Category: Recipes

Smokin! – ii

Yesterday’s dinner was a raging success!  We smoked the ribs for about 8 hours.  About half way in, the coals were burnt down, and needed replenishing.  More hickory chips were added at this point, and the water pan refilled.  We took this time to move the upper rack of ribs to the lower position, and the lower to the upper.  Mopping continued.  While continuing to smoke, biscuits and honey butter were made, the salad created and a complementary vinaigrette.  The beans continued to cook in a very slow oven until it came time to up the heat for the biscuits.

Baked Beans
1 lb. small white beans or navy beans
2/3 c. maple syrup, dark amber
1 onion, diced fine
6 strips thick cut bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/4 c. ketchup
pinch salt
water

Soak beans overnight. Rinse, pick through. Put into ovenproof Dutch oven with lid, Add all the rest of the ingredients, and enough water to cover the beans by about an inch. Mix it all together. Place in oven, bake at 350 for about 4 hours. Check periodically to ensure adequate liquid in pot to prevent burning. Drop temperature to 300 to continue cooking, or to keep warm until dinner time (if you don’t need the oven for something else!). Beans should be firm, but tender. You can also cook them ahead of time, and warm them up on the stove top.

Honey Butter

1/2 lb. sweet butter
1/4 c. honey
pinch sweet cinnamon
1/4 t. vanilla

Let butter come to room temperature. Beat in other ingredients until well blended. Butter will be rather soft. Return to refrigerator to chill. Serve on biscuits, or use on toast, or whatever needs it.

Subtle use of the cinnamon and vanilla will enhance the delicacy of the honey – I used orange blossom from a local farmer – too much will overwhelm the honey.

Buttermilk Biscuits

3 c. flour (I used King Arthur unbleached white)
1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold, sweet butter
2 T. baking powder
2 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
pinch salt
gourmet sea salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line large cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine pinch salt, sugar, powder and flour together in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk, stir together briefly with fork until liquid incorporated. Turn out onto floured board and knead 10 times until smooth. Roll out to about 1/2-3/4 inch in height. Cut biscuits with 2-3″ cutter, or use a tumbler dipped in flour. Be efficient in cutting your biscuits to get the most use out of dough. Reshape leftover dough into ball, roll out again, and cut more biscuits. Repeat as necessary.

Place biscuits on cookie sheet. Brush milk or cream onto tops. If you want, sprinkle gourmet sea salt on top of biscuits – this is a nice counterpoint in taste to the honey butter.

Bake 12-15 minutes; cool on wire rack, or place in towel-lined bowl and bring to table for serving. Yield – 12-15 biscuits, depending on thickness of rolled dough.

Altogether, it took a couple of days to put this meal together, but the actual labor was not a lot.

Beans are easiest to soak overnight, but you can also do a quick soak method by cooking them about an hour before baking them. I cooked them Friday night for a few hours, and then finished them off on Saturday.

Our baby back ribs were frozen, so we took them out of the freezer, still wrapped, to defrost, and on the morning before smoking began, we put the rub on them. That was on Friday morning for the Saturday morning smoking. We started smoking around 9, and ended at 5 that evening.

Biscuits and honey butter took very little time. I made the honey butter a few hours before dinner so it could chill and become a bit more solid before dinner. The biscuits I started about an hour before serving, as prep time needed to be considered. I use a pastry cutter for the cutting, or sometimes just my fingers, rubbing the chilly butter into the flour.  

We had leftovers – some biscuits, honey butter, some beans, and some ribs. More than enough for us four, but if you have voracious eaters, consider upping the amounts.  Home brew (from another brew day) was enjoyed before, during, and after dinner.

Oh, forgot to add – we had root beer floats for dessert (but I would have preferred a black cow myself!).

Smokin! – i

Today is “supposed” to be up near 80 F.  Doesn’t feel like it will.  Windy, damp, cold; the house is 64 F.  Despite that, we are busy today, brewing beer and smoking baby back ribs for tonight’s guests.  (We invited ourselves, too.)  Menu is smoked baby back ribs, home made maple syrup baked beans, salad, and buttermilk biscuits.

Yesterday morning we mixed together a rub – about 2 cupsworth.  Today is smoking day.  And time enough to make the barbecue sauce and the mop.

Baby Back Ribs

For 4 people we have 8.5 pounds of ribs.  About 2.5 – 3.0 lbs. is usually good for the average person.

Rub

1/2 – 3/4 c. paprkia
2-4 T. fresh ground black pepper
1 t. salt (more or less to taste)
2-4 T. white sugar
2 T. dried chili powder
2-4 T. garlic powder
2-4 T. onion powder
1-2 t. cayenne

Rub thawed ribs with about half of total mixture. Let sit overnight in refrigerator. Pull out before setting up smoker and add more rub to both sides of ribs and sit at room temperature.

Set up smoker as required. We use a water smoker with briquets. Soaked hickory chips are sprinkled over the briquets prior to setting on water pan and positioning ribs in smoker. Two levels of ribs are set up in the smoker. Only the top one is going to have the mop placed on it. Anticipated cooking time is 6-8 hours, with a bit of time spent checking coals, chips, and water levels, along with mopping the ribs and flipping them over.

Mop

1/3 c. canola oil
2 c. apple cider vinegar
1 c. water
3 T. ground black pepper
2 T. paprika
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 T. aleppo pepper flakes

Place all ingredients into pan; warm up. Use to mop ribs every 1-2 hours, mopping both sides.

I keep this on the stove top, and warm it a bit with each application.

Mustard BBQ Sauce

1 6-oz. jar of Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
1/3 c. water
3/4 small can tomato paste
2 T. aleppo pepper flakes
1 t. fresh black pepper
1 c. white vinegar
1 small onion, diced fine
2 T. garlic powder
1/4 c. agave syrup
1/4 c. brown sugar
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in sauce pan; bring to simmer on medium heat. Once simmering, drop to very low flame, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens. Adjust seasoning. Refrigerate until ready for use; warm just before serving. Or, you may bring sauce to room temperature by removing from refrigerator about an hour before serving.

You may like a more vinegary sauce – if you do, decrease the sugar. I added sugar to the original sauce because the bite of the vinegar was pretty sharp.

A Dish of Ice Cream

Brrr!  We have had a wet spring here in California, but summer is coming along.  The hills are filled with wild grasses and flowers, clouds roll by, the wind is alternately chilly and warm.

And what more traditional way to greet summer’s approach than with home made ice cream?  Our first ice cream of the season, this year, is coffee.

Give yourself a couple of days to make this.  The first day is to set up the ice cream custard.  We have a Krups ice cream machine, which has a freezer bowl that needs 24 hours before it can be used in the machine.  Our Krups ice cream machine makes a quart at a time.  Of course, your methods may be different than mine!

I cobbled this together from different recipes, but you can do whatever you like!

Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients

3/4 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
3 c. half-and-half
1/2 c. strong coffee
2 T. finely ground coffee

Technique

Beat together in a bowl the eggs and sugar. Beat for 5 minutes. The eggs become light and airy with a pale lemon color. Set aside.

Heat the half-and-half in a 2 quart pan until it is very hot – watch it carefully to avoid scorching. Stir as needed. Turn off heat and set on another burner.

After liquid is very hot, take 1 c. of the hot liquid and rapidly beat it into the egg-sugar mixture. Now take the liquid-egg-sugar mixture and return to remainder of half-and-half. Turn heat back on, to medium low. Stir constantly. Because so much air is incorporated into the eggs and sugar, this liquid will have a quality lighter in texture than a standard egg custard. Continue stirring, occasionally lifting spoon from mixture and allowing some to roll over the back of the spoon. It will have a light coat to it when it is ready. Be careful not to let custard bubble up and boil over.

When custard has cooked (took about 10 minutes), it will still be rather thin. Turn off heat, pour in the coffee and finely ground coffee. Place in container to be refrigerated overnight. Place plastic wrap directly onto surface of coffee custard to prevent skin formation.

Freezing

Stir chilled coffee custard.  Make in ice cream maker per manufacturer’s directions.  Add more ground coffee or other solids during the last 2-3 minutes of the freezing cycle.  Remove from machine, place in airtight container in the freezer for at least two hours before serving.  Eat plain, or with a chocolate cookie!

Jerk Chicken with Lime

If you want something a bit different and spicy, but still easy to make, jerk chicken with lime is perfect.  Boneless, skinless chicken breasts in any quantity are marinated for a few hours to overnight, and then grilled.  You can also use pieces, skin still on, if you prefer. Jerk seasoning can also be used with pork, fish, and shellfish.

Ingredients

  • Chicken
  • 1/2 c. fresh lime juice
  • 2 T. vegetable oil
  • 2 T. brown sugar
  • Spices and herbs, in varying amounts (depending on taste and what you have): ginger, chili powder, garlic, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, thyme, bay.
  • Fresh chopped peppers, such as jalapeno, Scotch bonnet, habanero, for heat.  Note:  be careful in handling the peppers!  Wear gloves and don’t touch your eyes!  Wash your hands and work surfaces ASAP.

Preparation

Place all ingredients into a glass bowl or large baggy to marinate.  Turn to make sure marinade gets to all pieces.  Marinate for at least 2 hours – but the longer, the better, as the flavor soaks in.

Grilling

Cook over medium heat on grill until pieces are done.  You might want to char the outsides a bit in the last few minutes of cooking.

Serving

Accompany the jerk chicken with rice and a fresh salad or vegetables.

Braided Cardamom Bread with Raisins

My talented husband is a fantastic beer brewer, barbecuer, and when he wants, bread maker.  He put this bread together yesterday afternoon – what a treat to come home after an afternoon out!

The Bread

This is a fragrant loaf, delicious for morning brunch, dessert, or with coffee.  Allow yourself a half day to make this lovely bread.

  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1  package active dry yeast
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour, with more for kneading
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 1/4 cups warm whole milk, half-and-half, or cream
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

    • In small bowl, place raisins in warm water to soak as you begin to make bread.

    Proof yeast by placing yeast, a pinch of sugar, and 1/4 c. warm (not hot – test with your finger) water.  The yeast has proofed when it foams – takes about 5 minutes.

    In large bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar, and cardamom.  Drop the bits of butter into flour mixture.  Use fingers, pastry blender, or two knives to mix in butter until flour has appearance of coarse meal.  Make a well in middle of flour, and add yeast, whole egg, and milk.  Stir slowly into the outlying flour until soft ball forms.  Turn out onto floured board, knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.  Note: be sure to knead enough to develop bread gluten.

    After bread is kneaded, flatten and, after draining the raisins, sprinkle raisins across top of dough.  Fold dough over to seal in raisins.  Continue kneading, adding more flour if necessary.  The raisins add a bit of liquid to the dough, so as you knead in the raisins, the dough becomes a bit more sticky.

    Form dough into ball.  Place into large, buttered bowl.  Cover and let rise in warm place about 2-3 hours, or until double in size.

    Punch down dough, but do not knead again, as you do with traditional breads.  Divide into two balls, and then divide each ball into thirds.  Roll each 1/3 ball into a strand about 15 inches long, and then use 3 strands to create a braid,  Tuck ends of braids neatly under loaf.  Place braids onto bread sheet to rise, loosely covered, another 2-3 hours.

    30 minutes before baking, set oven rack to middle, and pre-heat oven to 350 F.  As oven is preheating, make egg wash, and brush loaves with it.  Place loaves in oven and bake about 30 minutes or more, until golden brown and having a hollow sound when tapped.

    Cool on wire rack.