Barbecued Country-Style Pork Ribs

(Let it be known that I realize these don't look good in the photo. They are amazing, though.)

4-5 pounds country-style pork loin ribs

6 cups water

2 cans beef broth

2 bay leaves

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

1. Place ribs in an 8-qt stockpot. Add water, broth, bay leaves and pressed garlic. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to 75 minutes, or until pork is tender. Remove ribs from stockpot with heavy-duty tongs.
2. Heat grill to meadium heat. Place ribs on grid of grill. Brush with barbecue sauce. Grill, uncovered, 10-12 minutes or until well-glazed, brushing and turning frequently. Serve with additional heated barbecue sauce, if desired.

Recipe from Casual Cooking by The Pampered Chef

CHANGES I MADE:

• I didn't have bay leaves or garlic, so I substituted dried grated orange peel. It's becoming a common substitution. It worked.
• I didn't use the specific type of pork loin ribs the recipe called for. I used regular spareribs because they were on sale for 97 cents a pound. I can't imagine that a different cut of meat could possibly have been better.
• The recipe called for homemade barbecue sauce (using a provided recipe), but I used Sweet Baby Ray's. Why would I make my own when Sweet Baby Ray already makes the best?

THINGS I LEARNED:

• If you do it right, barbecue ribs on the grill are not only amazing, but easy to do. Sure, they're messy, but wow, what a difference doing it yourself makes. Mmmmm...
• Side dishes were really, truly optional. The meat was so amazing that we didn't really even want side dishes. Next time I'll make corn on the cob instead of pasta as a side. Then we won't overdo it on the meat intake!

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: He ate half the rack and wouldn't have eaten any sides if I hadn't insisted. He barely talked throughout the meal.

Emma: Asked for more meat three times. She loved it. She even wanted to try it on the bone instead of having us pull it off for her.

Georgia: She ate three helpings. Need I say more?

Me: Loved, loved, LOVED them. Wonderful. The best barbecued ribs I believe I have ever had, and I have had a LOT of BBQ ribs in my life because I love them. I have never made them myself because they always intimidated me. That particular intimidation, however, has been beaten into the recesses of my culinary repertoire. Bill is on the way back to the grocery as we speak to buy two more racks while they are still on sale. We'll freeze them to make this recipe again -- twice -- this summer. Oh, so very good.

Barbecue Chicken and Roasted Corn Salad

Marinade and Dressing:

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tbsp Sweet & Smoky Barbecue Rub (Pampered Chef)

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Chicken and Salad:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

1 tsp vegetable oil

2 cups fresh corn kernels (4-6 ears)

1/2 medium red bell pepper

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups julienne-cut jicama strips

1. For marinade and dressing, combine lime juice, barbecue rub, garlic, cumin, and salt in a bowl. Slowly add oil, whisking until well blended. For chicken, cut into thin strips and place in resealable plastic bag; add 1/4 cup marinade. Seal bag; turn to coat. Marinade in refridgerator 30-60 minutes. Cover remaining marinade and refridgerate to use as dressing.


2. Heat oil in large pan (grill pan, if available) over medium heat 5 minutes. Add corn, bell pepper and onion; spread evenly over bottom of pan. Cook without stirring 5 minutes or until grill marks appear on vegetable. Remove vegetable mixture to large heatsafe bowl with lid. Increase heat to medium-high. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Cook chicken 5-7 minutes or until no longer pink, turning occasionally. Remove from heat.


3. Add chicken, black beans and reserved dressing to vegetable mixture; toss to coat. Cover; refridgerate about 2 hours or until chilled. For each serving, arrange jicama on serving plate. Top with salad. Serve with tortilla chips, if desired.

Recipe from Spin on Salads by The Pampered Chef

THINGS I CHANGED:

As always, I didn't read the recipe carefully enough, and I put all the marinade into the bag. There wasn't much to throw away when I put the chicken in the pan to cook, though, so it was fine.

I also didn't have cumin, so I substituted dried ground orange peel. Not a comparable substitution, I realize, but I like orange. This also was just fine.

I don't have a grill pan, so my veggies didn't get a blackened, grilled look to them. They tasted just fine without it. I also don't have a julienne cutter, so I used my crinkle blade on the mandoline and cut the crinkle jicama chips into strips. This worked really well.

THINGS I LEARNED:

This was the scariest recipe I've done in a long time. Scary because it took a lot of effort on a very hot day without air conditioning in my kitchen and because I was really unsure whether any of us would like the result. Also, none of us had really ever had jicama before, so I was a bit concerned that that would be an issue. Neither of those concerns were valid because the recipe was amazing. So I learned to be brave.

I also learned that if you really want to blacken vegetables without burning them, a flat-bottom pan probably isn't the best choice. I didn't have another choice, but there it is.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

Bill: I was most concerned about Bill liking the recipe, and he was concerned, too. He told me he was really worried that he'd have to put on a happy face when it tasted like garbage because he knew I'd worked hard in a very hot kitchen to make it. He loved it, though. I think he had three helpings, if you count Georgia's plate.

Emma: My adventurous eater didn't disappoint. "Can we have jicama every day as a snack?" she asked. She really liked it, and did a good job mostly cleaning her plate. She asked for additional jicama halfway through.

Georgia: I'm not sure she tried any of it. The photo above is her plate. It might be that it just looked too weird for her, and it might be that she had just woken up from a nap:

Me: I really enjoyed it, too. I had two helpings. I also ate it for lunch the next day. I will definitely be making this again. Maybe next time on a day that isn't so incredibly hot. :)

Picnic Sausage & Potato Kebabs

June 10, 2009




3/4 lb. petite new potatoes (10-12)

1/4 c. water

1 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove

3/4 tsp dried dill weed

1/8 tsp each salt and pepper

6 large green onions

1 pkg (1 lb) cooked bratwurst (5-6 sausages)

12 cherry tomatoes



1. Cut potatoes in half and cook in water in microwave for 5-7 minutes until just fork tender. Drain, then drizzle with oil. Press garlic into potatoes, and add seasoning. Mix gently.



2. Trim root ends from green onions. Cut 24 piece, each approx. 2 inches long. Add to potatoes and toss gently.



3. Cut brats diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Alternately thread bratwurst, potatoes, onions, and cherry tomatoes onto six 12-inch skewers.



4. Grill kebabs, uncovered, 6-8 minutes or until bratwurst is browned, turning frequently.

Recipe from Casual Cooking by The Pampered Chef



CHANGES I MADE:

• I didn't have garlic or dill weed (I don't like dill weed much, and the name makes me chuckle like Beavis and Butthead), so I substituted Rosemary & Herb seasoning from The Pampered Chef. Good substitution. The potatoes were terrific.


• We had fresh brats, not precooked meat, so Bill grilled them for a while before we cut them and put them on the kebabs. Worked out just fine.


• I couldn't find new potatoes, so I had to use old ones. Har, har. Actually, I used little red B-size potatoes, and I cute them into quarters instead of halves. The halves might have been better in terms of putting them on the skewers, but they were fine. None fell off, anyhow.


• I didn't mix the green onions in with the potatoes. Also fine.

THINGS I LEARNED:

• I still don't care for brats too much. The recipe looked great, so I decided to try them, but I just don't like them. I may try the recipe with smoked sausage next time. Bill and the girls loved the meat, though, so maybe not.


• Grilled green onions are the BOMB! They were outstanding. Really. I might just plant some in the garden next year. Mmmmm...


• I'll probably substitute grape tomatoes for cherry tomatoes next time. Cherry tomatoes are not exactly bite-sized, especially for the kids, and cutting grilled tomatoes up is a mess. The smaller grape tomatoes may hold up a bit better on the grill, too. I might also try red bell pepper pieces.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

ME: I'll make it again, for certain, but I didn't care for the meat. The potatoes and onions were especially good, though. I think with some of the substitutions above, these could be amazing.

BILL: He loved them. He ate four and cleaned up some of the girls' leftovers.

EMMA: She liked the sausage, the potatoes, and the tomatoes. She was not a fan of the onions.

GEORGIA: She liked the sausage. She isn't generally a fan of potatoes, tomatoes, or green onions, so the fact that she just ate the meat was no surprise.

Background

I'm starting this blog as a way to track new recipes I try with my family. It's not groundbreaking material or anything, just a way for me to keep track of recipes and ideas to change/improve/adjust them for my family's tastes.

I hope to have a photo of each new recipe, along with a source of the recipe itself. I'm not much for keeping up with this sort of hing, so we'll see how it goes.