Dry rub ribs tonight with a smoky sweet mop sauce

While they were labeled as "Country style ribs", they certainly didn't fit the the ribs described here, they were lean and meaty. I decided to try a modification of a recipe I'd written down a while back (I can't remember where I found it originally). I rubbed the ribs on all sides and cooked them on the gas grill over a low heat for about 45 minutes total, turning them once onto each of their four sides. I slopped some of the mop sauce over each when I turned them the last time to finish them off. The tasty and tender results are shown above. Rub and sauce recipes below.

Lorence's Dry Rib rub
(modified from some one else's, don't remember who's)
1 Tablespoon Kosher salt
1 Tablespoon fresh coursely ground pepper
1 Tablespoon Dry Cilantro
1 Teaspoon ground Coriander
1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon dried ground Thyme
2 Tablespoons Chili powder
3 Tablespoons brown sugar (dark brown sugar if you have it; I didn't)
Mix them all together in a bowl and rub it on all sides of the pork before grilling

Smoky Sweet Rib Mop Sauce
(again, modified from some one else's, don't remember who's)
1 cup store brand barbecue sauce, hickory flavored
1 Teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup (I used the real deal, not that fakey corn syrupy stuff)
Mix them all together in a bowl and slop some on top of the ribs after turning them for the last time.

(The Dry rib rub about to be mixed together)

If I had more time, these would have been great over and indirect heat on the Weber for a couple of hours... Gonna have to try that before too long...

Enjoy,
Lorence

It Is Balloon!

We had a great bit of adventure this evening as a hot air balloon landed in the neighborhood's elementary school yard just down the street from us. It was very exciting as the huge balloon floated across the tops of the trees, coming down, down, down... We all thought it was going to crash into the houses across the street from the school. It landed safely, though, close to the fence at the edge of the school yard, but safely none the less, missing all of the wires and playground equipment by a good margin. I managed to capture some photos and I may have a bit of video, too...








Enjoy,
Lorence

Dr. Boogie to the ER, Dr. Boogie to the ER, STAT!

Boogie's been watching lot's of "Emergency!" on the Retro TV channel lately...Click to embigificate

From what I hear, the bear survived...

Enjoy! The Boog sure is!
Lorence

Tomatoes, too!

Not the first, but the second, third and fourth of the season. Just a few little tiny Sungolds, the largest only about a 1/2 inch across, but HUGE flavor, oh, so sweet. I've never had these before, but will definitely be putting them in the garden again. The plant is getting huge (it's over 6 feet tall already and has tons of greenies still growing and hundreds of blossoms just getting started. Here's a shot of it from 2 weeks ago with most of it at 4+ feet tall and one branch well over 5 feet (with the heavily producing basil, beneath it). Please ignore the crab grass and my neighbors garage...

Enjoy,
Lorence

Broccoli!

This season's first broccoli! This is the first year I've grown it and it's producing very nicely. I cooked this up using my Quick Steamed Broccoli recipe with a few modifications - I used a teaspoon of butter in place of the oil spray and only 1 teaspoon of water in a large bowl. I covered it very tightly, sealing it up well, then zapped it for 2 minutes, serving immediately with a nicely grilled medium rare porterhouse. Sorry, but it smelled (and tasted!) way too delicious to wait for pictures.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Boogie's Next Recipe: Caprisi Salad Sandwich

Another night time snack adventure. Boogie was hungry, and in a creative mood.

First, he went to the yard and picked some fresh basil. Then he mixed up a bit of olive & Mrs. Dash® Tomato Basil Seasoning Blend in a small bowl and spread it on the bottom half of the only roll we had in the house, a day old kaiser roll. He topped that with some slices of fresh mozzarella:

He sliced some tomtato and topped the mozzarella with that:

(honing his knife skills... he does pretty well for an 8 yr old.)

Then more of the olive oil mixture:

Ready to slice:Ready to eat!

Yumminess ensues...

Enjoy,
Lorence

Father's Day present, 2009, A Salad Spinner!

My brand new salad spinner, Father's Day, 2009. It works great.

Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken

Another recipe from last week's Oprah show - and a great one at that. I made Cat Cora's Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken tonight and it was a HUGE hit, and deservedly so - this dish is fantastic. It's kind of like cattitore with a little twist. The chicken was tender, juicy and full of flavor, the sauce was bright, tomatoey, and with just the faintest hint of cinnamon - not overpowering at all. I loved it and I am NOT a fan of cinnamon at all.

You MUST make this dish!

I did not preboil the water with sea salt as the first step in the direction- she doesn't give any indication of how much sea salt (though I would imagine it would be a teaspoon to a tablspoon...). The dish was more than fine without it.

Be sure to read through the recipe first.

Greek Cinnamon Stewed Chicken
Recipe created by Cat Cora (original recipe here)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 chicken (2 1/2 to 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (legs, breast and thighs)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
5 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion , peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups water
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 Tbsp. dried Italian herb seasoning
1 cup orzo , cooked according to package directions
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Method:
Preboil water with sea salt.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. A wet chicken will cause the oil to splatter while the chicken is sautéing. Mix the cinnamon, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the chicken pieces on all sides with the seasoning.

Heat the olive oil in a large, nonreactive, deep skillet over high heat. A 12-inch skillet with sides about 2 1/2 to 3 inches high will allow you to brown all the chicken at once. If you don't have a skillet large enough, brown them in two batches using 1/2 the oil for each batch. What's important is that the chicken isn't overcrowded, which would cause them to steam rather than brown.

Add the chicken to the oil and brown for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Turn the pieces using a metal spatula, as they have a tendency to stick to the pan. Remove the pieces when they are well browned on all sides.

Mince three of the garlic cloves. Lower the heat to medium-high, and add the onions and minced garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the onions have softened and are a rich golden brown. Add about 1/2 cup of the water and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula or spoon to deglaze the pan, loosening any particles stuck on the bottom.

When the water has evaporated, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, tomato paste, Italian seasoning and remaining 2 garlic cloves, minced.

Return the chicken to the pan. The liquid should cover about 3/4 of the chicken pieces. Cover the pot and simmer over medium-high heat for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked. If the sauce becomes too thick, it can be thinned with a little more water. Season the finished sauce with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Serve over orzo, cooked according to package directions, and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

A new favorite here at Chez Sing!

Enjoy,
Lorence

Tilapia Lettuce Wraps - "Gyros"

My wife saw a recent Oprah episode that featured 3 celebrity chefs. Each was paired with a family that was clueless in the kitchen, and they each came up with a weeks worth of recipes that were interesting and simple to prepare. That, of course, means that I have more recipes to learn and try!
So far I've made 2 of them and will be making more. This recipe is from Cat Cora, the first female Iron Chef, and was titled "Lettuce 'Gyros'with Tilapia and Yogurt Sauce". The original can be found on Oprah's web site, but its not put together well- the idea is great, but the writeup isn't, so I've redone it here with a few of my own little modifications.

We enjoyed this - It's fresh tasting, satisfying, easy and quick, plus it's the base of a pretty healthy meal. I even like the yogurt sauce a kind of tzatziki, which is really saying something as I'm definitely not a fan of yogurt.

I made a few minor changes, for example, instead of using "butter lettuce", I used the romaine I already had in the fridge. Using the romaine also gave it a nice "crunch". I changed up the fish easoning mixture a bit, too.

Make the tzatziki first - it should sit in the fridge for a while, an hour or so, before serving. Beware, too - this tzatziki recipe makes a whole bunch more than you'll need for the lettuce wraps. You may want to half the tzatziki recipe.

Tilapia Lettuce Wraps with Tzatziki
Serves 4–6

Tilapia Lettuce Wraps:
3 fillets (6 ounces each) tilapia or whatever fish you prefer. If frozen, thaw completely first
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lime
1 tspn chili powder
1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
1/4 tspn ground cumin
1 tsp. sea salt, divided
Fresh black pepper
Romaine lettuce leaves, washed, dried
1 medium ripe tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 medium yellow onion , sliced very thinly
Black or kalamata olives , pitted and halved
1 Tbsp. dried Italian herb seasoning blend (I used Mrs. Dash® Tomato Basil Seasoning Blend)
2 or 3 scallions, sliced thinly on the bias

Method:
Preheat grill or oven to 400°.

In a mixing bowl, mix the tomatoes, onion, olives, Italian herb blend, 1/2 the olive oil, 1/2 the lime juice, 1/2 tspn salt and pepper and blend well. Set aside to serve as a condiment for the wraps.

Line a baking pan with foil and spray with vegetable spray.
Mix 1/2 the olive oil, 1/2 the lime juice, the chili powder, cayenne, cumin, pepper and 1/2 tspn salt in a small bowl.
Place the fish on the pan and spread the seasoning mixture over the fish.
Let the seasoned fish sit for 10 minutes.
Place in the oven until cooked through, but not dry, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Once the fish is done, remove from the oven and let sit until slightly warm.

On warmed serving plates, flake a generous amount of fish into each lettuce leaf.

Serve with the tomato/onion mixture, tzatziki (recipe below), scallions, etc. I served them with sliced cucumbers, too.

Tzatziki:
Ingredients:
1 lemon , juiced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic , minced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

Method:
Add lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt to the yogurt. Chill for at least 1 hour.

I also served this with some Sabra hummus and rye crackers.


A delicious dinner!
Enjoy,
Lorence

Big Shot Buffalo Meatballs

A recent class project on prairie animals gave Boogie a hankering for buffalo. So a'huntin we went and wound up finding a pound of prey at Whole Foods. Boogie was on a mission - he had created his own recipe, gave it a name and was ready to cook.

Since he's still just a kid and kind of little, I supervised his use of the food processor (he made the bread crumbs fresh), the oven and the stove closely, but I pretty much let him loose to do his thing. He did very well handling the ingredients and tools, chopping the mushrooms, grating the cheese, measuring the herbs and spices (I did separate the egg for him, though), and even smooshing it all together and forming the balls.

The end result was well worth the effort and this dish will wind up in a regular rotation at our house.

Big Shot Buffalo Meatballs
An original Boogie recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound Ground Buffalo meat
1 Egg
1 Egg White
1/2 Cup grated Parrano cheese
1/2 cup fresh Bread Crumbs
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon Marjoram
2 portobella mushrooms, 1 chopped fine, 1 medium diced
1 jar Heinz Brown Gravy (12 ounce)
1/2 pound wide egg noodles

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 350F
2) Cut one mushroom int o a medium dice.
3) Put gravy into a small saucepan. Add medium diced mushrooms. Place on burner on simmer an partially cover. Be sure to stir the gravy occasionally.
4) Chop the other mushroom fine.
5) In a large bowl, mix the fine chopped mushrooms, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, marjoram, eggs, and meat. Blend well by mixing with your hands.
6) Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with vegetable cooking spray.
7) Form meatballs from the meat mixture that are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches around & place them on the baking sheet. Leave some space between each meatball.
8) Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.
9) Prepare the egg noodles according to the package instructions. Drain them well when they're done.
10) Remove the meatballs from the oven.
11) In a clean large bowl, add the gravy to the noodles.
12) Serve by putting the noodles and gravy on a plate and topping them with several meatballs.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Finally. Our long national nightmare is over.

I've kept my personal political views off of this blog since it's inception, save the link to my other website. I've waited for today for a long, long time, though, so I'd like to say, "Here's to you, George. Thanks for mucking things up so bad. Now get the hell out. Good-bye and good riddance, George."



1/20/2009. The end of an error.

We now return to our regularly unscheduled mostly food posts.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Pickin' apples

Pickin' suncrisp apples to be exact. Boog and I went out to Lynd's Fruit Farm early on a Saturday this past October with the intention of picking Asian pears. When we arrived we found out that the pear trees were picked clean the day before. After a brief moment of being totally bummed (complete bummitude!), we decided to pick some Suncrisp apples. The nice pady at the gate assured me they were crispy and sweet; I asked how they compared to my favorite,the fabulous Honeycrisp. She said "Nothing compares to the honeycrisp, honey."

We had a great time going through the orchard, looking for the biggest and best apples. I was somewhat surprised to see that all of the trees are pretty short, maybe 7 to 8 feet tall a the most. The last apple tree I remember seeing was in the yard of a house in Dayton back in fall of 1985. . A classmate of mine was renting a room there and invited us for a picnic - Bambi-burgers, fresh veggies and homemade apple pie! That tree was huge! HUGE, I tell ya! The littel trees at Lynds were full of apples, though, and nearly all were within easy reach.


We picked a full bag and headed back to the car and to the exit gate to pay. Almost all of the apples made it...
Here are some of those that made it home:

The Suncrisps are indeed crisp and sweet. And they're very juicy, too, but next year, I'll be taking the proper Fridays off to pick both Honeycrisps and Asian pears.

There were plenty of other things to do at the big tent Lynds has set up at the big intersection - lot's of fresh baked goods, other crops (gigantic fresh picked cabbage, cucumber, zucchini, peppers, onions, potatoes, and of course, lots of defferent kinds of apples). There was freshly made caramel corn, giant pecan turtles, great hot dogs (again, huge!), fresh squeezed lemonade...nothing was cheap, but it was all tasty.

Can't wait for next fall. We had a great day.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Shrimp and Scallop pasta

I created this dish a couple of years ago and forgot about it. I found the recipe written in one of my notebooks and remembered how much we liked it, so I gathered the ingredients together and cooked it up tonight. It was as tasty as I remembered, but perhaps could have used a bit more heat (red pepper flakes).
It's quick to make, not too fancy, but tastes rich. There's a whole lot of garlic in it, and If you've read any of my other posts, you know I love garlic.

This recipe made about 4 servings.

Shrimp and Scallop Pasta
Ingredients:
½ pound pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 pound Shrimp, peeled (26-30 size)
½ pound bay scallops,rinsed
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces plain tomato sauce
4 ounces chicken broth
2 more ounces chicken broth with ½ teaspoon flour blended in
1 small tomato, diced, drained
1 roasted red pepper, cut in ½" x ½" pieces
½ teaspoon dried "Italian seasoning" blend (blend of basil, oregano,
Hot red pepper flakes to taste (¼ to ½ teaspoon)

Method:
put the shrimp and scallops in separate bowls. Sprinkle each with ¼ of the Italian seasonings and stir.
Cook the pasta per package directions.
Heat the Olive oil in a large saute pan on medium-high
Add the sliced garlic, cook 20 seconds or so.
Add the shrimp, saute about a minute.
Add the tomato and roasted red pepper. Saute another minute.
Add the 4 ounces of chicken broth, the tomato sauce & minced garlic. Bring to a boil
Cover and cook for another minute.
Add the scallops.
Stir the broth with the flour to be sure it is well blended and add it to the pan.
Add the red pepper flakes and return to a boil.
Cook until the scallops are just cooked through, another minute or 2.
Toss with the pasta in a large bowl, and serve.

I've used shrimp and scallops, but I think the next time I might try some shrimp and fish, like cod or even salmon.

Enjoy,
Lorence

Chicken Sausage with Spinach, Feta and pignoli

I've wanted to try these sausages since I saw them at Whole Foods - Chicken Sausage with Spinach, Feta and pignloi. I finally picked some up last weekend and popped them into the freezer for safe keeping. I pulled them out yesterday and tonight came up with this recipe. I will definitely be making this again. be warned, though, most of the amounts of ingredients were just eyeballed as I made this up as went along, so use your best judgement - more of what you like, less of what you don't...

The eggplant, tomato and basil came fresh out of my garden. It was a pretty good year back there.

Chicken Sausage with other stuff...
Ingredients:
3 fresh Chicken sausage with spinach, feta and pignoli, about 1 pound
Roasted eggplant, about 1 pound
1 can of cannellini or great northern beans, rinsed.
Roasted red pepper, cut ½" by ½"
Fresh tomato, chopped
Gemelli pasta, about ½ pound
Paranno cheese, shredded
Fresh basil, cut chiffonade
½ cup chicken broth/stock
Olive oil

Method:
Set oven to 350°.
Prick the eggplant all over and put in a baking dish (foil lined) and roast for about 45 minutes.
Cook the pasta per package directions.
When the eggplant is done, remove the peel and cut into bite sized pieces.
Slice the sausage into about ½ inch slices.
Heat a large pan, add olive oil, brown the sausage on both sides in batches. Remove to a plate, keep warm.
Deglaze the pan with the chicken broth.
Add the beans, red pepper, tomatoes, eggplant, and sausage, and stir gently (don't break the beans!) to heat through.
Serve over a small bed of gemelli, top with shredded parrano cheese and some of the sliced basil.

some notes:
Slicing sausage was made easy as thy were still partially Frozen. I would recommend removing the casing first, too.
When browning the sausage, between each batch try to scrape out some of the looser browned bits and pignoli that may escape from the slices and put them with the cooked slices.

Since I was pretty much just winging it, I'll make a couple of changes next time:
I'll I think I'll saute some garlic, probably sliced, before the sausage, then use some white wine to deglaze.

The Parrano cheese was a great find. Boogie and I tated it on a trip to Whole foods about a month ago, and I picked up a wedge this past week when I bought the sausage. I thought it tatsted like a combination of parmesan and gouda - turns out I hit the nail right on the head. From their web page:

It has the alluring nutty flavor of a fine-aged Parmesan with the versatility of a young Dutch Gouda.

It's great right out of the package and with apple slices, too.

UPDATE: 2200, 09/28/08: I was poking around my favorite sites and I remembered what really inspired me to get these great sausages:Sausage, greens and beans on Dave's Beer. Good stuff.

Enjoy,
Lorence

It's as easy as riding a bike...

And today, that's what Boogie did.
After a nice dinner of Tilapia stuffed with crab, we headed outside to relax for a bit on the front steps. I decided that it was a great night for Boogie to try his bicycle without the training wheels, so he scurried inside, retrieved his helmet, elbow pads & knee pads, the air pump, his water bottle, the pliers and the adjustable wrench. Yes, he was quite prepared. After struggling with one of the training wheels for a good 10 minutes (that sucker just didn't want to come off!), we were finally ready.
I figured I'd be running along beside him, propping him up by the back of his seat for a good hour while he got the hang of riding, the balance, the steadiness.

Nope.

Twice.

Two times.

That was it! I only had to steady him up a couple of times and away he went:

The second time...

And away he went!

I'm completely stunned; he just took to it immediately. I think it took me a week to learn what he did tonight in all of 5 minutes. It wasn't a perfect trip every time, of course, but he only ate dirt once. He did get sucked into the retaining wall a few times, though:

conclusion: retaining wall = Bike magnet

After about an hour of practicing going back and forth on the sidewalk, I think he was pretty pleased with himself:

Cool bike, cool kid. Very proud mommy and daddy.

Enjoy,
Lorence