BBQ spare ribs and more
It’s that time again…time to clear the digital desktop of its clutter. These are all interesting dishes that I’ve made over the summer and for whatever reason I just never got around to giving them their own posts. Lucky you…think of it as an all you can eat buffet that’s actually worth eating…dig in!
Mmmmmm…..they were delicious. Spare ribs are one item that can be hard to source around here. My favorite pork producer sells their spare ribs to a Madison restaurant…and let’s face it, a pig only has two racks of ribs…but these came from my good friends at Jordandal Farm and they were perfect. My version may lack authenticity, smoky and otherwise, but they certainly do not lack flavor.
Instructions: Rub the ribs down with a mixture of minced onion, garlic, paprika, brown sugar, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Then before you stick them in the oven drizzle them with cider vinegar. Cover them with foil and bake at 300F for 2 hours. Then take them out, uncover them and baste them with your favorite BBQ sauce…we like Sweet Baby Ray’s Original, Then drop them onto a hot grill for a quick char on each side and you’re good to go. Now I told you they weren’t authentic, and I know it all seems wrong but they really were the best.
These were the season’s first new potatoes and I went with a technique gleaned from a Patricia Well’s cookbook (I can’t remember which one). They were soft and creamy in some places and crunchy and crisp in others…a textural delight from a simple spud.
Instructions: Gently boil a bunch of new potatoes. Let them cool down. Arrange the potatoes on a cookie sheet and using a meat tenderizer mallet smash each potato. Drizzle the whole mess with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake at 400F until golden and crunchy to your liking. I think the next time I make them I’ll cook them a little longer to get more crunch.
This is a chard gratin that I made from a recipe in Deborah Madison’s recipe book Local Flavors. It was okay but I won’t make it again. I’m showing it because it was an instance where I followed the recipe word for word (you know I never do that) and when I was done I had a mess of pots and pans and a “meah” dish. I didn’t read through the recipe until I was standing at the stove…I’d checked the ingredients and saw that I had everything and dove in. But the recipe was written step by step and instead of saying “you are now going to make a bechamel sauce” it just stepped you through the making of the sauce…so it was that I began making the roue when I realized what was up. It really was my fault but it still ticked me off and poor GH had to deal with the mountain of pans. But don’t get me wrong, I love Deborah Madison and when I first dined at Greens at Fort Mason in SF it was the moment I saw food differently. I just don’t want to eat bechamel in the middle of the summer.
This has to be the ugliest salad on earth. But take my word, and Sam’s…it is the bomb (is it OK to say that or is it really uncool now…whatever!). It’s a Mario Batali, Food TV recipe. Go there, print it, make it, and love it.
Ever since I got my pasta machine I’ve been experimenting. These are my first, sad attempt at ravioli. Do any of my local readers want to come over and teach me how to make ravioli? Is there a good book on the subject? I’m even stumped about what to fill them with. Come on readers, you’re going to have to pitch in and take pity on me.
David Lebovitz improves my life almost weekly…that’s how often I’ve been making ice cream this summer. The cream from Blue Marble Dairy lands on my front doorstep on Thursday afternoon and by Friday evening I’ve got a new batch to dish out for dessert. Strawberry has been our favorite flavor so far but this was a plain vanilla batch that I cradled with rhubarb goo…it was so good that I can still taste it…the sweet, cold, cream and the tart, tangy, goo. I want more please.
Lastly we have this delectable morsel. A cherry scone. Instructions: take one of my many scone recipes…frankly I can’t remember which one was the best or what one I used for this batch…their all good…and add cherries. Mmmmmmmm
comments
9 Responses to “BBQ spare ribs and more”
Leave a Reply
OK, if I had to pick just one, it would be those smashed potatoes. The look delicious!
Whoa, drool-inducing ribs. I fired up my Weber bullet smoker during the UW football game this weekend and made up a slew of baby back and spare ribs and smoked them all over pan of Barbie’s beans.
http://www.bbq-porch.org/recipes/html/r2400.htm
The smoke infuses the beans and the pork fat from the ribs above drips down into the pan of beans and adds flavor. Not the healthiest dish but they were more of a hit than the ribs! So was the Key Lime Pie…
http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/1998/02/key-lime-pie.html
Mmmm, life is good.
I was thinking about making videos for my geeksite, maybe I could make a ‘how to make ravioli’ video in response to this post? I have a friend that is really itching to make some videos for me, what do you think?
I also just got a pasta maker (from Orange Tree) and in my first ravioli attempt I made spinach pasta stuffed with pesto. They turned out quite good as I used a pastry wheel to seal them and only a few busted open (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidzaks/766579234/in/set-72157600739277010/)
If you ever go to the Hilldale market, I usually work there on Saturdays. I work with Cathy (the one with all of the heirloom tomatoes for $2.00-$2.50 / lb). And OMG, are they good..
Lydia, restraint will not be tolerated.
Jacob, you’re a wild man…and I want some of those beans…mmmmm, pork fat.
Jef, yes, yes, yes…make a video podcast…I can’t wait.
David, oh, this picture helps http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidzaks/766581714/
did you cut the pasta in two, horizontally, before you filled it, and then you laid another sheet on top and used the pastry wheel to seal and cut?
Hilldale is my market so I’ll stop by on Saturday and say hello.
Those ribs make me want to drop by for dinner! The ravioli are adorable, remind me on the “scrubbing bubbles” commercial. Try a butternut squash filling and serve with sage butter and some fried sage & toasted walnuts. Yummy!
Spare ribs…One of my culinary loves. When done well they’re just GREAT!
This is a great idea for a post! I always end up taking photos of things that I never get around to posting. Maybe I should start doing a monthly roundup of food that I photographed but didn’t write about! All of these photos are gorgeous and I don’t care what you say, I think the ravioli look great! My husband is drooling over the ribs, though!
YUM! Found you at tastespotting on a BBQ search. Those ribs look so wonderful. So does that chard gratin…