Riiiiiiibs... Nothing quite like it. Once upon a time, I was a little intimidated by ribs. It seemed to be like a religion, with the regional differences, wet vs. dry, what kinda rubs and what kinda sauce to use -- and of course the whole issue about whether you are "allowed" to call something barbecue at all, unless it's cooked for 8 or 18 hours or whatnot. It's enough to put someone off the whole idea. Which is a great shame, because ribs are amazingly simple to cook.
Rub them with whatever rub you like. Fire up the grill for medium, indirect heat (ie., coal moved to the sides, not directly in the middle). Get some smoke going. Place the ribs in the middle, meat side up on some heavy tin foil. Leave this for about 2 hours, adding a little coal every half hour or so. Then, move the coal into the center for direct heat, brush the ribs with whatever sauce you like and place them meat side down over the coals. Depending on how hot your coals are, you'll have a nice charring after 15 minute or so (this also depends on how much sugar your bbq sauce contains). Easy, lazy weekend meal.
Rub them with whatever rub you like. Fire up the grill for medium, indirect heat (ie., coal moved to the sides, not directly in the middle). Get some smoke going. Place the ribs in the middle, meat side up on some heavy tin foil. Leave this for about 2 hours, adding a little coal every half hour or so. Then, move the coal into the center for direct heat, brush the ribs with whatever sauce you like and place them meat side down over the coals. Depending on how hot your coals are, you'll have a nice charring after 15 minute or so (this also depends on how much sugar your bbq sauce contains). Easy, lazy weekend meal.
This recipe has seriously started to grow on me. Having done this thing a couple of times before -- and having been very happy with the results, I can't help but wonder about what I can do to improve it. Hey, I'm a nerd, what can I say...
The original recipe didn't use salmon, as far as I can remember. But salmon is the obvious choice here -- not just for the sake of the taste, but the colors. The colors are just excellent. Radiant.
You can find the recipe in the above links. "Hearty" style mashy taters (ie., washed and scrubbed and cleaned -- but with the peel on), and some microwaved, frozen peas. And a bit of lime, for a squeeze. Oh, and a bit of dill over the salmon (my only modification of the original recipe).
The original recipe didn't use salmon, as far as I can remember. But salmon is the obvious choice here -- not just for the sake of the taste, but the colors. The colors are just excellent. Radiant.
You can find the recipe in the above links. "Hearty" style mashy taters (ie., washed and scrubbed and cleaned -- but with the peel on), and some microwaved, frozen peas. And a bit of lime, for a squeeze. Oh, and a bit of dill over the salmon (my only modification of the original recipe).
This might not be a very authentic version of this classic dish, but this is some really good tasting stuff...
Instead of those uninspiring rice noodles, I used some nice linguine. And instead of red cabbage, I just used a coleslaw mixture I had laying around -- along with some grated carrots. There's finely diced chicken, some shrimp, cashew nuts (recipe called for peanuts) in the mix, and a sauce made of rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, fresh lemon juice, sugar, red pepper flakes and (Yeah, I know) I put some ketchup into the mess also.
It actually tasted pretty damned good.
Instead of those uninspiring rice noodles, I used some nice linguine. And instead of red cabbage, I just used a coleslaw mixture I had laying around -- along with some grated carrots. There's finely diced chicken, some shrimp, cashew nuts (recipe called for peanuts) in the mix, and a sauce made of rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, fresh lemon juice, sugar, red pepper flakes and (Yeah, I know) I put some ketchup into the mess also.
It actually tasted pretty damned good.
This is my favorite uh, application for a filet mignon: pepper steak.
1. Crush (very coarsely) a lot of peppercorns -- almost a tablespoon per steak, rub into the steaks good and proper.
2. Sauté in groundnut oil over medium heat in a stainless steel pan (do not use nonstick -- you actually want some stickiness in this case) to required doneness. This of course varies depending on the thickness of your steaks, and your stove, but in this case I went about 3-4 min per side for these 1" - 1 1/2" steak, which resulted in some nice rare to rare-medium-rare steaks.
3. Set the steaks aside on a platter, and leave them in a pre-heated oven. Do not cover the steaks, as the evaporation would make the lovely, crispy surface texture soggy.
4. Deglaze the pan with 3-4 tablespoons of brandy, and whisk in two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, and 1/3-1/2 cup of cream. Let it reduce to a slightly thicker consistency (5 minutes or so) and adjust according to taste with salt and coarsely cracked peppercorns.
5. When plating, make sure to add the liquid that seeped from the steaks while they were resting in the oven, to the sauce.
I've done this dish so many times now, and it is so simple that I never look at any recipes anymore. But there's always something new that can go wrong (with an opportunity to learn something new, of course), which was the case here... The first time I made this I used a non-stick pan, which resulted in absolutely no pan drippings -- and the sauce just doesn't work without that stuff (I pathetically ended up scraping the edges of the steaks to get a little bit of it). So I only use stainless steel pans now, but it turns out that I (completely accidentally) never waited long enough for the pan to reach the full medium heat level, before putting the steaks in. In this case, I had to delay the dinner a bit, and ended up heating the pan properly, which of course results in far less stickiness!
This is almost a mantra for cooking instruction: To make sure things won't stick, let your pan or your grill heat up properly, before cooking on it. With steak au Poivre (or obviously, any similarly sautéed dish that needs pan drippings), you want to add your meat before the pan has heated up fully. You want it to be sticky.
The sauce in this case just wasn't quite up to scratch.
1. Crush (very coarsely) a lot of peppercorns -- almost a tablespoon per steak, rub into the steaks good and proper.
2. Sauté in groundnut oil over medium heat in a stainless steel pan (do not use nonstick -- you actually want some stickiness in this case) to required doneness. This of course varies depending on the thickness of your steaks, and your stove, but in this case I went about 3-4 min per side for these 1" - 1 1/2" steak, which resulted in some nice rare to rare-medium-rare steaks.
3. Set the steaks aside on a platter, and leave them in a pre-heated oven. Do not cover the steaks, as the evaporation would make the lovely, crispy surface texture soggy.
4. Deglaze the pan with 3-4 tablespoons of brandy, and whisk in two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, and 1/3-1/2 cup of cream. Let it reduce to a slightly thicker consistency (5 minutes or so) and adjust according to taste with salt and coarsely cracked peppercorns.
5. When plating, make sure to add the liquid that seeped from the steaks while they were resting in the oven, to the sauce.
This is almost a mantra for cooking instruction: To make sure things won't stick, let your pan or your grill heat up properly, before cooking on it. With steak au Poivre (or obviously, any similarly sautéed dish that needs pan drippings), you want to add your meat before the pan has heated up fully. You want it to be sticky.
The sauce in this case just wasn't quite up to scratch.
This is an idiot-proof recipe. I've never managed to screw this one up -- nor have I ever had a result that was less than excellent.
Sauté a chopped onion for 15 minutes, stir in some red Thai curry paste, brown sugar and fish sauce and let that go for a few minutes. Then add a can of coconut milk, salt, pepper, and some new, tiny baby potatoes. Let that go for 15 minutes or so, and then add some chopped-up chicken (breast meat is fine -- the flavor comes from the sauce).
Stir in some strips of mint, basil and kaffir lime leaves.
Serve over rice, garnished with cilantro and strips of red chili.
Sauté a chopped onion for 15 minutes, stir in some red Thai curry paste, brown sugar and fish sauce and let that go for a few minutes. Then add a can of coconut milk, salt, pepper, and some new, tiny baby potatoes. Let that go for 15 minutes or so, and then add some chopped-up chicken (breast meat is fine -- the flavor comes from the sauce).
Stir in some strips of mint, basil and kaffir lime leaves.
Serve over rice, garnished with cilantro and strips of red chili.
Big dash of sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, and cilantro -- perfect accompany for a good chili. Not that I think this is good chili, mind you. Making a good chili is insanely hard to do. I take pride in being able to create some traditional dishes -- Indian, American or European -- but I keep having problems with chili. It's such a simple thing, but it requires so much attention -- it is temperamental.
Don't get me wrong -- this tasted great.
Don't get me wrong -- this tasted great.
Whether you're for or against firearms, I'm sure we can all agree with the rule that you must "Always treat a gun as if it is loaded." I've come up with a rule of my own: "Always treat a package of pasta as if it has already been opened..."
Things were going just great tonight...I'd heated the pasta water ahead of time, salted it nicely, had some bacon cooking in the oven (for the salad), got the sauce flavored just so, had peeled the shrimp, and knew I'd have ample time to sort out the salad while the pasta was cooking -- I was in a groove; everything was coming together real nice. I felt like I was Mario Batali or something. Then I poured all my fettuccine onto the floor. D'oh. Luckily, I had another package.
The sauce was a Béchamel cheese sauce with chopped parsley (parsley really is a great provider of flavor for things like this), seasoned with a little salt and some freshly ground white pepper. I threw the shrimp into the sauce to cook, while the pasta was finishing cooking. Then I drained the pasta and threw the sauce and shrimp mixture into it, plated it and threw some coarsely chopped parse on top. Served with a salad and some bread.
The salad was pretty simple: I used a bag of mixed salad mix, adding some sliced red onions, chopped cucumber, lightly tossed in Thousand Island dressing. Then, some crispy bacon and shavings of Parmesan. I think it would have been a bit more interesting if I'd used some fruit, like shredded apple or grapes cut in half. I feel a tad guilty about not coming up with anything more imaginative for a salad, to make it something that you really want to eat... Adding bacon is kinda like cheating.
Things were going just great tonight...I'd heated the pasta water ahead of time, salted it nicely, had some bacon cooking in the oven (for the salad), got the sauce flavored just so, had peeled the shrimp, and knew I'd have ample time to sort out the salad while the pasta was cooking -- I was in a groove; everything was coming together real nice. I felt like I was Mario Batali or something. Then I poured all my fettuccine onto the floor. D'oh. Luckily, I had another package.
The sauce was a Béchamel cheese sauce with chopped parsley (parsley really is a great provider of flavor for things like this), seasoned with a little salt and some freshly ground white pepper. I threw the shrimp into the sauce to cook, while the pasta was finishing cooking. Then I drained the pasta and threw the sauce and shrimp mixture into it, plated it and threw some coarsely chopped parse on top. Served with a salad and some bread.
