder
2 t Chili Powder
1 t Salt
1 t Ground Cumin
1 t paprika
1/4-1/2 t Cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs

*Just a quick note about the chicken. Even though I told you to use thighs, and it tastes better with thighs, I know some of you will ignore my advice and make it with breasts anyway because you’re afraid of chicken thighs. If you must, for best results pound the breasts thin, or butterfly them. Also you may want to drizzle with a bit of olive oil just before grilling. But seriously peeps, try the thighs.

Glaze:
6 T Honey
2 t Cider Vinegar

Combine first 6 ingredients (all the spices) in bowl and mix well. Use kitchen shears (or a pair of clean scissors) to trim off any excess fat from the chicken pieces. Toss chicken with spice rub to coat all sides well. Brush grill surface lightly with oil. Grill chicken a few minutes on each side, until cooked through.

Combine Honey and Vinegar in a small bowl, stirring well until combined. Brush mixture on chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling. Now because the glaze is sugar-based, you’ll want to turn the heat down so it doesn’t burn, but let it cook for a few minutes to caramelize.

If you don’t have a bbq, or just want to make it inside, cook it under the broiler and follow the same directions.

*****

What goes with chicken? Potatoes! Leigh Ann pointed me to this recipe on Pioneer Woman Cooks. I've bopped over to that site before, and found that she has some fabulous recipes. However, I get bogged down in her 30 photographs per recipe. My internet connection can't hack it. And it's difficult to sift all the way through it to get the actual recipe. Oh well. In any case, I haven't gotten over there on my own for a while, but when I saw Leigh Ann's posting about Crash Hot Potatoes, I just had to try them. I'm a total sucker for crispy tasty tidbits. These were fabulous! Even my I-only-like-my-potatoes-as-chips-or-fries boy liked them.

Crash Hot Potatoes

Baby new potatoes
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Minced fresh rosemary

Boil as many potatoes as you want in salted water until they are fork tender. I found that I could fit 20 golf ball sized potatoes on one baking sheet. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and drizzle a generous amount of olive oil on a jelly roll pan (I brushed mine around with a pastry brush to make sure I wouldn't have any sticking spuds). Drain the potatoes and space them evenly on the pan. Use a potato masher to crush each potato. It doesn't have to be super flat. The more texture the better. I just did one mash, and left them about 1/2-3/4" thick. Brush olive oil over the top surface of each potato (again, be generous), and sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary. Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are crispy and golden brown around the edges. These are so awesome you'll find yourself snitching them right off the pan!

***
My kids' very favorite side dish is super simple. When they see me putting it together, I get to hear all sorts of compliments on my wonderful cooking and how much they love me. Therefore, I make it often.

Ethan and Rachel's Favorite Fruit Salad

6-7 cups cut up fresh fruit. Our favorite combination is pineapple, bananas, oranges, nectarines, mangos, strawberries and blueberries.
1 carton Yoplait vanilla yogurt

Toss it in a bowl and stir it all together. Yep, it's that simple.