Barbequed Baby Back Ribs

Our Fourth of July menu included these scrumptious ribs. I used the recipes from The New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated and the cooking method described by Hope Studios in her post here. I'm not sure why ribs intimidate me, but this method is so easy that I'll never hesitate to make them again. The rub and sauce recipes make enough for lots of ribs, so I'll be cooking these again before the summer is through. Perfect sides to serve with this are corn-on-the-cob and coleslaw - and maybe some Rosemary Oven-Roasted Potatoes. Happy Grilling!

Dry Rub for Barbeque
from The Best New Recipe by Cook's Illustrated
Makes 1 cup

Mix all of the following ingredients in a small bowl.
1/4 cup sweet paprika
2 T chili powder
2 T ground cumin
2 T dark brown sugar
2 T salt
1 T dried oregano
1 T granulated sugar
1 T ground black pepper
1 T ground white pepper
1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

Quick Barbeque Sauce
from The Best New Recipe by Cook's Illustrated
Makes 1 1/2 cups

1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1/4 cup water
1 cup ketchup
2 T cider vinegar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T Dijon mustard
5 T molasses
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke, optional (I omitted)
2 T vegetable oil
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Process the onion with the water in a food processor until pureed and the mixture resembles slush, about 30 seconds. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup, pressing on the solids with a rubber spatula to obtain 1/2 cup juice. Discard the solids.
2. Whisk the onion juice, ketchup, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire, mustard, liquid smoke (if using), hot pepper sauce, and black pepper together in a medium bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking. Add the garlic, chili powder, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the ketchup mixture and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the flavors meld and the sauce is thickened, about 25 minutes. Cool the sauce to room temperature before using. (The sauce can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.)

The Cooking Method
adapted from Jennifer at Hope Studios

Place about 1 T of dry rub on each side of the baby back ribs and rub it in with your fingertips. Wrap the ribs tightly in heavy duty foil and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight. Bake the ribs in foil in the oven set at 325 degrees F for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and place on your grill set at medium heat for 20 minutes. Brush with barbeque sauce and cook another 5 minutes on each side. Serve with extra BBQ sauce.

Fresh Herbs and an Alfresco Summer Meal

Herb Identification from top left to right:
Dill, Oregano, St. John's Wort, Lemon Bergamot
Rosemary, Parsley, Sage, Tarragon
Thyme, Lemon Basil, Pineapple Sage, Sweet Basil
Cilantro, Lavender, Mint, Lemon Basil

One of my favorite things about summer is my herb garden and being able to pick fresh herbs whenever they're needed for a tasty summer meal. When Aunt Lisa came to our house a few nights ago, I grabbed some herbs and it all came together. We ate outside on the back patio, surrounded by the gardens that provided the delicious flavors for the menu: Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Marinade , Zucchini and Herb Saute, Oven Roasted Rosemary Potatoes. Bon Appetit!

Grilled Chicken with Lemon Basil Marinade
1/2 cup fresh lemon-basil, finely chopped (or substitute your favorite herb)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons dry white wine
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 scallions, white part only, thinly sliced
1 cup olive oil
6-8 chicken cutlets

Whisk together the basil, lemon juice, wine, mustard, salt, pepper, and scallions. Continue to whisk while adding the oil in a slow, steady stream. Place marinade in a large zip top bag and add the chicken cutlets. Seal the bag and place it in a bowl (in case the bag leaks) and refrigerate
for at least 3 hours or overnight. Grill over hot coals until cooked through and serve.

Oven-Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
2 pounds small red potatoes, cut in half or quartered if larger
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 sprigs rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped

Place the potatoes in a bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the rosemary on top and stir to combine. Transfer potatoes to an oiled or foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees F until tender and browned, about 40 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Herbed Zucchini
3 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced thickly
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 T each olive oil and butter
salt
pepper
2 thyme springs, or substitute oregano or basil
A handful of parsley, finely chopped

Heat oil and butter in a large saute pan. Add onions and cook for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and thyme sprigs, season with salt and pepper and saute until desired tenderness is achieved, about 10 minutes. Add parsley and serve.

Lemon Pound Cake

In my search for a great lemon pound cake, I've tried several recipes. I personally prefer a denser pound cake, and the ones I'd tried in the past were never quite as dense as I like. They were more like lemon cake - still delicious but not what I was looking for. Today's recipe has made it's way around the food blogging community and now it's here. Try it with some ice cream on the side, or even better - some fresh berries in season. You will not be disappointed!

Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake
from Luscious Lemon Desserts by Lori Longbotham and Alison Miksch

Ingredients:
3 ½ cups sifted cake flour (not self-raising)
½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoons salt
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 ¼ cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract (I omitted this)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ cup fresh lemon juice.

Position a rack in middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.
Butter and flour a 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together twice.
Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
Gradually beat in 1 ¾ cups of the sugar, about 3 tablespoons at a time, and continue beating until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the zest, the lemon zest, the lemon extract, and vanilla.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 1 ½ hours, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring the remaining ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons zest, and the lemon juice to boil over medium-high heat in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the cake out onto the rack and immediately brush the hot syrup over the hot cake. Let cool to room temperature. Serve the cake cut into wedges

Friday Favorite - My SIGG Water Bottle

It's summer, it's hot and we're thirsty! And fortunately, as a country, we are becoming more aware of our choices and how they affect our environment. Jane Goodall, in a recent speaking engagement in Pittsburgh, noted that one of the easiest things we could do to help the environment right now is to stop buying our water in plastic containers and refill your own bottle instead. (Read her great book Harvest for Hope and it just might change that way you look at food forever!) I stopped buying bottled water a few years ago when we installed a reverse-osmosis water filter in our kitchen. The initial investment was a few hundred dollars, but the water tastes great and is about the most pure as you can get. It's one of the best investments we've ever made. Gwyneth Paltrow mentioned the reverse osmosis system in a recent post on her blog GOOP which you can check out here. But even if you do not have a water filtering system, it has been shown that most people's tap water in this country is just as pure as bottled water. Use a carbon filter system to remove off flavors very inexpensively.

I love my Sigg stainless steel water bottle for several reasons:
1. It's looks cool
2. The water doesn't get an "off" taste after sitting for a while
3. There are no chemicals leaching into your water as they can with plastic, especially when plastic sits in a hot car
4. There's no waste
5. It fits in the holder on my bicycle :)
Read more about the benefits of Sigg water bottles here and then go get one for yourself!

Lemon Bars

I made these lemon bars for the faculty appreciation luncheon at school this year. A good lemon bar is hard to resist. There's the sweet shortbread crust that snaps when you bite into it, and the creamy lemony topping which is quite generous in this recipe from Ina Garten. If you have time, let the bars cool for several hours before cutting them into squares, and wipe the knife clean between cuts to get a nice smooth edge. I made these at the last minute (of course!) and couldn't wait to cut them so it was hard to get a straight edge on these - but they were delicious nonetheless.

Lemon Bars
The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten

For the crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
For the filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup flour
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Remove crust from the oven and leave the oven on.
For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.
Cut into squares and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Rhubarb Streusel Muffins

Yesterday, we invited the family over for brunch. With extra rhubarb in the garden, I decided to bake some muffins to serve alongside pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, and fresh fruit. The batter is moist and delicious. If you're not a rhubarb fan, you could certainly substitute your favorite fruit - blueberries or raspberries would be delicious. You can substitute whole milk for the buttermilk if you prefer. I would give the credit for this recipe to epicurious.com, but the credit should really go to one of the commenters of the recipe who suggested changes that made the recipe so much better. Almost all of the subsequent commenters used his suggestions, and I'm glad I did too! These are just as moist and delicious the next day, although the streusel will soften a bit.


Rhubarb Streusel Muffins

adapted from epicurious.com

For topping:
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

For cake batter:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 cups fresh rhubarb stalks, cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Use cooking spray to coat muffin cups and top of pan.
Make streusel for topping:
Whisk together oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until mixture forms small clumps.
Make batter:
Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and set aside. Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until blended, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in 2 batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined. Add confectioners' sugar to the rhubarb and toss to coat. Immediately add rhubarb to the batter and gently fold it in.
Divide batter evenly among 18 muffin cups (cups will be almost full). Crumble streusel evenly on top. Bake in middle of oven until tops are golden and a tester inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pan on a rack 3 minutes, then loosen edges of cakes with a small sharp knife or small metal spatula. Remove cakes from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Take a Peek into our Florida Vacation

Fun in Orlando!


Relaxing in Captiva