St. Louis Style BBQ Ribs

Ooops, I forgot the photos load in reverse for some silly reason.

I made these ribs with a dry rub that I made up, based on reading several good recipes and deciding what I'd like mine to taste like. My dry rub included about a cup of brown sugar, maybe a little more, T. ground chikory coffee, T. Hungarian Paprika, 2 t. Cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic salt, grated lemon zest from one lemon, and T. cumin, I think.

I prepped the ribs by trimming them of as much fat as I could get off with a sharp filet knife. I also peeled off the membrane on the back of the ribs. This makes it easier to eat them and it helps them achieve that fall off the bone doneness that we all want in ribs. Then I rubbed them down completely with the dry rub, covered them on a platter and refrigerated them overnight.

About one hour before I was ready to cook them I took them out of the frig to achieve room temperature. This relaxes the meat and holds in some of the juiciness and allows for even cooking when you let the meat hit the heat. Then I preheated the oven to 350 and put them flat, side by side on a baking sheet that I lined twice with foil and sprayed with Crisco olive oil spray so they won't stick.

I put the ribs in the oven for 10 minutes on each side at 350, to brown them off a bit. Then I took them out of the oven, reduced the heat to 250, and tented the ribs with foil, pretty tightly (meaning close to the meat without touching it) so that the steam will stay inside the foil and cook the meat slowly, tenderizing it.

These babies went for about four hours 20 minutes before we just couldn't wait anymore and we enjoyed them very much. They were not quite falling apart, but parts of them were fall off the bone and the rest were tender and tasty. They could have gone another 30-60 minutes if you want the total fall off the bone effect. We like them as they were. This particular set of ribs was super meaty and I think that's what took them so long. Just 3 or 4 ribs and I was full.

I served them with a side of BBQ sauce for David, because he loved the flavor of the dry rub but he likes his ribs wet. I just heated that up for him and he could paste it on as he ate. I ate mine dry, and they were less messy and just as tasty that way. I also served corn muffins, corn on the cob and baked beans. It was a messy and tasty dinner!

Eggplant Parmesan

My friend, Christine, came over for dinner after a long commute back home from Chicago by train. I was going to make this for David last weekend, but I made enchiladas.

First make the sauce. My sauce is simple and I'm not sure I have given the recipe entirely away, but let's just say you can do a lot if you sautee a rib of celery, an onion and two cloves of garlic (all finely minced) in olive oil, then add a large can of tomato puree and two cans of tomato paste. You can figure out your own seasonings to taste, and add several cups of water for the right consistency you like. My consistency is 4 cups to that mixture.

Or you can use jarred sauce if you like a certain kind, but then you probably need on jar for the eggplant and one more for your pasta.

Then, peel and slice one very large or two medium eggplants. They shouldn't be too thick, maybe quarter of an inch, so they cook up easily and don't absorb most of the oil. Put them in a strainer and sprinkle sea salt on them to draw out some of the bitterness and excess water for 30 minutes while you prepare your dredges in three pie plates.

First pie plate, about 2 cups of flour seasoned with salt, pepper and a garlic seasoning blend if you like. Second pie plate, 5 eggs, whisked completely. Third pie plate, about 2 cups of Italian bread crumbs, add salt, pepper and the same seasoning if you like.

Now heat a couple of cups of canola oil in a large frying pan. You want it hot but not smoking. The eggplant will absorb oil if it's not hot enough. It should sizzle with a small drop of water dropped in. Careful. You can also use the first small slice of eggplant as a tester.

Dredge your eggplant through plates 1, 2 and 3, coating with each step. Drop into the hot oil and brown on each side. You'll probably have to repeat this process 3 or 4 times to finish them all, draining the browned eggplant slices on a rack with paper towel to catch excess oil.

Now you can assemble your casserole. I made two small ones, one for tonight with Christine and one for David whenever he wants. I'll freeze it and bake it later. It was going to be way too much food for two people. To assemble, first spray a casserole with non-stick spray, I use Crisco spray because it doesn't leave a nasty film on my dishes that won't come off. Then ladle a small amount of sauce into your casserole dish, enough to lightly coat the bottom. Then arrange a single layer of eggplant slices. Top those with more sauce, covering them up entirely. Top the sauce with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and mozzarella. Another layer of eggplant, another layer of sauce, another layer of cheese. You get it, until you run out. I made just two layers and I put more cheese on the second layer.

Pop it in the oven, covered, at 350 for 45 minutes or until oozy and bubbly. You'll know when it's done. You can uncover the last 5-10 minutes to brown the top.

Serve with al dente pasta of your choice and another slathering of sauce on your pasta, a little crusty bread if you want and some vino. You may want to make a salad ahead of this meal, but we're having tiramisu, so we're going to be overfull.

Enjoy!

Great-Grandma Engelmann's German Potato Salad

I modified my great-grandmother's recipe for my sister last week. We had Hungarian sausage that she used to make, and I made this side dish. Grandma used to slice the potatoes, but I like them a very semi-mashed consistency.

Wash half of a small bag of red potatoes. Halve or quarter them to make them all uniform size for boiling so they'll all get done at the same rate. Boil them over medium high heat in enough water to cover them, with a healthy dash of sea salt. This will season the potatoes as they boil. Meanwhile, cook half a pound of bacon until crispy and drain the bacon on a paper towel. Reserve half the bacon fat.

Drain the potatoes when they are fork tender, reserving 3 tablespoons of the potato water. Dice a medium onion and sautee it until tender in the bacon fat. Then add the potato water into the bacon fat and onions. Also add 1/4 c white wine vinegar into the bacon fat, heat and mix together gently with a little black pepper and authentic Hungarian paprika.

Gently mash the potatoes, only sightly mashing them so that there are large pieces and some small pieces. Or, if you prefer...slice them, but that's a pain and takes longer, in my opinion, to achieve the same tasting dish. Add the bacon dripping and onion mixture to the potatoes and then garnish with a heavy handful of chives or parsley. I made this one with fresh chives. Don't forget to add the the bacon back in, crumbled up into small pieces.

Serve hot or cold, but Grandma always served it hot. It was tastier than I remember hers, but then I was a kid and hated vinegary tasting foods with gooey textures. Now? Potatoes, bacon, onions and chives in bacon drippings? It's the bomb!

Semi-Homemade Enchiladas

I made David Mexican food this weekend. I never do. Usually we go to Jose's for this. I have made great enchiladas for parties before, so I thought I'd make those and use up some of the leftover braised meats I had in the freezer. I made three kinds of enchiladas: cheese, braised beef and braised turkey.

In two separate bowls, I soaked 10 corn tortillas each in spicy green enchilada sauce (I bought it in a specialty store) and in mild red enchilada sauce for a couple of hours. I find this makes them easier to roll up when I fill them later. I thawed my leftover meat and grated chihuahua cheese and crumbled Mexican farmer cheese for later.

I seasoned my turkey in a taco seasoning...cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, adobo powder. I left the beef, because it was slow cooked in peppers and peppercorns. I sliced some Mexican cheese into spears for the cheese ones, to make filling them easier, and I finely diced a small Spanish onion.

I sprayed two casseroles. In one, I rolled the beef with some onions in half of the red steeped tortillas, and the cheese and some onions in the other half. In the other, I rolled the turkey in the green tortillas.

I topped both casseroles with the remaining corresponding enchilada sauce, some shredded cheese and some crumbles of the farmer cheese. Then I baked them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes until bubbly. You can tell they're done.

I made guacamole and served chips, yellow rice and refried black beans alongside the enchiladas, and garnished them on the plate with fresh cilantro. They were a hit. David said, "It's not that easy to pull off Mexican food at home, but you did a great job. I guess we USED TO go out for Mexican."