Baby Back Ribs

For the 4th, I decided to make baby back ribs.  My thought was that I would pre-roast them in the oven and then finish them on the grill with the grill.  To make them even more compelling, I made my own bbq sauce because for some reason, I can never find a premade sauce I like.  I am still using up some sorgham "molasses" that I have left from Fresh Fork Market (freshforkmarket.com), my CSA in Cleveland. I also had honey from my brother's hive, which I thought would be very nice to use in the BBQ sauce, as well as fresh thyme.

But as things go, we ended up with other plans.  My Department Chair, Mark McCartney called me up and asked if we would like to join him on the lake (Sanford Lake) for the fireworks.  As I was trying to figure out what to do about dinner before we headed out, I chose to cut the ribs to see how much they needed to be cooked.  It turned out that they were perfect and lovely!  We enjoyed some ribs on the way out to Mark's along with some of the beans I had cooked earlier.  Lovely dinner.  On the 5th, I took the remaining 1/2 rack, basted it with the bbq sauce and cooked them off to enjoy for dinner.  As you can see, we must have liked them as only 1 lone rib remains.  I am sure I will enjoy that for lunch tomorrow!

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

•  1 rack baby back ribs
• cumin
• paprika
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• tumeric
• BBQ sauce (see below)

Line a baking sheet with foil.  Place a loose sheet of foil on top of the pan.  Sprinkle ribs liberally with dry spices and pat in to flesh.  Place rib rack onto loose foil, cover with another sheet of foil and seal around ribs.  Bake at 300F for 2 hours.  To finish, raise temperature to 425F.  Brush ribs with BBQ sauce and bake, on top rack for 10 minutes.  Turn ribs and baste again, bake for 15 minutes longer or until the bbq sauce starts to caramelize. Allow to settle for 5 minutes before serving.

BBQ Sauce

• 1 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup sorghum "molasses"*
• 1/4 cup fresh local honey
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 6 sprigs lemon thyme, leaves removed

   Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Heat to boiling and then simmer for about 1 minute.  Cool and store in the refrigerator until use. 

 
 *CSA Ingredients

Lamb and Herbs

Over the last month, I have rediscovered how much I love lamb!  Today they had some nice lamb chops at the store and I just felt that would be a nice protein to go with my roasted vegetables.  And given that I now have a small herb garden in my front yard, I decided to use some of the herbs to marinate the lamb.  Wow, how wonderful are fresh herbs? 

Pan-seared Balsamic Lamb with Fresh Herbs

•  2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 sprigs Lemon Thyme
• 2 sprigs Hot & Spicy Oregano
• 1 sprig Marjoram
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 4 lamb chops (about 1 pound)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a zipped bag.  Roughly chop herbs and add them to the marinade.  Add the chops and salt & pepper, seal bag and shake to evenly coat the chops.  Marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator.  Bring chops to room temperature (about 20 minutes). 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sear chops for approximately 3 minutes on each side, to cook to medium-rare.  Allow chops to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Roasting away!

Tonight's fun was roasting a chicken in the oven.  The fun part of this is that I have never actually done this before.  I am so fond of my crockpot, I have always roasted my chickens either in that or on the grill (indirect heat).  So, I looked up a recipe on Saveur.com and adapted it by what I had available.

Oven Roasted Chicken

• 1 4.5-5 lb free-range whole chicken*
• 1 honey tangerine
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 stick fresh butter, room temperature*
• 4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450F.  Spread butter over entire chicken with your hands.  Salt & pepper to taste.  Place chicken in a roaster.  Cut tangerine in half, squeeze juice over chicken, then place tangerine halves in chicken cavity along with thyme sprigs and roasted garlic.  Roast for 10-15 minutes; baste and lower oven temp to 375F.  Roast 30-45 minutes, basting 2-3 times until skin is brown and crispy.  Thermometer inserted into thigh should read 165F.  Turn oven off, crack door and allow chicken to rest 15 minutes before cutting and serving.

*CSA ingredients

Pork Shoulder

One of the best parts of these CSA packages are the meats we receive.  However, I have a small freezer, so I do have to be fairly consistant about making the larger pieces.  This weekend, it is a pork shoulder roast.  I have gotten 3 of these this winter and it's kind of funny because I buy shoulder roasts once every couple years normally.  The first, I slow roasted in the oven.  The second, I cooked in my crockpot.  Today, I braised my pork roast, and it turned out beautiful!  Since we had gotten a very nice brussels sprouts relish a couple weeks ago and I had just gotten some swiss cheese and turkey breast, I decided to make a variation on a Cuban sandwich for lunch.  It was so good, I cut a few slices to make sandwiches for tomorrow.  The rest, I pulled and put in a homemade BBQ sauce.  Here are the recipes:

Braised Pork Shoulder

• 1 5-lb pork shoulder roast*
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper
• 5-6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 1 med red onion, thinly sliced
• water

Rince roast and dry with paper towels.  Season with sea salt, pepper and cayenne.  Place in a large Dutch oven.  Add thyme, jalapeno and onion slices.  Fill the Dutch oven halfway with water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours or until thermometer inserted into the center reads 160-180F.  Remove roast to plate; cover and allow roast to sit at room tempurature for 10 minutes.  Drain onions and peppers and place in a large bowl.  For Cuban sandwiches, slice a few thin slices.  For pulled pork sandwiches, pull meat, removing fat, and mix with your favorite BBQ sauce.


Betsy's Cuban Sandwich

• 1 thin slice pork roast* (see above)
• 2 thin slices roasted turkey breast
• 2 thin slices Swiss cheese*
• 1 tsp brown mustard
• 2 tsp Ann's Raspberry Farm Brussels Sprout Relish*
• bagel thin

Split bagel thin and spread one side with brown mustard.  Spread the other side with relish.  Layer pork roast, turkey breast and Swiss.  Close sandwich and either heat for 40 seconds in microwave on HIGH or grill.  Serve with chips or fruit (this is served with Heirloom Corn Chips*).

Sorghum Honey BBQ Sauce

Note: I was distressed to find out that I had not published this recipe when I made it for the last pork roast, nor did I save it.  This is what I remember from making the sauce.

• 3 C ketchup
• 1 C sorghum*
• 1/2 C cider vinegar
• 1/2 C honey*
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme (I would use fresh the next time I make this)

Place all ingredients in small saucepan.  Heat until boiling; reduce heat and simmer 1 minute.  Adjust flavors as needed (I did add a bit more honey because this seemed a bit tart).  For 2/3 of a 5lb pork roast, use about 2 cups of sauce.  Pull the pork, removing the fat, and then mix with BBQ sauce.  Serve on a roll or bagel thin.

Oh one more thing:  I wanted to show you the beautiful head of butterleaf lettuce I received in my CSA package.  I just wish it would stay looking like that.  I am going to try to talk my husband into using it tonight in place of rolls for the pulled pork.  We can have baguette for starch on the side.

Here is one of the lettuce rolls before rolling.  They were so good!!!!!  The bread is what's left of a baguette I purchased earlier in the week from Murray Hill Market.



*CSA package ingredients