Ribs

This is it: the best thing I make. It is the perfect union of (1) experience (lots..I promise, I initally struggled), (2) a great ingredient (pork rules) and (3) the willingness to be patient toward a great result. Nothing in this plan is complicated or requires any talent. You just have to want to do it and plan ahead a little.

First, you need pork babyback ribs. Sam's Club sells them in packs of three for about $20 and that will feed six normal people (or 3 really hungry boys). You can freeze what you don't use for several months, so this is about as cheap as protein gets these days. The proportions below are for one rack of ribs, which is what we always make for one family dinner (I eat half and Lacey and Maggie eat the other half; Sam usually has an apple and a popsicle; he plans to live forever).

I cook them in three steps. First, a chemical cooking, in a brine. I mix together 3 Tbs of kosher salt with 1/2 Cup of brown sugrar and then pour in 2 Cups of boiling water, which I stir up to dissolve the solids. Then I add the juice of a lemon, the juice of a lime, 3 Tbs of olive oil and 2 beers (the cheaper the better). The beer cools the mixture down because I am not ready to use heat to cook anything (yet). The ribs need to sit in this cruel mixture in the refrigerator one night and one day, so do it in a freezer bag before you go to bed the day before you plan to have them for dinner. It won't smell good and it will look worse; don't sweat it. This is essential to making them tender.

The next day, take the ribs out and pat them dry, then spread on some ballpark mustard (even if you don't like it - trust me). Now they should be ugly, gray/yellow and sticky. Then I rub in (not sprinkle on) my first rub: 1/4 C brown sugar, 1 Tbs of Summer Savory (a spice), 1 Tbs Garlic Powder, 1 Tbs Paprika (Sweet) and 1/8 Tsp of ground cloves. Once rubbed down, wrap them TIGHTLY in aluminum foil and place them on a cookie tray. Then bake them for 2 hours at 350 degrees. This way, the fatty ribs cook in their own juices; anyone who boils ribs doesn't understand where flavor comes from (or doesn't care).

When they come out of the oven, they will be cooked through and perfectly edible, but they won't be much to look at (and we eat with our eyes). So, I add a second rub, although this time, I do sprinkle it on (usually through a wire sieve). This one is made of 1/3 Cup brown sugar, 1 tsp of Cayenne and 1 Tsp of Dry Mustard. Now here's the trick: I then flash grill them on a piping hot grill for about 1 minute a side. This does nothing but carmelize the sugar and add grill marks, making them look as great as they taste. We usually have some spicy sauce on the side, but you don't need it.

Weeknight Pasta - Quick and Truly Different

Like everyone else, sometimes life intervenes so that rather than spend an hour prepping food, we just need to get dinner on the table (even if lately that table has been on the porch or deck). This recipe satisfies the need for efficiency without sacrificing my ever-present desire for food that is good and good for us. I also love it because it is so unlike anything else we make. Please note this comes almost verbatim from the February 2010 issue of Southern Living- "a reader recipe" no less. It's not plagiarism if you cite your source, right? I did make some subtle changes, but the core idea is "xeroxed".

The "mise-en-place" here requires 3 cloves of garlic minced, 2 bunches of basil roughly chopped, 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts and 4 ounces of crumbled Feta Cheese. (Toasting pine nuts is way easy: put them in a saute pan over medium heat - without oil - until they brown). You'll also need a seven ounce jar of "sun-dried" tomatoes, packed in olive oil. Reserve 2 Tbs of the olive oil from the tomatoes and slice the tomatoes into thin strips (but don't dice them - chunky is great).

To avoid stress, I don't start cooking my pasta (in this case wheat linguine, about half a package or 8 ounces) until everything I need is prepped and ready, but if you are cooler than me, feel free to chop while it boils. Do salt the heck out of the pasta water (to make it boil faster and to add flavor) and squirt some olive oil in the water too (to keep your pasta from sticking - perhaps the remaining oil from the tomatoes?).

The eleven minutes the pasta needs to cook provides 8 minutes of time to clean up (no kidding - this comes together FAST). Dump the basil, cheese and pine nuts into a large bowl. Then with about three minutes to go on the pasta, drop the garlic into a saute pan with the 2 tbs of olive oil saved from the tomatoes and cook it until it softens and smells great (but not until it browns). Then stir in the chopped sun-dried tomatoes just to heat them through (30 seconds). Drain the pasta then add it and the tomatoes and garlic to the bowl of nuts, cheese and basil and stir.

Maybe this takes 25 minutes the first time you make it, besting even Rachel Ray without being so annoyingly chipper. However, if you do it twice, I am guessing an average cook can do this in less than 20 minutes. We like it so much I expect I will be able to do it in 15 by the end of the summer. I understand whatever you don't scarf down heats up well the next day for lunch.

"Key" Lime Pie

I'm not really a baker, but I do really like pie. I heard one of my partners (who was especially fond of pie, so much so that for his birthday every year the office had "Birthday Pie") once say "if you don't like pie, I don't like you". Perhaps a little harsh, but I understand the sentiment.

Thus, to celebrate Spring, tonight I am making our 2-layer "Key" Lime Pie to take to dinner at the neighbors tomorrow. I put "Key" in quotes as I don't actually use "Key Limes". Our Kroger typically doesn't carry them, but even if they did, they are so small that squeezing them is overly burdensome relative to the added value. I understand they are a little sweeter, but to us, the difference is nominal. As is shown below, I'll make up for the regular limes with sugar.

The crust is simple. Put 3/4 of a Cup of granola in a food processor and pulse until a powder. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar, 1/4 Cup of graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 Cup of butter. Press this into a prepared (meaning sprayed with Pam) glass pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for eight minutes.

For the first layer, which is baked, whisk together 14 oz. of sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 Cup of lime juice (about 4 big limes) and 3 large egg yokes. Pour this over the crust and bake for 25 minutes. Once it is done, it has to COMPLETELY cool before proceeding to the second layer, which is chilled.

For the chilled layer, I add another 1/4 Cup of Lime juice (roughly 2 large limes) to 1/2 C of sweetened condensed milk, 8 ounces of cream cheese, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 one teaspoon of vanilla extract. This has to beaten with a mixer until smooth. Then you spread the second layer over the cooled first layer and refrigerate it overnight. Feel free not to like anyone who doesn't like it.

Osteria

This food blog was originally intended to be about my cooking, as is evidenced by the subject matter of all but one post so far. However, no one lives - or cooks - in a vacuum. I never once pretended to be a culinary genius, merely an enthusiast, and as such, I am often awed and inspired by great meals out. Tonight was one of those occasions about which I am eager to share.

I ate tonight at "Osteria" in Philadelphia on Broad (not Broadway) Street with one of the best guys I know, Scott Kozin. Scott was born close by and except for school/training, he has never lived away from Philly. He both loves and knows good food, as our previous meal together was also phenomenal (too bad this blog didn't exist then so I could enjoy the memory with better information). When he heard I was coming back tonight, he clearly was excited to take me to this place, who's name translates to "meeting place in the center.". True to this name, even though it was a Sunday night, Osteria was packed and alive. However, our waiter certainly was not stretched to thin; our service was exemplary.

Speaking of said waiter, since they only have Italian wines, we needed his help on that front. He came through by picking a bottle based on my confession that we mostly drink domestic pinor noir at my house. He brought a bottle from Pecchenino Vineyards that was soft and fruity and so drinkable. I could tell this was going to good night right away.

Next, we shared a Roman style pizza (crispy thin crust) with arugula, shaved Parmesan cheese and prosciutto. It was salty and spicy and light and perfect. We agreed it was the perfect example of the current (almost cliche) mantra heard everywhere in food these days: pick great ingredients and then stay out of the way. This "pizza" had nothing in common with Domino's (which I do like), but it was so very good (and I suspect authentic).

We turned down the suggested "sweetbreads" salad (after all, it was just one bottle of wine that we weren't half way through at this point) for the salad with "grilled octopus with cured lemon and potato". Again, simple ingredients done delicately. It was light and perfect.

The pastas came family style and thus we had both ravioli with trumpet mushrooms and thyme and the boar bolognese. The boar was hearty - the ravioli flavorful and light. Both were great.

To finish, we had the polenta chocolate mouse with candied hazelnuts. It was sweet and creamy and just right.

While everything was great and I can't think of a criticism, my biggest impression was that the experience was better than the sum of its parts. I am fond of Scott and my time with him is limited, so I expect this played a role in my overall joy. Still, I am very aware that although we finished everything they brought us, I still feel good enough to write this entry instead of being in my normal post-big-meal coma. Real food is better on so many levels.

Carne Asada

There admittedly isn't much art in taking a beef tenderloin and making a great meal. In fact, it is easier to get in the way and mess it up. However, taking a more humble (read "cheaper") cut with less marbling (which means less fat and flavor making it much healthier) takes so work and some knowledge. As Mexican is our favorite genre of food, we most often accomplish this goal by turning flank steak into carne asada (which translates to "roasted meat", although that isn't perfectly descriptive). I am confident this will work with any protein, and thus for game cuts, this would be ideal.

The key to my method is to first cook the meat in the refrigerator overnight, using chemistry and not heat. This is exactly how cerviche is made with seafood (scallops, shrimp, fish). I do like cerviche, but I will confess I have to be in the right mood, because the texture is so odd. For my purposes, I use lime juice and lots of it. About 8 limes will usually produce enough juice, to which I only add a few squirts of olive oil, a generous amount of salt and freshly minced garlic. In a freezer bag with your steak overnight, this caustic acid and salt brine will literally cook your steak, turning it an ugly gray. Then flash grill it (see my previous post) to seal in the juices and caramelize the outside, let it rest, cut it against the grain and enjoy. The options for how to serve it are limitless (nachos, quesadilla, over rice, burritos, etc).

Bistro Chicken

This is our family's go-to weeknight dinner. It is quick, easy, satisfying and not so bad for you. Plus, we pretty much always have all the ingredients on hand. Because of these factors, we have probably had this twice a month for the last ten years, which means in my kitchen, I am pretty sure I could make it in mammoth-cave like darkness with only my left hand (and I am the least ambidextrous person on Earth). It can be doubled or tripled easily and the left-overs heat up well for lunch the next day. We also love it because it cooks in stages, so you can easily clean up as you go, meaning there is no mess to deal with after you eat. That's huge, because if you make this, you'll be so full and content, the couch will be calling.

First, start some rice. As I have mentioned before, unless you actually physically labor for a living (like as a lumberjack maybe), I suggest brown rice. My steamer takes about 45 minutes to make rice, which is about how long the chicken will need. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next, squirt roughly 3 tbs of olive oil into a very large, oven-proof saute pain, preferably a deep one with high sides (we're going to fill this pan up later; also, you do keep olive oil in a squirt bottle right? everyone does, right - so convenient). You will also need to toss in a little butter to drop the smoke point. Raise the heat to high and wait until the butter is melted and the pan is literally screaming. This is so key. Flop in two seasoned (lots of salt/pepper) and room temperature (so it cooks evenly) boneless chicken breasts and sear both sides. It has to sizzle LOUDLY when it hits the pan and you have to leave it alone until it really browns before you flip it. We are creating flavor with heat here, so don't chicken out (pun intended) or get bored and end this stage before the chicken is well-browned. However, do not try to cook it through; as odd as this seems, for now, I want it raw in the middle. When it is beautifully browned on both sides, remove the breasts and set them in a bowl (not a plate - they are going to leak and you want to catch the juices). Please not on a paper towel.

To the pan and fond (which means "base" in French and describes the caramelized bits left stuck to the pan that add a tremendous depth of flavor), add one diced onion and cook it down. You can turn down the heat a little if you are nervous or need to step away so you can't scrape/stir constantly (better - pour a glass of wine and hang out of the stove - we're pretending to be French tonight). If you skimped on the fat (butter/oil) in the beginning, you may need to re-dose here. If you scrape out the fond to clean the pan, I will come to your house.

Once the onions are soft and brown, pour in one can of diced tomatoes with all the juices and cook this down about 5 minutes, until it looks thick and bubbly. Then (please forgive me) add a can of french onion soup. Yes, this is cheating. Yes, you don't really know what is in it. Yes, I could make it with salt, onions and beef broth in about 10 minutes and it would be better. But in my defense, this is a "weeknight" dinner and it's one can of soup. I am an idealist, not an extremist. Using this shortcut does not mean we are practically having McDonald's.

Again, reduce your bubbly mixture about 10 minutes until it thickens. Invite someone to smell it at this stage - waiting after this tease enhances dinner. Then place the chicken back in this pan on top of the sauce and cover the chicken (and as much sauce as you want) with Swiss cheese. White cheeses are better for you than yellow ones (generally), but you can go light here without much sacrifice. However, if work was typical, I'll confess I usually use a whole stinkin' bag. Food is comfort. Also pour back in whatever accumulated in the bottom of the bowl where your seared but rare chicken breasts were hanging out and resting. Why pour flavor down the drain?

Pop the pan in the oven for 20 minutes so the soft oven heat can finish the chicken gently with the steam from our sauce while it melts the cheese. Then take it out and place a chicken breast over some rice on top of which you ladle on the sauce. Stop eating out so much.

Huevos Rancheros

Big weekend breakfasts are a great treat and provide a nice contrast for me from my hurried weekday morning fare. Today, we "put together" our huevos rancheros, which for our version, is really more combining the four elements than actually making a dish. The key is to have the constituent parts ready at the same time.

First, I make Lacey's Salsa. I mix together about a third of a red onion (diced), 1 can of tomatoes with green chiles, 1 tbs of lemon juice, 1 tsp of chopped cilantro and 1 tsp of cumin. This actually is much better on the second day, so doing this the night before is ideal but not absolutely necessary.

Next, I broke 5 eggs (from my Dad's hens; they are so much better than store bought) and mixed them really well in the bowl and set them aside. Then I browned about 1/4 lb of chorizo, which is Mexican sausage. When I'm lucky, I have some homemade sausage from Tom Parlanti, who makes sausage as his hobby (his father was a butcher in NYC). Let me know if you want to try it and I'll hook you up.

While the sausage was cooking, I deep fried 4 corn tortillas in oil to make them crunchy. When the tortillas were almost done I quickly scrambled the eggs.

The tortillas go on the plate first, followed by the eggs and sausage. On top, spoon on the salsa. You can add some Mexican cheese to cut some of the spice, but if you skip it, you won't even notice. It is crunchy, savory, spicy goodness.