BBQ Ribs

♫ Summertime, and the livin' is easy... ♫

Finally a decent-weather day.  Low 80s and low humidity.  I could live with this.  Alas, today is the only day we're getting good weather.  Back to high humidity tonight.

Oh well...  I enjoyed it while it was here.

And I enjoyed getting outside and grilling some ribs!  But before I grilled ribs, I made pasta salad and Phoebe's Baked Beans.

The pasta salad was easy.

I cooked up a package of perline pasta (you could use mini-ravioli) and added 4oz of diced speck (use prosciutto) a small red onion, a yellow and a green zucchini, diced, some frozen peas, and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes.  The dressing was a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Salt & pepper.

It was really simple and really good.  A good pasta salad is a clean out the refrigerator salad.  Seriously.  Anything goes.

The beans were perfect - as always.  This is just such a good recipe...

Phoebe's Baked Beans

  • 1/2  cup minced shallots
  • 1  tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1  tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1/2  cup tomato puree (I use tomato paste – I never have puree in the house!)
  • 1  tablespoon canola oil
  • 1/4  cup honey
  • 1/4  cup cider vinegar
  • 2  tablespoons molasses
  • 1  tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4  teaspoon salt
  • 2  chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped
  • 2  (28-ounce) cans baked beans

Preheat oven to 300°.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add shallots; sauté 4 minutes or until golden. Add cumin and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and oil, and cook for 2 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients (except beans.). Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine beans and shallot mixture in a 2-quart baking dish. Bake at 300° for 1 hour or until thick and bubbly.

They seriously come out perfect every time.

And the ribs...

I did a dry rub of smoked paprika, chipotle powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper.  I put the ribs into a 250° oven for about 2 hours before putting them on the grill with BBQ sauce.

We went through lots of napkins.

And... I picked up more peaches, today.  Another dessert coming up!

 


Roasted Tomatoes

We were down at the shore this past weekend celebrating birthdays - my 60th and my nephews 16th.  We were in Point Pleasant - way north of Atlantic City and only 11 miles south of Asbury Park.

I have some pretty foggy memories of Asbury Park circa 1978.  I was living in Tahoe and one of my roommates was an east coast boy.  We flew east for a 2-week vacation that included Memorial Day weekend at a "little summer home" in Cape May.  But before we could get to Cape May, we had to stop off and see the family of another friend of ours - who owned a bar in Asbury Park.  It was named Killeen's and was near the boardwalk, somewhere.  It may have been across the street.  Alas, I was only there once, and when I left, I was quite drunk.  Pat Killeen's sister, Colleen - I think - was bartending, and when she learned we were friends of Pat's...  well...  let us just say that the liquor flowed like liquor.  We didn't pay a cent and got totally trashed - before noon.

We then drove the 110 miles to Cape May.  It was also the weekend Resorts opened in Atlantic City - the first casino.  There were no worries of speeding.  It was a great introduction to New Jersey and The Jersey Shore.

But back to Point Pleasant...

There's an Italian specialty store in Point Pleasant named Joe Leone's that has some pretty remarkable - and rather expensive - gastronomic delights.  Lots of fresh breads, cheeses and meats, but also freshly-prepared foods that included meatballs, cutlets, eggplant... tons of stuff.  I picked up a few things - Locatelli with peppercorns, some "00" flour, a bag of Polenta Puffs (don't ask) and some sesame cookies for Victor's mom.

One thing we saw - and didn't buy - was roasted tomatoes.  They really looked good, but they were selling for more than I wanted to pay.  Besides, we both knew we could make them at home with no problem.

And today, Victor did just that!

The tomatoes at Joe Lone's were thick-sliced beefsteaks, but we had roma tomatoes from our garden, so we used those.  He did some sliced in rings and some sliced lengthwise and seeded.

Roasted Tomatoes

  • tomatoes
  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar
  • garlic cloves, minced
  • sugar
  • salt
  • pepper

Preheat oven to 450°.

Arrange the tomatoes on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with the garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add a pinch of fresh herbs, if you want.

Roast about 30 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to caramelize.

No measurements because it will depend on how many tomatoes you're doing.  Drizzle means just that.  No need to soak anything.

A bit of sugar - just a bit - helps to create that kinda gooey caramelly texture and flavor.  Even a sweet tomato will benefit from it.  And don't be afraid of the garlic.  Use a lot.

They went excellently with some hot Italian sausage, imported provolone cheese, and a loaf of fresh bread.

I see more of these in our future...

 

 


Bruschetta and Pizza

We had bread for dinner, tonight.

Both were topped with tomato, cheese, and meat.  The similarity ended there.

The bruschetta was a baguette topped with a homegrown tomato slice, a slice of white stilton with peaches and cream, and a slice of speck - popped into a hot oven for about 4 minutes.  The cheese is like dessert.  it is sweet and creamy and played against the saltiness of the speck very well.

And then we had pizza.

I cheated - I bought pizza dough.  But I did make my own sauce.  A 39¢ can of tomato sauce mixed with some Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and crushed red peppers.  It's pretty much the pizza sauce I made when I worked at Pirro's, lo, these many years ago.  My goodness.  I left there in 1974.  How many lifetimes ago was that?!?    I had just turned 22 when I quit.  Tomorrow I'm going to be 60.  It's been several lifetimes.  Trust me.

One thing I haven't forgotten how to do in all of the ensuing years is how to hand-spin a pizza.  It really isn't as difficult as people think - although most cooking isn't as difficult as people think.

Back to being barely 22... I got into a fight with Barry - who was the owner.  I was the manager and pretty much running the place.  I walked across the street to the Riviera Dinner House - a restaurant where I ended up working about a year later - had more than a few cocktails, went home, packed up my car, and moved to Portland, Oregon.  That night.  I've never been the impulsive type.

My parents weren't exactly thrilled, but they didn't try to talk me out of it, either.  Six months later, the owner of the plant store next to Pirro's convinced me to move back to San Francisco and help her open a new place in Jack London Village in Oakland.  When Claudia went bust, Gracie, from the Riviera, hired me as a cook.  From The Riviera to the Red Chimney and Val's. They were owned by the brothers who owned the Blue Crystal - the bar up the street from Pirros - and where I had been illegally drinking since I was 17.  It was nice being in demand.  By 24, I was living at Lake Tahoe with a friend from the pizza parlor days...

Whew!  And these were some of my quieter years.....

 


Pork Cutlets with Walnuts, Raisins, and Speck

I just love La Cucina Italiana.  Every issue has something in it that I just need to make. It's especially good because I just can't seen to get Italy out of my mind.  It really was the best vacation, ever.  I'd head back tonight if I could, but though we can't go tonight, we are going for our 20th Anniversary in 2014.  I'm starting to put the pennies in the piggy bank.  I want to go to Sicily and bask in the Mediterranean, this time.

The latest issue had a recipe for pork cutlets with pine nuts and prosciutto.  I didn't have pine nuts (???) and had some great speck, so the recipe was adapted to fit my ingredients.  It's how I cook.

Pork Cutlets with Walnuts, Raisins, and Speck

(adapted from La Cucina Italiana.)

  • 1/4  cup walnuts
  • 2 tablespoons golden raisins, plumped and drained
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons capers
  • 1 1/2 cups finely grated Grana Padano cheese
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1  garlic clove, crushed
  • 6 small pork cutlets, pounded
  • 6 thin slices speck

Heat oven to 475º.  Finely chop together nuts, raisins, parsley, and capers. Sir together nut mixture and cheese.  Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter and garlic over medium-high heat. Cook cutlets about 2 minutes per side, then transfer to a sheet pan. Mound nut mixture over cutlets, then wrap each cutlet with 1 slice speck.

Dot with remaining tablespoon butter; bake 5 minutes.

I have to say it came out pretty darn good.  I took the leftover filling and stirred it into some gnocchi and added some small mozzarella balls to the mix.

The saltiness of the capers, cheese, and speck negated the need for any salt at all.  And the sweetness of the raisins added juuuuuust the right balance.

This is another of those recipes that has a lot of variations just waiting to be made.

Ah, Italy...

 

 


Grilled Peaches

There's a new cheese in town.  White Stilton with Peaches and Cream.  It's pretty outrageous.

It tastes more like ice cream than it does cheese, and my first thought after tasting it was that it would make an outstanding dessert.

Naturally, I was correct.

I didn't need to delve too deeply for this one - just put it atop a grilled peach.  And that, alone, would have been great, but I wanted to take it to that next level.  Walnuts and maple syrup did just that.

I grilled the peaches and set them on the plates.  On went the cheese, and then the walnuts and syrup that I had heated together.  It added just the right amount of softening power to the cheese.

I could have had several of them.  I see more in my future.


Squid Ink and Shrimp

It's so much fun to come home on Saturday to whatever delight Victor has come up with.  It just never fails to delight my gastronomic senses.  And it pretty much delights the rest of my senses, as well.

Tonight I walked into the house to the smell of fresh-baked focaccia and squid ink pasta drying.  Ya shoulda seen the smile on my face!

Victor has the pasta-making down to a complete science.  I will probably never make homemade pasta again in my life.  His is perfect.

For the squid ink pasta, he just takes his basic recipe and adds a drop or two of the ink.  We keep it in the freezer - a little goes a long way and it doesn't freeze solid so it's always at the ready!  This is enough for two good portions.  Double or more for however many you're cooking for.

Victor's Pasta

  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1/8 teaspoon squid ink
  • up to 1 teaspoon water, if necessary

Instructions

On a clean work surface, mound flour and form a well in the center. Add egg and egg yolk to the well. Using a fork, gently break up yolks and slowly incorporate flour from inside rim of well. Continue until liquid is absorbed, then knead for 10 minutes. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Cover 2 pieces with plastic wrap. Flatten remaining dough piece so that it will fit through the rollers of a pasta machine.

Set rollers of pasta machine at the widest setting, then feed pasta through rollers 3 or 4 times, folding and turning pasta until it is smooth and the width of the machine.

Roll pasta through machine, decreasing the setting, one notch at a time (do not fold or turn pasta), until pasta sheet is scant 1/16 inch thick.

Cut sheet in half widthwise; dust both sides of sheets with flour. Layer sheets between floured pieces of parchment or wax paper. Cover with paper and repeat with remaining dough.

With the short end of 1 pasta sheet facing you, loosely fold up sheet, folding sheet over two or three times from short ends toward the center. With a large chefs knife, cut folded sheet into ribbons, a scant 1/4 inch wide. Unroll strips and lightly dust with flour; spread on a lightly floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pasta sheets.

To cook the tagliatelle, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain pasta, transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with sauce.

For the sauce, he sauteed garlic in olive oil and butter.  In went jumbo shrimp and he cooked until almost done.  He added a good squeeze of lemon juice, zest from half a lemon, a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes, and about a quarter-cup of grated grana padano.  He took it off the stove and added one chopped tomato and then stirred in the cooked pasta.

It rocked.  Conversation consisted of "Umm."  "This is great." "Mmm." "Burp." "This is great."

We both cleaned our plates.

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens.

Focaccia

Ingredients

  • 3 cups  all-purpose flour
  • 1  pkg.  active dry yeast
  • 1/2  tsp.  salt
  • 1  cup  warm water (110°)
  • 2  Tbsp.  olive oil

Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, the yeast, and salt; add warm water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.
  2. With dough hook in place, knead  to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Lightly grease a large bowl; place dough in bowl and cover with a towel. Let dough rise in a warm place until double in size (30 minutes).
  3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 16×12-inch rectangle. Place in a greased 16x12x1-inch baking pan.  Let rise 20 minutes.
  4. Top with toppings of choice and bake at 375° about 25 minutes.

This is another great no-fail recipe.

And there's grilled peaches for dessert!


Dinner Salads

It's still a billion degrees outside.  The air is so thick you need gills to walk outside.

Time to grill.

I avoided grilling yesterday, but it's difficult to avoid two days in a row.  I like my grill.

I marinated a pork tenderloin in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, and rice wine.  Onto the grill it went.

Meanwhile, I made up a huge bowl of fruit salad.  'Tis the season.  I am definitely a summer fruit person.  Peaches, apricots, plums - and berries of every stripe - are my mainstay.  I very seldom buy fruit out of season.  Once in a blue moon I'll pick up strawberries in the winter, but I really do like my fruits to be local as possible - at least the same continent.  It just tastes better.

The pork went on a bed of greens along with an avocado and tomato.  A simple balsamic vinaigrette.  And a bit of yesterday's potato salad.

I hate the fact that I'm buying tomatoes but ours just aren't doing that great.  They really don't like the humidity, either.

There's still a lot of growing time left, so we shall see...

 


Chicken Salad Sandwiches

It's about a million degrees outside with a zillion percent humidity - give or take - so I thought it prudent to eschew grilling and cook indoors.  The cooking involved boiling potatoes for potato salad and poaching chicken for chicken salad sandwiches.

I used mini pitas for the bread and first stuffed them with some nice, ripe avocado.  Then the chicken salad.  The salad was really basic - chicken, onion, celery, pickles, mayo, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  It's hot outside and I'm still injured and on drugs.  I definitely don't want to tax myself too much.

Apricot Clafoutis for dessert.

 


Chorizo and Chicken Paella

So my leg's been bothering me for a week.  With hardly any nagging from Victor, I actually called the doctor on Friday when I got home from work.

It was then a trip to the ER because my doctor needed to rule out a blood clot right away.  Long airplane flights can bring them on.  Fortunately, it wasn't a blood clot, and armed with a few Percocet, I headed home for a quiet weekend and a requirement to call my Dr on Monday.

After a visit to my Primary Care doctor, this morning, I left with a request for an x-ray of my lower back and a prescription for Methylprednisolone(Alas, no more Percoset!) Fun side effects include getting speedy, trouble sleeping, and increased appetite.

Now... I know I'm getting old, but back in my day, when a pill made you speedy and kept you awake, it DECREASED your appetite!  Jeeze Louise!  These damned pharmaceutical companies are screwing everything up!  I mean, c'mon.  I do not need a pill to increase my appetite!  Really.  I mean, after getting weighed at the Dr, who knew my wallet and phone weighed 25 pounds?!?  I could, however, use something to get me back into those disco pants of yore... I see another Dr visit in my future...

I had shopped earlier, and knew that dinner was going to be comprised of at least Mexican chorizo and chicken.  After getting home and taking all of my drugs, I decided a Mexican paella was in order.  Quick, easy, and let the oven do the cooking.  It's a primordial swamp outside but the air conditioning is working just fine indoors.

For being a wing-it recipe, I have to admit it came out pretty good.  The difference between Mexican and Spanish chorizo is Mexican is fresh, and Spanish is cured.  Mexican is also usually ground, where the Spanish is chopped.  Actually, the similarities between the two are more in the name and that the main ingredient is pork.  Otherwise, they are pretty different in looks and taste.

Mexican Paella

  • 2 links Mexican chorizo, casings removed
  • 1 chicken breast, diced
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup short-grained rice
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 can cherry tomatoes with juice
  • 1 can posole, drained
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1 tsp Mexican oregano
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • salt and pepper

Brown chicken and chorizo in ovenproof pan.  Add onion and garlic and cook.  Add rice and cook until slightly translucent.  Add 1 cup of white wine and, stirring, cook down until almost evaporated.

Add broth, tomatoes, posole, corn, and herbs and spices.

Bring to a boil, cover, and place in 375° oven for about 40 minutes.

It did come out good.  And there's leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I may have to come home for lunch - being that I should be extra-speedy and ravenous, and all...

 


Fried Chicken

If there could be any benefit at all to having a sore-as-hell leg and a slight percocet haze, it would be having Victor home to cook and look after me.

It is no secret that I am the worlds worst patient.  I want to be left alone and not bothered until I feel well enough to join the human race.  But even I have to eat.  And Victor knows how to feed me!

Early this morning I pulled a whole chicken out of the freezer with no idea of what  - or desire - to do anything with it.

Victor to the rescue. No sooner had I put it on the island that Victor said he would handle dinner. ::sigh::

I came gimping into the kitchen and he said "What about frying the chicken in coconut oil?"  I swooned.

He did a really simple take on an Alton Brown recipe.  And damn, it was good!

Fried Chicken

  • 2 cups low fat buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Flour, for dredging

Add chicken pieces to buttermilk and let soak for 8 or so hours - or up to 24.

Mix spices together and liberally douse the drained chicken.  Dredge in flour and then fry in coconut oil - about 10 or so minutes per side, depending upon how thick the chicken pieces are.

It was absolutely delish!  It was crispy-crunchy with just the right amount of heat and the most subtle hint of sweet coconut.  I had to restrain myself from devouring the whole platter.

The nice thing is we will have some cold fried chicken for lunch tomorrow.

I can't wait!

And ya know... I could really get used to getting nursed back to health like this.


Peach Pie

Victor just called this the best pie I have ever made.  I don't know if I would go that far, but it is a pretty good pie.

Fresh peaches and a homemade crust - what can be easier?  I do have to admit that I have the pie crust-thing down pretty good.  Food processor, frozen butter, ice water.  It is seriously fool-proof.

No-Fail Pie Crust

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
  • 2 sticks butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 cup ice water

Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

Roll out crust and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and fill.

While I know I really should let the dough relax, I almost never do.  I form it into disks and roll it right out on a well-floured counter.  It always works.

The filling was simplicity, itself.

Peach Pie

  • 4 pounds of peaches, peeled and sliced
  • scant 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 3 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 scant tsp cinnamon
  • pinch cardamom
  • pinch salt
  • 3 tbsp butter

Toss peaches with all ingredients except butter.  Pour into prepared pie shell.  Dot filling with butter.  Top with second crust.

Cut steam vents in crust and place in preheated 425° oven about 45 minutes.  Cover crust edges if they get too browned.

Cool and enjoy.  Do not refrigerate fruit pies.  Really.

My grandmother used to give me homemade peach pie for breakfast with peaches from her neighbor, Mrs. McNamee's tree.  My mother didn't exactly approve, but Grandma always trumped.  The good ol' days...

I'm thinkin' that Grandma would approve of me having some of this for breakfast tomorrow.


Beef Tips and Mushrooms

It's work out of the freezer month here at the Dineen/Martorano household.  I did a bit of shopping when we got back from vacation and in just a few days we went from manageable to barely close the freezer door.  I got some good deals, but it's still a bit tight.

The nice thing about having both a sharp knife and a FoodSaver is the ability to buy things like whole pork loins, beef tenderloins, or whole eye rounds and portion them up for pennies on the pound.  Boneless pork chops can run $5.99/lb or more.  A whole pork loin on sale at $1.99/lb  can give me 20 pork chops for less than $20.00.  Same holds true for anything else.

So tonight's meal deal was a 2" thick piece of eye of the round beef.  I cut it into cubes and marinated it in Moore's Original Marinade for about 20 minutes before putting them on the grill.  Moore's hails from Alabama.  I first heard of it from our friend Mike down in South Carolina.  It's a quick and easy marinade that one can do lots of things to - or just use it as it is.

Good stuff.

Served it over some Israeli couscous blend and a really simple mushroom gravy - mushrooms, red wine, beef broth...

It worked well.

We have a fresh peach pie cooling for dessert.

Life is good.