Oui, Chef

I Want My Babyback...Babyback....Babyback Ribs!

"Baby....it's the other, other white meat!"  "Baby.... it's what's for dinner!"

Sorry, I couldn't resist tossing out these classic Austin Powers lines, do forgive me.

As much as I love BBQ ribs, I've never made them at home from scratch before as they always seemed like a lot of work to me.  Most recipes you come across require that you smoke the ribs first, then cook them low and slow before finishing them over a hot flame.  Steps 2 and 3 of that process don't scare me, but given that I don't own a smoker, step 1 always gave me a great deal of pause.

You see, if you don't have a dedicated smoker and have to McGyver one out of a charcoal or gas grill, smoking becomes a $#!% load of work.  I've done it a few times when crafting some home made charcuterie, and I found the amount of effort required to maintain not only the right temperature (whether cold or hot smoking), but also regulating for the appropriate amount of smoke, made the whole exercise a rather large pain in my behind.

Five Spice Honey Mustard Pork with Leeks and Wild Rice

This is another adaptation of a Ming Tsai dish that we tried recently and absolutely loved.  It's easy enough to whip up for a weeknight family meal, but if served up on a platter, pretty enough for company.  This recipe highlights two of my favorite techniques for taking a tender but otherwise ho-hum piece of meat, the pork tenderloin, and making it a crave worthy star.

A Vinaigrette For Riley & An OXO Giveaway!

I'm not sure what she's like at home, but Muppet's best friend Riley is a salad fiend when she joins us for dinner.  It's not that we make very fancy salads here, in fact most nights we just dish up a simply dressed pre-made mesclun mix from the market.  Still every time she visits, Riley goes on and on about how much she enjoys the greenery.  The key she says is the dressing, and once I told her that it was homemade she has made a point of asking me to teach her the recipe every time she stops by for chow. 

Quinoa Pasta with Gorgonzola Cream, Spinach and Roasted Walnuts

This recipe is a riff on one I saw recently in Fine Cooking magazine, and represents such a classic combination of Italian flavors I knew I had to try it right away.  I made it with a great gluten-free pasta  made by a company called Ancient Harvest.  They make it with quinoa and corn flours, hence the beautiful golden color you see in the photo.  This was originally supposed to be our Meatless Monday meal this week, but as we had so much roast pork tenderloin left-over form the weekend, we ended up eating that on Monday instead.  Meatless Tuesday doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but there you go.

Mango Soufflé with Coconut-Lime Crème Anglaise

If you are looking for something special and sweet to make your mom for Mother's Day, have I got a dish for you.  After taking a few months away from Food52's weekly recipe contests, I decided to hop back in this week and crafted this dish to enter into their contest for "your best mangoes".  To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of mangoes, I mean I love their flavor but find that carving around the monster pit in their center to be a bit of a pain.  Plus, it seems that there is so much waste once the fruit has been peeled and the pit removed.  Anyway, for the two that I carved up for this dish I was very patient, extracting all of the goodness from them I could and I have to say that in the end my efforts paid off in a BIG way.

Roasted Garlic Risotto with Pancetta and Spinach

One of the things I love most about risotto is how it feels right at home in any season.  In the fall and winter you can load it full of hearty meats and chunks of root vegetables for a warming feast on a chilly day.  In the spring and summer it takes well to a lighter hand, and shines when used with spring veggies and herbs.  Given that we're just getting started with spring here in the northeast, this risotto straddles these two styles by combining a richness brought by roasted garlic and pancetta along with a lightness enhanced by the use of peas and baby spinach.

Milky Way Tart

A couple of days ago, Muppet, who had decided that we'd been making not nearly enough desserts as of late, sauntered over to our cookbook collection and pulled down Joanne Chang's fabulous Flour cookbook for a look-see.  Five minutes later she was waving the book in my face, showing me all of the post-it tags that marked recipes she wanted to try.  As most of them were rather large layer cakes, I asked her to take another swing through the book and try to find something a little more modest in size, "oohhh...good idea, she said, "bikini season's right around the corner"

My thoughts exactly.

Beef Pho

As much as I've enjoyed pho over the years, up until now I'd never made it myself.  Now that I've seen first hand how easy and truly delicious this Asian soup can be when made at home, I certainly won't be waiting years before making it again.

The other day when I was at my butcher shop buying the skirt steak for our last post, I bought a little extra planning to toss it in the fridge after cooking and slicing it a few days later to use in this pho.  As I always share with my students, cooking extra one day with a planned left-over meal in mind is smart weeknight meal planning, and with a recipe like this pho in your repertoire, it's a tasty plan as well.  Left-over pork, shrimp or chicken would all be awesome in this dish.

Skirt Steak with Black Olive Aioli

Now that the sun is shining again after a week's worth of much needed rain, I'm in the mood for a delicious grilled dish, and this skirt steak certainly qualifies as that.  Those of you who are Suzanne Goin fans may recognize this recipe as a slight adaptation of one from her gorgeous cookbook Sunday Suppers at Lucques.  It's a book I've owned for a year or more, but am just starting to cook from now....silly me for waiting so long.  

Goin is a chef of impeccable taste and extraordinary technique, yet what strikes me most about her food is how real and unpretentious it all feels.  I can't wait to cook more dishes from this fabulous book.

Curried Chicken Salad

One of the lessons I stress time and again when teaching Cooking Matters classes is the idea of planning for the creative use of left-overs.  Let's face it, most folks don't have the time (or the desire) to cook from scratch every night, so it really pays to look out over the course of your week and plan on left-overs from one night to feed you again a few days down the road.