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Dessert in a Flash – You’ll Love These Lemon Squares

Very often I find the need to make a dessert item at the last minute. It could be that someone is stopping by for a visit or coffee, we get invited someplace, or we just feel like having something sweet for dessert ourselves at home. Whatever the reason, sometimes I want to go beyond what a box of brownie mix can offer. There’s nothing wrong with boxed brownies; we use them often, and you can jazz them up in a number of ways to make them seem like they are homemade. However, I don’t always want to have chocolate, so having a good fallback dessert that you can make with what you have in your pantry is a good option. That is why these lemon squares are perfect. They only require a few ingredients, and they are all things you always have around in the house so in under an hour you can have a great tasting dessert that seems like you put a lot of work into it. I got this recipe from Dena Kleiman at New York Times Cooking, and it worked out perfectly.

Lemon Squares

2 cups flour, plus 1/4 cup

½ cup confectioners’ sugar, plus 2 teaspoons

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

4 eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

⅓ cup lemon juice (from about 1 to 2 lemons)

½ teaspoon baking powder

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together two cups of flour, 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar and the salt. Add the melted butter and stir the ingredients to thoroughly combine them. Spread the crust with clean hands in an even layer into a 9-by-13-inch pan and bake the crust for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice, baking powder and the remaining flour. Pour the lemon mixture onto the hot baked shell and bake it for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until it is just set. Using a small, fine-meshed sieve, sift the remaining confectioners’ sugar on top of the lemon squares once they have cooled. Cut the dessert into equal-sized bars.

It’s quite simple to make, and it tastes great. You get that fantastic lemon flavor you love in desserts like this with just the right amount of chewiness and crunch. These squares are perfect for any occasion, whether you are looking for something to bring to someone’s home, are making a bunch of cookies for a cookie swap or holiday party or just want to have a tasty treat at home to go nicely for a dessert or with a cup of coffee or tea.Depending on how big you cut the squares, you can get about 16 to 20 squares, so there are plenty to go around. I’ll be using this recipe again because it is so easy to make.

That’s all I have for today. Work has kept me pretty busy lately, so I don’t have as much time as I want to blog, but I am going to try to get here a few times this week to try and get caught up with things (though getting caught up seems to be a rarity these days). Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on May 1, 2017 in Cookies, Cooking, Dessert, Snacks

Tags: dessert with pantry items, fast and easy desserts, homemade lemon squares, lemon squares, NYT Cooking, NYT Cooking lemon squares

Some Indoor Barbecue – Oven Roasted Maple Chicken and Ribs

12 Apr

Those that follow this blog know I have long lamented about the inability I have to use an outdoor grill here. New York State laws don’t allow condos and apartments to own gas or charcoal grills, and the electric grill, while doing its job, didn’t really offer that much in the way of a good grilling experience. This has left me to my own devices when it comes to grilling, meaning I do what I can indoors with the oven and stovetop. While I will never get the great smell of outdoor grill cooking or the fantastic grill marks (though my grill pan does a good job, it just isn’t the same), I still like to make barbecue flavors when I can inside. For some reason not that long ago I had a craving for some barbecued chicken and ribs. Now, making barbecued chicken and ribs is nothing out of the ordinary – all you need are your chicken pieces, ribs and some barbecue sauce mainly – I wanted something that was going to give us some different flavor and a bit of that barbecue feel. I came across this recipe at New York Times Cooking from Nigella Lawson for oven roasted maple chicken and ribs that offered the unique flavor I was going for with that roasted, not-quite-barbecued method.

Oven Roasted Maple Chicken and Ribs

1 cup apple cider or juice

¼ cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

6 unpeeled garlic cloves

½ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional)

8 pork spareribs, separated

6 chicken thighs with skin and bone (or other chicken pieces)

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the apple cider, maple syrup, vegetable oil and soy sauce. Add the star anise, cinnamon stick, garlic cloves and the hot pepper flakes (if using) and stir the ingredients to combine them well.

In a large freezer bag or bowl, combine the pork ribs and chicken pieces. Pour in the apple cider mixture, and seal the bag or cover the bowl. Refrigerate the meat overnight or up to 2 days.

Remove the marinated mixture from the refrigerator, and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the contents of the bag or bowl (including the marinating liquid) into a large enough roasting pan to avoid crowding the meat. Turn the chicken pieces, so they are skin side up.

Roast the meat until the chicken is opaque throughout and the ribs are tender, about 1 1/4 hours; 35 to 40 minutes into roasting turn the ribs over, but leave the chicken skin side up and turn the heat to 425 degrees to increase browning, if desired.

When the chicken and ribs are finished roasting, there will be quite a lot of fat in the sauce. Strain the sauce and use a fat separator to remove the excess. Place the meat in a large dish along with the strained sauce and serve hot.

While there is not much to the original recipe, I did make a couple of slight variations of my own. To the marinade, I did add 1/2 a teaspoon of liquid smoke so I could get a smokier flavor from the meat. It worked out quite nicely for both the chicken and the ribs. I did not add all the marinating liquid into the roasting pan when I put the meat in. Instead, I changed the cooking method a bit. I put half the marinade in the pan and covered the roasting pan for the first 60 minutes with aluminum foil to give the meat a chance to cook and keep some of the juices in, then removed the foil for the next thirty minutes and cooked the chicken and ribs this way. For the last twenty to thirty minutes, I basted the chicken and ribs with the remaining sauce so that the meat got a nice coating of the sauce and had more of a “barbecued” look to it. I then placed the meat under the broil for a minute or two for some final coloring. While I think working with the original recipe will turn things just fine, I believe that this method turned out moister meat and more tender ribs and chicken that were not dried out. I really liked the maple flavor of the ribs and the chicken, and you could easily make this for a crowd if you have a big enough roasting pan where the meat does not get crowded, so it steams. I served this with some grilling sides like green beans, cole slaw, and corn to round out the grilling experience (cornbread would go nicely here too).

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

4 Comments

Posted by MikeG on April 12, 2017 in Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Pork, Poultry, Uncategorized

Tags: maple chicken and ribs, Nigella Lawson, Nigella Lawson chicken n ribs, NYT Cooking, oven barbecued chicken and ribs, oven roasted maple chicken and ribs

Christmas Morning – Recipes from NYT Cooking

23 Dec

When you work through the frenzy that can often go along with Christmas morning, there is nothing better than sitting down as a family and having a nice, fun breakfast to start out the day. New York Times Cooking has put together some great Christmas breakfast ideas so you can have as little or as much as you want after you finish opening up those presents. Check it out!

Source: Christmas Morning – Recipes from NYT Cooking

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Posted by MikeG on December 23, 2016 in Biscuits, Breads, Breakfast, Brunch, Cakes, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Eggs, Fruit, Holidays

Tags: breakfast recipes, Christmas breakfast recipes, Christmas morning recipes, ideas for breakfast on Christmas, New York Times Cooking Christmas breakfast recipes, NYT Cooking

Quick, Easy and Delicious – You Can Make This Simple Crusty Bread

26 Oct

If you follow the blog regularly then you know that I write a lot about baking bread. For me, bread baking is a relaxing endeavor and I love the taste and smell of homemade bread more than anything you can buy from the supermarket. Of course, not everyone has time to put into making fresh loaves of bread all of the time. It can be a process and take several hours and a lot of people just feel like it is not worth the effort.But what if you could make fresh loaves of bread that were as easy as possible? Wouldn’t it be great if you could have fresh bread for the sandwich for work tomorrow or to go with your dinner tonight? It can happen if you make use of this recipe from Nick Fox from New York Times Cooking. The idea of the recipe comes from Jeff Hertzberg, a doctor from Minneapolis, who worked to streamline the bread-making process. Now you can have no fuss bread with just a little bit of effort on your part.

Simple Crusty Bread

1 ½ tablespoons yeast

1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

6 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough

Cornmeal

In a large bowl or plastic container, mix the yeast and the salt into 3 cups of lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in the flour, mixing the flour into the water mixture until there are no dry patches. The dough will be quite loose. Cover the bowl or container, but not with an airtight lid. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

Bake the bread at this point or refrigerate the dough, covered, for as long as two weeks. When you are ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on the dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn the dough in your hands to lightly stretch the surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put the dough on a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; allow the dough to rest for about 40 minutes. Repeat the process with the remaining dough or refrigerate it.

Place broiler pan on the bottom of the oven. Place a baking stone on the middle rack and turn the oven to 450 degrees; heat the stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

Dust the dough with flour, slash the top of the dough with a serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide the dough onto the stone. Pour one cup of hot water into the broiler pan and shut the oven quickly to trap the steam. Bake the bread until it is well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Okay, so you can’t make a fresh, homemade loaf bread in 30 minutes but once you have let the dough rise at room temperature and refrigerated it, the hard part is over. It then just becomes taking a portion, letting it rest for 40 minutes and cooking it. This recipe makes enough for 4 loaves of bread so you can get plenty of use out of it. The dough itself is rather sticky when you make it but it is still pretty easy to work with. You don’t have to go through all of the kneading and everything else to prepare it. Once you put it in the oven you can brown it to your liking and it is great for any meal, to use for toast, sandwiches or just to have fresh bread around when you want it. You can even bake all 4 loaves at once and freeze the excess until you want to use it so you always have fresh bread around. I have used this recipe several times to make quicker bread when I know we are having people over for dinner and I want some fresh bread for the meal. It is flavorful, crusty and has a great chew. The picture I took is of loaves that aren’t quite as browned as I normally like but they are still quite good.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on October 26, 2016 in Breads, Dinner, Lunch, Side Dishes

Tags: bread recipes, crusty bread recipe, NYT Cooking, NYT Cooking simple crusty bread, simple bread recipe, simple crusty bread

A Lazy Day of Leftovers – Chicken Tarragon Pot Pie

07 Oct

If you are like me, there are probably many nights during the week where you make a meal and then end up with a bunch of different leftovers that you may or may not know how to use. It is not unusual to get tired of having the same meal two or three times a week just because you do not want to throw away perfectly good food but are not sure what you can do with those leftover chicken pieces or leftover vegetables. It is times like this where potpie can come to the rescue. Potpie is a great meal to put together just about any time of the year and you can do it with any type of protein (or no protein at all if you are vegetarian) and vegetables. The only real effort that goes into it is making the pie dough and even then, if you have no problem using store-bought pie dough you can get the meal together even quicker. Very often I will use store-bought pie dough simply because it is easy, I do not really have the room to make pie dough and for potpie purposes it tastes just fine. I decided to use this recipe from New York Times Cooking for a chicken-tarragon potpie and make a simple dinner.

Chicken-Tarragon Pot Pie

For the crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unnsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon cold vegetable shortening

Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

Scant 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 egg

For the Filling:

5 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup thinly sliced leeks

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon

1 cup frozen baby green peas

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 ½ cups chicken broth

1 cup heavy cream

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 cups leftover roast chicken, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

To make the crust, combine the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse the ingredients together just until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is broken into small pieces. Pour 1/3 cup of ice water into the machine, and pulse 3 or 4 times. Squeeze a little dough in your hand to see whether it clumps together and is evenly moist. If not, add another tablespoon of water, and pulse 1 or 2 times more. Don’t overmix so that the dough forms a ball.

Turn out the dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Lift the ends of the plastic to gather the dough together inside. Press the dough into a large disk, and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until you are ready to use it, up to 2 days.

To make the filling, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the carrot, celery, leeks and tarragon, and cook, stirring, just until slightly softened but not browned (reduce the heat if necessary to prevent browning), about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the cooked vegetables to a bowl, wipe out the skillet, and place it back on the stove.

Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter, and melt it over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, and cook, whisking, until the mixture bubbles and smells cooked. Do not let it brown. Whisk in 2 cups of chicken broth, and cook, whisking, for about 1 minute. Whisk in the cream, and cook 2 or 3 minutes, just until the mixture is thickened. Add the salt and pepper. If the sauce is too thick, whisk in the remaining broth.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the cooked vegetables and peas, the chicken and the sauce to an 8-inch deep pie dish or other baking dish, mix the ingredients gently, and taste for seasoning.

If you are using store-bought dough, take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for about 10 to 15 minutes. If you are using your own homemade dough, flour a work surface. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll out the dough, turning and flouring often, and cut a shape approximately the size of your baking dish plus 1 1/2 inches overlap all around.

Roll the dough up onto the rolling pin, and unroll it over the baking dish, so it rests evenly on top of the filling. Fold the edges under and crimp the edges. Poke the tip of a knife through the crust to create 3 vent holes near the center. Whisk the egg with a teaspoon of cold water. Use a pastry brush to lightly coat the entire crust with egg wash. Place the pie pan or baking dish on a cookie sheet, and place it in the oven.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes more, until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling through the vents. Let the pie rest for 10 minutes before serving.

One of the great things about this recipe is that you can make use of any type of vegetables you want in a pot pie. I used the vegetables recommended but I also had some leftover broccoli that I put in as well. Pot pie works well with chicken, turkey, beef and pork that you may have leftover so you can make just about anything with it. I find pot pie tastes even better the next day and often have any leftovers for lunch, after the sauce and the flavors have had even more time to come together. It can be a great dinner to put together in under an hour.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on October 7, 2016 in Cooking, Dinner, Leftovers, One Pot Meals, Pie, Poultry, Vegetables

Tags: chicken pot pie, chicken potpie, chicken-tarragon pot pie, NYT Cooking, NYT Cooking chicken tarragon pot pie, pot pie recipes, using leftover chicken

Basic Knife Skills – NYT Cooking

20 Sep

I am certainly no expert when it comes to using a knife. I always wish that it was something I was a little better with so that doing all of the prep work before cooking would be a little bit easier and quicker. New York Times Cooking has put together some basic information and a video to talk about basic Knife skills, choosing the right knives, taking care of them and learning to make cuts like an expert. The information is pretty helpful and perhaps it can assist you in improving on your own knife skills. Check it out!

Source: Basic Knife Skills – NYT Cooking

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Posted by MikeG on September 20, 2016 in Cooking, Cooking Tips, Cooking Websites, Equipment

Tags: basic knife skills, choosing the right knife, knife skills, learning knife skills, NYT Cooking, NYT Cooking basic knife skills, taking care of your kitchen knives

A Fitting Feast Anytime – Make Ahead Fried Chicken

18 Aug

Fried chicken is one of those things people love to eat but hate to make. Granted it is not the healthiest way to eat chicken but to me it has to be one of the tastiest. I may not make it very often because of all the oil it uses the big cleanup that typical follows making fried chicken, but if you can make the time to make a big batch of it (provided the weather is cool enough in your kitchen in the summer to do it), it can be great to have for outdoor parties, picnics or as your favorite meal. Fried chicken is one of those things that tastes great anytime you want it, whether it is for dinner that night, cold for lunch the next day, re-heated or even as a late night snack. I have tried a bunch of fried chicken recipes in the past but recently i have found myself returning to this one from Melissa Clark at New York Times Cooking for make ahead fried chicken. It seems to strike the perfect balance of spices, good coating and great taste.

Make Ahead Fried Chicken

FOR THE MARINADE:

1 quart buttermilk

2 torn bay leaves

2 thinly sliced shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1 teaspoon dry mustard powder

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon honey

12 drumsticks or a mix of chicken pieces, about 2½ to 3 pounds of chicken

FOR THE COATING:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cayenne

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon good chile power such as chipotle powder

Corn, grapeseed or vegetable oil, for frying

Make the marinade: Whisk together all the marinade ingredients, except the chicken, and place the marinade in a large bowl or plastic bag. Submerge the chicken in the marinade, cover the bowl or seal the bag, and let the chicken rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or, better, overnight.

Make the coating: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cayenne pepper, salt and chile powder. Place a paper bag inside another paper bag (this is to prevent seepage, use large bags or several small ones) and transfer the flour mixture into it. This is so you can shake the chicken pieces. (You can also just mix the flour in a large bowl and dredge the chicken parts in it, or use a heavy-duty plastic zipper bag for shaking.)

Take a piece of chicken out of the marinade and place it in the bag with the flour mixture. Close the bag and shake it so the chicken is fully coated. (Or, if you are using a bowl, dredge the chicken in the flour mixture.) Remove the chicken piece and place it on a plate or sheet pan. Repeat the process with the remaining chicken pieces, one by one. Let the chicken rest for 30 minutes so it can come to room temperature. Reserve the coating mixture.

In a large Dutch oven or heavy cast iron skillet with a lid, heat the oil until it reaches 350 degrees on an instant-read thermometer or candy thermometer. Just before frying, shake the chicken pieces in the coating mixture once again, one by one.

Fry the chicken for about 6 to 8 minutes in a covered pan, then uncover the pot and flip the chicken with tongs. Continue frying the chicken for about another 6 to 8 minutes, or until the coating is dark golden brown and the juices run clear when the meat is pricked with a fork.

Place chicken on a wire rack set over a paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool. Serve the chicken within 8 hours, but it’s best to serve within 4 hours.

The recipe indicates that you could leave the chicken at room temperature for 4 hours, and while you probably could I personally don’t feel right about and refrigerate it. I like cold fried chicken anyway so it’s fine with me and you don’t have to worry about any potential bacteria from leaving the food out too long. I made a mix of chicken pieces – wings, legs, thighs and breasts I had cut in half – and found that the timing worked out well, though I did make the chicken in batches and kept the finished pieces on the rack in a sheet pan in a warm 250 degree oven so that they kept warm. I also checked the temperature of the chicken along the way with my instant-read thermometer to make sure the pieces were at 165 degrees just to be safe. Keep a close eye on your oil and the temperature as you go along if you cook in batches to make sure it stays at the right temp so you can get an even crust on the chicken. The chicken was very flavorful and juicy thanks to the marinade and the double coating you put on the chicken really helps to give it a nice crunch. For the marinade I actually do not always use the Old Bay as Michelle finds it a bit overpowering, so I do occasionally leave it out and the chicken still tastes great. I still use other fried chicken recipes, but this is one that always seem to fall back on as a good go to recipe everyone likes. It tastes just as good the next day for lunch as it does the day you cook it.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

3 Comments

Posted by MikeG on August 18, 2016 in Dinner, Leftovers, Lunch, Picnic Fare, Poultry

Tags: fried chicken, fried chicken recipe, fried chicken recipes, make ahead fried chicken, Melissa Clark, Melissa Clark make ahead fried chicken, NYT Cooking

Our 20 Most Popular Shrimp Recipes Right Now – Recipes from NYT Cooking

21 Jul

Summertime and seafood go together really well and there’s nothing better than making use of shrimp for one of your weeknight meals. Shrimp is easy to make, very versatile and just takes a few minutes to cook so you can have a great meal on the table in no time at all. NYT Cooking has 20 great shrimp recipes you can try for all kinds of occasions to make something fun, different and delicious with your shrimp. Check it out!

Source: Our 20 Most Popular Shrimp Recipes Right Now – Recipes from NYT Cooking

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Posted by MikeG on July 21, 2016 in Appetizers, Cooking, Cooking Websites, Dinner, Grilling, Lunch, One Pot Meals, Pasta, Rice, Sandwiches, Seafood

It Pays to Plan Ahead – Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Apple Fritters

14 Jul

Not every meal you make has to be a spur of the moment decision for you. In fact, I like to try to plan out the whole week’s menu in advance so I can make sure I have all of the ingredients I am going to need for the week ready and available when I want them. This also let’s me make some dinners that may need a little bit of extra preparation, like marinating or brining, and I know what days are better for recipes where I may need a little bit more time to make them. Planning a meal that involves brining chicken or pork usually gives you 12 hours or a day to get everything together that you need in case you don’t have everything around, along with imparting some great flavor onto whatever protein you happen to be cooking that day. Pork chops are particularly great for brining because it helps to keep the meat moist, plumps up the pork and can give it a much-needed flavor boost when you want it. This particular recipe, from New York Times Cooking and Sam Sifton, does take some planning ahead, but it leaves you with a great combination of juicy pork chops and tasty apple fritters that would make Peter Brady forget all about his pork chops and applesauce meal.

Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Apple Fritters

For the Pork Chops and Brine:

1 cup apple cider

6 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

3 bay leaves

2 dried chiles de árbol

5 juniper berries

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

4 pork chops on the bone, approximately 1 ½ inches thick

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons canola oil or other neutral oil

For the Sauce:

1 tablespoon butter

2 shallots peeled and finely diced

1 teaspoon thyme leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons brandy

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup chicken stock

2 teaspoons whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon horseradish, ideally freshly grated

For the Apple Fritters:

2 cups apple cider

1 cinnamon stick

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch rounds

1 whole egg

½ cup very cold seltzer water

½ cup rice flour

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup canola oil or other neutral oil

In a large bowl, mix the apple cider with 4 cups of water, the sugar and the salt. Toast the bay leaves, chilies, juniper berries, caraway seeds, mustard seeds and coriander seeds in a small pan set over medium heat until you can smell them, then add them to the brine, and stir the mixture to combine it. Add the pork chops, cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator to brine overnight or for up to 48 hours.

To pan-roast the pork chops, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the pork chops from the brine, and pat them dry with a paper towel. Season the meat aggressively with freshly ground black pepper and a little salt. Set a large sauté pan that will fit in the oven over medium-high heat. Add the oil, and when it is shimmering, place the chops in the pan. Cook the chops until they are well seared on one side, about 4 minutes, then turn the chops over, and place the pan in the oven to finish the chops, about 6 to 8 minutes. (The internal temperature of the pork, measured at the center of the chop, should be between 140 and 145 degrees for medium rare.) Remove the meat from the pan and allow the chops to rest for 5 minutes or so while you make the sauce.

Return the same pan to the stovetop and set it over medium heat, and add the butter, stirring and scraping to incorporate the meat drippings, then add the shallots and the thyme. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the brandy. Allow the mixture to reduce by half, then add the cream and the stock and reduce the mixture again, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Remove the sauce from the heat, and whisk in the mustard and the horseradish.

For the apple fritters, heat the apple cider and the cinnamon stick with a couple of inches of water in a large pot set over high heat. Add the apple rounds, and blanch for 1 minute, then remove them to a towel to dry. Whisk together the egg and the seltzer until the mixture is frothy, then gently mix in the rice flour and all-purpose flour. Put the oil in a large pan set over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, dip the apple rings into the batter and fry them in the oil until they are golden brown about 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve the pork chops with a few apple fritters and a heavy drizzle of sauce across the top.

This meal does take some preparation and you likely will have to get some ingredients you may not always have around the house ahead of time, but it is well worth the effort. The chops have fantastic flavor to them and the sauce for them is perfect, with a great blend of the mustard and horseradish in a cream sauce to really complement the chops. The apple fritters are always a favorite as well and work very nicely with the pork. I served this with some roasted carrots and parsnips and some store-bought pierogies to go along with the meal and it was a family favorite. If you know you have some extra time to make something, this recipe can be a great choice. It is also perfect to serve on a weekend when you might have a little more time to prepare something for dinner or are having people over. It may seem like a lot of work to make the brine, but it is really worth it so you can get the added flavor and extra juiciness with the pork. You’ll be glad you took the time to do it. I was able to find all of the ingredients I needed locally, which isn’t always easy for me, so you should be able to get everything you need to make this dish.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 14, 2016 in Cooking, Dinner, Fruit, Pork, Sauce

Tags: apple fritters, mustard sauce, NYT Cooking, NYT Cooking pan-roasted pork chops with apple fritters, pan-roasted pork chops, pan-roasted pork chops with apple fritters, Sam Sifton

No Smoker, No Problem – Make These Oven-Smoked Spare Ribs

13 Jul

Not having a grill at your disposal to use in the summertime is a big disappointment, at least for me. Living condo life in New York prevents us from having a charcoal or gas grill to do any outdoor cooking on. I tried the electric grill for a number of years and it did a good job cooking, but it just isn’t the same as using charcoal or even gas. You get the grill marks but you don’t get the same sear and smell that you do from other ways of cooking. That is why I often try to make the best of the grill pans I have without setting off the smoke alarm or use the oven. It may not be the ideal way to do it in the summertime, but it’s the best I have available. One of the things I really miss is the ability to do racks of ribs on the grill. There is something about the great smoky flavor you can get when you cook ribs on the grill that make them spectacular. I have been looking around at different methods to do some smoking in the oven. I considered stovetop smokers and smoking guns, but they seem a little expensive to me for something I may only use a handful of times a year and since we are already tight for space in our small kitchen, it may not be the most practically thing to have. When I came across this recipe at New York Times Cooking from Mark Bittman for oven-smoked ribs, it seemed too easy and I was skeptical about just how well it might actually work out.

Oven- Smoked Spare Ribs

1 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoons paprika

1 rack spare ribs, 2 to 3 pounds

Your favorite homemade or store-bought barbecue sauce

Heat the oven to 225 degrees. While the oven heats, mix together the salt, brown sugar, pepper, cumin, chili powder and paprika in a small bowl until the ingredients are blended. Rub the spice mix all over the pork.

Layer the bottom of a roasting pan with hickory or oak chips (or any other wood chips you prefer) and add enough water to create a shallow pool coating the bottom of the pan and moistening the chips; do not drown them.

Put a rack over the chips and put the rubbed meat on the rack. Cover the entire roasting pan tightly with foil, making a tent at the top so the smoke-flavored steam can circulate around the meat. Bake the ribs for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the meat is cooked and tender.

Carefully remove the foil from the pan and, if desired, paint the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce. Run the ribs under the broiler, watching them carefully, until they are nicely crisp and browned, about 5 minutes.

It did seem almost too easy to me. I was naturally worried that there would be a lot of smoke in the oven and was prepared to race to the smoke alarm but I never had to once. The foil kept the smoke trapped in the roasting pan with the meat and did a wonderful job. I used some hickory chips I had purchased at the supermarket and they added some great flavor to the meat. I read on the website that some people had done the ribs this way in their slow cooker, which trapped the smoke in better because of the seal that the cover provides, so this certainly could be an option for you to try. Are they going to be ribs that are better than what you can do on a grill or in a smoker? No, they aren’t; but if you don’t have those as options and really want to get some smoke into the ribs, it is a pretty good alternative to try. You might also want to add a little bit of liquid smoke to the water in the roasting pan to help amp up some of the smoke flavor you get. The ribs come out with definite smoke flavor and smell. I found I had to cook mine for a little over 3 hours to get them as tender as we like them, but other than that the recipe worked out really well. Like any rib recipe, you can always go with corn on the cob, coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad to make a great meal.

That’s all I have for today. Check back next time for another recipe. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

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Posted by MikeG on July 13, 2016 in Cooking, Dinner, Grilling, Pork

Tags: mark bittman, New York Times Cooking oven-smoked spare ribs, NYT Cooking, oven-smoked spare ribs, smoking ribs indoors, spare ribs recipe, spare ribs smoked in the oven

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