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“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

July 18, 2012 by 5 Comments

There are some things that are meant to be eaten delicately; minute bites, dab the mouth gently, use flatware, and such.

This is -most emphatically- not one of those dishes. Tear into it with your hands and teeth. Get sauce all over your chin and halfway up your cheeks. Ribs demand pride-free commitment to the eating process. I dare you to try to eat ribs with a fork and knife. You’re going to end up looking a-fool. The rib bone will careen off of your plate onto the table (and heaven help you if you’re using a tablecloth.) It’s best just accept the mess is coming, tie your hair back and dive into it with gusto.

Meaty, smoky, full-body-eating-experience ribs are an American summer tradition. If you’re lucky, you live somewhere that people take the process of cooking ribs very seriously. If you’re seriously blessed, you live just up the way from a good rib joint. If you don’t? Well, don’t despair. You can turn out superb quality ribs using nothing more than an oven and a grill. The key is really in patience. You don’t do ribs every day, so do not be in a rush. You can’t hurry ribs just like you can’t hurry love. No. You’ll just have to wait. (Yes, I did just break into song. Don’t tell me you didn’t.)

You have to rub the ribs and let them sit for twenty four hours then cook low and slow and then finally you can slather them with barbecue sauce (if it floats your boat, and it does float mine) at the tail end of cooking. You don’t sauce it at the beginning because the sugars in the barbecue sauce burn when cooked for too long. A little char on a rib is a good thing, but a charcoal rib is not. Next you move those sticky, sweet, spicy, salty, smoky ribs to a cutting board and let them sit for a couple of minutes. I mean it. You let ‘em sit. Don’t rush those ribs. Cut them into one- or two-rib servings, depending on how meaty they are

After all that, you can finally dig in. And dig in you will.While you’re digging in, the dogs will look at you longingly. The cat will circle around the table none-to-discreetly. Neighbors you’ve never met will drift into your yard because the scent of just cooked ribs will have wafted down the street and onto their patio.

You’d better share. It’s the right thing to do. While you’re at it, give them a napkin because they’re going to need one.

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“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

“Barbecue” Grilled Spare Ribs

Sticky, smoky barbecue ribs are an All-American summer tradition. You'll want to plan ahead before cooking these as they need to sit in the refrigerator with a dry rub for 24 hours before grilling.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sweet paprika
  • 1/4 cup granulated or raw sugar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated onion (or onion powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 rack of pork spare ribs (about 4 pounds)
  • 1 cup peach salsa (or substitute peach juice or nectar plus 1 peeled clove of garlic if salsa is unavailable.)
  • barbecue sauce for brushing on the ribs at the end of cooking time and for serving
    • Also Needed:
  • Heavy Duty Foil
  • 1/2 cup food quality wood chips (apple, cherry, hickory, etc...) soaked in water for 1/2 hour before needed

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, use a fork to mix together the paprika, sugar, granulated onion, and cayenne pepper.

Remove the membrane from the rack of ribs and lay the ribs on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture over the ribs, rub in enthusiastically, flip the rack and rub on the remaining half of the spice mixture. Cover the ribs with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours before grilling.

Pull off a section of heavy-duty foil that is several inches longer than your rib rack on either end. Be sure the foil is wide enough to come up around the rib rack and close securely. If necessary, lay two pieces together and fold along the long edge three or four times, crimping, to form a wider piece. Remove the plastic wrap and lay the rib rack down on the foil. Spoon the peach salsa (or nectar and garlic) over the ribs. Pull the long sides of the foil up together over the center and fold down . Crimp up both ends of the foil and put in a cold oven on a rimmed baking sheet.

Set the oven to 250°F and let the ribs bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat half of your grill to 275°F. Form a ball of double layer of heavy duty foil up around the soaked wood chips, leaving am open space about the size of a half-dollar for smoke to escape. Place that on the heated side of the grill. Place the partially cooked rib rack over the cooler part of the grill, curl side facing up, using indirect heat to finish cooking the ribs.

When the rib bones twist easily in the meat, they are done. Before you pull them off of the grill, brush one side generously with barbecue sauce, flip the rack and brush the other side. Continue cooking until they are as caramelized as you like them. I like mine done with a bit of char on the sauce, so I left mine over the heat for about 5 minutes after they were fully cooked.

Transfer the ribs carefully to a cutting board and let them rest for 5 minutes before cutting between the bones.

Tuck a napkin under your chin and enjoy!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/18/barbecue-grilled-spare-ribs/

P.S. Yes. I know that real barbecued ribs are done over the grill all the way. This is a great way to get mega barbecue flavour with half the work.

 

 

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Holiday Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes

Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

July 9, 2012 by 46 Comments

UPDATE: The National Pork Board has generously extended the deadline for The Foodbank donation partnership with you all because you’ve been asking such great questions! In other words, every question you leave for pork producers in the comments on this post, the Foodie With Family facebook page, or on Twitter with the hashtag #sustainablepork will translate to 1 pound of pork being donated to The Foodbank of Ohio. No strings attached!

Pork.

It’s what’s for dinner in one form or another in our house most nights of the week. We are a porkcentric household. That has probably been pretty obvious here with all my use of bacon, chops, roasts, Cuban Pork, Cola Pulled Pork, Hot Tex Mess, and more (scroll down for porky goodness.) So when the National Pork Board contacted me to see if I wanted to take a tour of a sustainable pork farm, I replied with a pretty quick ‘yes’.  Then they contacted me again and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

They are going to donate one pound of pork to The Foodbank in Ohio for every question you all leave here for me to ask them when I go on the tour up to 1,000 pounds. Holy cow. Or should I say holy pig?

Just think of how many people we can feed if you all are curious enough!

Let’s talk for a moment about what I’ll be looking at when I head out to Dayton. According to the information sent to me by the National Pork Board, within a 50 year time frame, pig farmers have reduced their carbon footprint by 35%, reduced water usage by 41% and decreased the amount of land needed to grow feed by 78%. Additionally, we are getting more meat from fewer pigs – which helps reduce the use of natural resources to raise pigs.

 The Pork Checkoff has been honoring the sustainability efforts of pig farmers for 18 years with the Pork Industry Environmental Steward Award. The farm I will be visiting on July 24 was recently honored with this award.

So where do you come in on all of this? Just leave me a question in the comment area below (or on Twitter using the hashtag #SustainablePork ) between now and July 13th. All comments and tweets that have questions for me to ask the farmers and the National Pork Board representatives will count and one pound of pork will be donated per question or tweet.

~~

Now I figure you all know me well enough to realize that I couldn’t talk this much about pork without giving you a great recipe for it. That would just be unkind. Without further ado, I present to you one of my favourite freezer pleasers; Tocino. (Pronounced toe-see-no.)

Tocino is a Filipino dish that I have loved longer than I can remember. Starting with a humble and inexpensive pork shoulder (about $1.29/lb where I shop), a little slicing and a quick cure in some sugar and spice in a resealable zipper top bag, you end with a salty but sweet, crisped pork that tastes like super meaty bacon. It doesn’t take much work, and once you’ve tossed the pork with your sugar and spices, you can stash the bag in the freezer for up to six months before frying or grilling. Low investment, mega-payoff.

The sugary salty cure that enrobes the thin slices of pork keeps the mixture from freezing totally solid, so you can scoop out what you’d like to serve for dinner and leave the rest frozen for future meals. The traditional accompaniment for tocino is garlic fried rice and a fried egg for the classic Filipino breakfast called Tosilog. Doesn’t that sound like just about the best possible way to start a day? I speak from experience when I say it makes one heckuva lunch, dinner or snack, too.

Tocino is traditionally cured with red food colouring or other agents (like the pink salt, or saltpeter, used in curing other meats). I’m not super keen on food colouring, so I use beet powder as recommended by Jun-Belen. That man is a genius. The beet powder adds an appetizing red colour without adding any funky insect or chemical colouring. Lest you fear the beet, let me assure you it does not impart any beet-y flavour to the finished product.

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Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

Tocino (Filipino Cured Pork) | Make Ahead Mondays

Do you love meaty bacon? Give this traditional Filipino, quick-cured, pork a try. An inexpensive pork should gets a boost from the fast-curing sugar, salt and spice combination and yields salty, sweet perfection that is reminiscent of thick cut bacon. It stores beautifully in the freezer for whenever cravings strike.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds pork shoulder, sliced into 1/8-inch thick pieces
  • 3/4 cup raw or granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons beet powder (you can substitute about 15 drops of red food colouring if you prefer.)
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
    • For Cooking:
  • Vegetable, peanut or canola oil for pan frying

Instructions

Combine both sugars, the garlic, salt, beet powder (or food colouring), and soy sauce in a very large resealable zipper top bag (2 gallons) or a stain-proof container with a tight fitting lid. Close the bag or container tightly and shake to combine ingredients evenly. Open the bag or container, drop the pork slices in and reseal. If using a bag, squeeze the bag to thoroughly coat all of the pork with the sugar and salt mixture. If using a container, use your hands to move the pork around to be sure it is thoroughly coated in the mixture then close the container tightly.

Put the bag or container in the refrigerator and let it cure for at least 2 days before using, but up to 4. Alternatively, you can put the container or bag directly into the freezer (letting it sit for at least a week before using) for up to 6 months.

To Cook the Tocino:

Whether using fresh from the refrigerator or directly from the freezer, remove the amount of tocino you want to cook and let it sit in a colander for several minutes to drain any excess liquid.

You may either grill the tocino over high, direct heat, or pan fry in batches. To pan fry, heat about 2 teaspoons of oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pieces until cooked through and browned with little charred bits, about 2-3 minutes per side.

Serve, if desired, with garlic fried rice and a fried egg for a traditional Filipino breakfast.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/07/09/tocino-filipino-cured-pork-make-ahead-mondays/

Don’t forget to leave your question for the pork farmers and National Pork Board below. Every question you leave will provide a hungry family with a pound of pork!

From July 23-24, I will be attending a tour of an Ohio family’s pig farm with the National Pork Board (NPB) focused on sustainability efforts in the pork industry. NPB will cover the costs of my trip, but all opinions expressed are my own.

 

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Appetizers & Snacks, Breakfast Foods, Charcuterie, Comfort Food, Filipino Food, Freezer Pleaser, Gluten Free, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

June 11, 2012 by 21 Comments

 

Back in March of 2009, this blogging novice posted a recipe that remains one of the most popular ever here on Foodie With Family. And let me tell you, it deserves every bit of its popularity. Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork is one of those crazy recipes that somehow manages to be dead simple, insanely inexpensive, habit-formingly delicious, almost infinitely customizable, and wickedly versatile. This is the original Foodie With Family unicorn recipe.

A testament to how fabulous this recipe actually is is the fact that so many of you made it even though I split the recipe into two different posts and made you go to two places to print it. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa. I was a newbie. So today, for Make Ahead Mondays, I am finally righting my wrong against you all with a bright, shiny, easy printable version of this classic recipe. I’m doing a little roasting two pigs with one post action, too… because in the last several months the readership here has grown explosively AND I LOVE YOU ALL MADLY FOR IT but that means that some of ye who are new around these parts may not have yet seen the Slow-Cooked Cuban Pork and in a wild display of run-on-sentence-ery, I’m here to tell you that you must, must, MUST make one or several.

If the five reasons given above weren’t good enough to convince you to make this at the soonest possible moment, I have a couple more to persuade you.

  1. It makes a massive amount which makes it good for…
  2. FREEZING. I realize I’m type-screaming a lot with the all-caps today, but I’m very excited to share this recipe again.

This is truly Make Ahead Monday friendly. You get a gigantic amount of shredded pork to eat off of and freeze into individual portions. Win/win!

We use leftovers from this recipe for Barbecue Pulled Pork Sliders, Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza, and Hot TexMess among other things. A couple containers of this pork in the freezer is the best guarantee against the “I have no idea what to make for dinner” syndrome.

Over the past three years, I’ve received all sorts of emails from people who have up-sized the Cuban Pork enough to feed a couple hundred people at church suppers, wedding receptions, and down-sized it to feed a singleton or a couple. If you’ve been around here for a while, and you’re one of the many who HAVE tried the recipe, would you tell us how you made it? Did you serve it for a special occasion?  Did you make any changes to it? Add anything to it that you absolutely love? Fill me in!

If you prefer the old posts along with the photo tutorial, they’re still there and here, but I, for one, will be using this brand-spanking new all-in-one, easy-print version below.

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(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

(Classic) Slow-Cooker Cuban Pork | Make Ahead Mondays Highlight

Of all the recipes published here on Foodie With Family over the years, this remains one of the best loved and for good reason. Fragrant, garlicky, moist and yet crispy, this mouth-watering pork is as easy to make as it is wonderful and habit forming. The recipe yields a large amount making it perfect to feed a crowd or freeze for quick meals in the future.

Ingredients

    Step 1:
  • 1 (8-10 pound) bone-in pork shoulder, make sure it fits into your slow-cooker. Cut to fit if necessary.
  • 1/2 cup frozen 100% orange juice concentrate
  • 1/3 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 8 whole peeled cloves fresh garlic (or 1 Tablespoon granulated dried garlic)
  • 1 Tablespoon (or more, to taste) ground cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon dry oregano leaves
  • 1 Tablespoon or more fresh ground pepper
  • 2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
  • if available, 2 stems (no leaves, just stems) fresh cilantro
    • Step 2:
  • Slow-cooked pork shoulder, thoroughly chilled
  • Cooking juices from slow-cooked pork shoulder
  • 2 Tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 Tablespoons white wine or cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried mustard powder
  • 2 drops liquid smoke, optional

Instructions

Step 1:

Drizzle the olive oil in the slow-cooker bowl. Place untrimmed pork, fat side down in the bowl then flip fat side up. Toss garlic cloves in around the roast and sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Use a spoon to dollop the frozen orange juice concentrate over the top of the roast. Pour the lime juice around the edges of the roast, toss on cilantro stems- if using, cover, and turn cooker to ‘HIGH’. Allow to cook for 1 hour, turn the heat to ’LOW’ and continue cooking for another 12 hours or until meat falls apart when prodded with a fork. When the meat is tender, turn off slow cooker and place the slow cooker bowl in the fridge. (If your slow-cooker doesn’t have a removable insert, transfer the contents to a large container with a tight-fitting lid and pop that into the fridge.

Step 2:

Use a spoon to remove the congealed fat from around the pork shoulder. Discard the fat. Transfer pork shoulder to a large cutting board, preferably one with a groove to catch juices. Otherwise, keep the paper towels handy! Let sit while attending to the pan juices.

Pour the cooking juices that surrounded the pork through a fine mesh strainer positioned over a saucepan. Remove and discard any solids left in the strainer. Add the lime juice, vinegar, garlic, red pepper flakes, dried mustard powder and liquid smoke to the cooking juices. Whisk until evenly combined and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Allow to boil (while working on shredding the pork) until reduced to about 1/4 of the starting volume. Set aside until pork is fully shredded.

Pull the bone out of the pork and discard. Scrape as much fat as you can from the outside of the pork shoulder. Throw away the fat or give it to your spoiled and lazy dogs. Pull large chunks of the shoulder apart. It should naturally come apart at places where there is additional fat you can remove. Take as much of the fat out as you can without wasting meat.

Using your hands -or two forks- shred the meat into small pieces. When you’ve shredded all the meat, you can leave it as is or chop through it quickly with a knife to ensure that you have small bite-sized pieces. It depends on what you’ll do with the pork. I usually run through it with the knife since I have so many little mouths eating it. When pork is fully shredded (and chopped, if desired) transfer to a 9? x 13? baking dish with sides. Pour the reduced pan juices over the pork and toss. Tightly cover the pan with foil. If you plan on serving it immediately, put into a preheated 350ºF oven and heat for 25 minutes, or until hot all the way through. If you are preparing this ahead of time you can either place the pan directly into the freezer or into the fridge.

To reheat from chilled:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.

To heat from frozen:

Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350ºF for 45 minutes, or until heated through.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/11/classic-slow-cooker-cuban-pork-make-ahead-mondays-highlight/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Component Foods, kid food, Main Dish, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Salsa Beef and Bean Lettuce Cups

June 1, 2012 by 9 Comments

I went to bed the other night all prepared to make delicious little calzones for the family’s dinner the next evening. The next day, the temperature outside was roughly that of the surface of the sun. And humid.

Now I don’t know about you, but when it feels like a giant sauna outside, I am not much disposed to baking. (That was a giant euphemism for you couldn’t PAY me to heat up the oven.)

The moral of the story is don’t menu plan.

Actually, the moral of the story is to be flexible. I took the ‘guts’ of the doomed calzones and turned it around into something quick and not at all oven-y. I fried up some bacon, added it to some browned ground beef then stirred in a can of our favourite chili beans and a fistful of chopped cilantro. Thanks to great sale on produce at our local-ish grocery, we were well stocked on lettuce. The result was a smoky, saucy, beefy, bacony, beany concoction that somehow managed to be filling without being heavy. We served it in crispy lettuce cups, topped it with grated cheese, velvety ripe avocado cubes and some spicy salsa, sat on the porch and let what little breeze there was cool us all down. Three cheers for switching it up!

The no-vegetable contingent had the toppings (meat and cheese, thankyouverymuch) over brown rice while the rest of us happily munched our lettuce cups. We ended up liking the dish so much we made it two nights in a row.  Then two nights later, we made it again. Thank heavens for bursts of inspiration!

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Salsa Beef and Bean Lettuce Cups

Salsa Beef and Bean Lettuce Cups

Crisp, fresh lettuce cups with a smoky, saucy, beef, bean and bacon filling are topped with lime-kissed ripe avocado cubes, shredded Cheddar cheese and a generous dollop of your favourite salsa for the ultimate hot-weather dinner. Easy enough for busy evenings but pretty enough to serve to company, you'll be sure to add this to your regular meal rotation!

Ingredients

    For the Beef Filling:
  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
  • 1/2 of a pound of sliced bacon
  • 1/2 an onion, peeled and finely diced
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
  • 1 can (15.5 ounces, approximately) chili beans in sauce
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
    • To Serve:
  • Butter or Iceberg lettuce leaves
  • shredded extra sharp Cheddar cheese
  • cubes of ripe avocado with lime juice squeezed over them
  • salsa

Instructions

To Prepare the Filling:

Stack the bacon slices and cut cross-ways into 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick strips. Fry those over medium heat in a 12-inch, heavy-bottomed skillet or frying pan until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Pour the remaining bacon fat from the pan and return the pan to medium heat.

Break up the ground beef into the hot pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Use a wooden spoon to continue breaking the beef and working the onions and garlic into it as it cooks. When the beef is no longer pink in the center, drain off any fat (if there is any!) and return the pan to the heat. Add the can of beans with their sauce, stir well and bring up to a simmer. You can simmer it to thicken the sauce if necessary.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cilantro.

To Serve:

Stack the lettuce leaves 2 to 3 thick to provide a little structure for when you lift it to eat it. Scoop about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the beef filling in the center of the lettuce cup. Top with the shredded cheese, cubes of avocado and a dollop of salsa.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/06/01/salsa-beef-and-bean-lettuce-cups/

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Happy Healthy and Wise, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , ,

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

May 23, 2012 by 10 Comments

In a world full of uncertainty, there are a few things you can count on beyond death and taxes.

  • Every time we think our schedule is now clear, it will fill up. Overnight.
  • Johnny Depp may be weird, but he’s easy on the eyes.
  • Shortly after you take delivery of seventeen chicks and five ducklings and get them situated in your dining room, your husband will be called out of town for a week-long business trip.
  • When your child enters a room -dripping wet- from a room where there is no faucet but there are seventeen chicks and five ducklings, you will want towels. And probably bleach.
  • And ibuprofen.
  • And a Johnny Depp movie.
  • If you serve cheeseburgers to your five sons for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve bacon for dinner, you automatically win.
  • If you serve pasta for dinner -unless it is a frou-frou concoction with artichoke hearts, brined olives and slices of garlic*- you automatically win.
  • If you find a way to combine cheeseburgers, bacon and pasta, you not only automatically win, but you are the Queen of the World, the Best Mom Ever In the History of the World, and the Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon and will be told so in no uncertain terms.
  • It’s nice to be The Prettiest Mom Who Smells Like Bacon. I can live with that title.

*Don’t get me wrong. I would like that. In fact, I’d eat the heck out of that. I’d probably even hide the last little bit in an ugly bowl in the back corner of the refrigerator so no one else would get it, but it would not be a universally pleasing dish. That’s all I’m saying.

We are talking about comfort food writ large as a one-pot wonder. Yes. Let’s take a deep breath together and think about that beautiful thought for just a moment. It only dirties one pot.

Does anyone else get weepy when they only have one pan to wash after dinner? Anyone? Please?

This pasta, though… It is all that is good about cheeseburgers, bacon, pasta and comfort food all rolled into one. The crispy bacon and browned ground beef filled cheesy tomato sauce seeps into the spaces of whichever pasta you choose, so I recommend one that can hold a little bit of everything; we prefer to use small shells for maximum sauce hold-age. Elbow noodles will do just dandy, but the shells are like little tiny pasta cups full of goodness. (I will not be winning a James Beard food writing award for the preceding sentence, but it’s been a busy week. Where’s Johnny Depp? I’m fairly certain he’s in the South of France and he’s probably not mopping up duck poo. Oh dear. I’d best stop whilst I’m ahead. At least I hope I’m still ahead.)

Even if your menu is planned for a month solid, I encourage you all to lay the ingredients for this dish in your pantry as insurance against traveling spouses, busy weeks, standardized testing (yes, we’re doing THAT this week, too), field trips, and juvenile poultry. I guarantee that one of these nights you’re going to be so glad you have it available. And when you do make it, it’s going to knock everyone’s socks off. Who loves you? I do!

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Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

This pure, unadulterated comfort food is pasta simmered in a bacon and burger filled cheesy tomato sauce. It doesn't get better (or easier) than this!

Adapted, with thanks, from Melissa who adapted it from [Ezra Pound Cake . Thank you ladies!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound sliced bacon
  • 1 pound lean ground beef
  • 1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed or finely minced
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder (preferably granulated onion)
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder (preferably granulated garlic)
  • 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste depending on heat tolerance and preference.)
  • 1 pound dry small shell or elbow pasta
  • 2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated
  • Optional, but tasty:
  • thinly sliced green onions for garnish

Instructions

Stack the bacon strips and cut down through the stack at 1/4-inch intervals. When done, you should have a pile of thin bacon strips. Put these into a large stockpot over medium-low heat, stirring frequently until the bacon is crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the crispy bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Pour the remaining bacon grease out of the pan (and hopefully into a jar to use in tasty things later.)

Return the pan to the heat, break up the ground beef over the bottom of the pan and add the onions to the pot. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to continually break up the beef and work the onions into the meat until the meat is no longer pink but brown. If there is a great deal of fat in the pan, carefully pour most of it off. If there's just a small amount of fat in the bottom of the pan, keep it. It's full of flavour! Return the pan to the heat again.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, tomato paste, ketchup, beef broth, water, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and onion and garlic powders. Pour this over the browned beef. Stir well, raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil. When it is boiling, gently stir in the dry pasta, add a lid to the pan and drop the heat to low. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking. When the pasta is tender, turn off the heat, add all of the grated cheese and the the crispy bacon and stir gently until the cheese is melted in completely and the bacon is evenly distributed.

Serve hot or very warm.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/23/bacon-cheeseburger-hamburger-pasta/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

May 11, 2012 by 8 Comments

Today I have the second of the three pizzas I planned to share with you for Pizza Week. You can see the dough recipe here and the Spinach and Garlic Alfredo Pizza here. Hooray for pizza! Now, I can’t speak for your own mother, but I -for one- would be thrilled with a homemade pizza for Mother’s Day.

By now you all know how I feel about pizza, but there’s one very big reason to love it that I haven’t mentioned yet. It’s frugal. Oh, baby, it is the frugal hausfrau’s best friend. You can put nearly anything on a pizza, so it’s great for using up odds and ends in from the refrigerator and the pantry. Granted, not every combination will be a winner. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind when figuring out what to load onto your crust is “Would this taste great together on a sandwich?” If you answer yourself with a yes, chances are good that it will make a wonderful pizza.

With my own rule in mind, I raided my chill chest and put together today’s pizza. Using a little leftover pulled pork (I used this from one of my most popular posts ever here on Foodie With Family but this one would be great, too!)  barbecue sauce, enchilada sauce, pepper jack cheese and onions from hamburgers, I put together this beautiful Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza.  It was a handful of this and a fistful of that and a pinch of another thing. We’re talking about little ingredients that so easily could’ve been lost in some forgotten corner of the refrigerator, but they became dinner. In fact, they became a glorious barbecue pulled pork crossed with pizza. How could that be anything less than wonderful?

Another great advantage of making pizza at home is the infinite ability to adjust it to your own preferences. You’re not an onion lover? Leave them off! You dislike barbecue sauce? Replace it with pizza sauce or hot sauce. The world is your oyster, or rather, your pizza!

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Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

Barbecue Pulled Pork Pizza

This pizza is a delicious multi-tasker. Yes, it tastes amazing- pizza meets pulled barbecue pork on a crackly crisp crust- but it's also a great user-upper of leftovers from the refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • 1 piece, about 5 ounces or the size of a large plum, of No-Knead Whole-Wheat Semolina Pizza Dough
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups leftover pulled pork (like this or this.) | http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2009/03/24/cuban-pork-part-i-slow-cookin-good-lookin/]
  • 1/4 cup barbecue sauce (I use this but you can use whichever is your favourite.)
  • 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
  • 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce or enchilada sauce
  • Optional, but tasty:
  • 2-3 quarter-inch thick, half moon slices of onions
  • mixed salad greens
  • additional hot sauce

Instructions

With a pizza stone situated in the bottom third, preheat the oven as high as you can get it. We use a 500°F setting on our oven.

Lightly flour your work surface. Form your pizza dough into a ball by gently stretching the top of the dough underneath itself. Place the dough on the floured work surface and pat it out gently with your hands into a disc shape until you cannot make it any wider. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll the pizza dough out. This works best if you look at the pizza dough as a clock. Start rolling from the center of the circle toward 12 o'clock, rotate your pin and roll from the center to 3 o'clock, then from the center to 6 o'clock, and so forth, ending back at 12 o'clock. Do this until you have a circle that is about 10-inches in diameter.

Sprinkle a pizza peel generously with semolina flour or cornmeal. Carefully transfer the dough to the peel. Shake gently to be sure no part of the dough sticks. This is crucial. You will be shaking the peel gently after each addition of toppings to make sure the dough can still move freely. If at any point the dough sticks, gently lift the offending area and throw a bunch of semolina or cornmeal under it.

Dot the barbecue sauce over the dough to within a 1/2-inch of the edges. Shake the dough to make sure it's not stuck.

Pull the pork apart with your hands and arrange it over the barbecue sauce to within a 1/2-inch of the edges. Again, shake to be sure it isn't stuck

Sprinkle the pepper jack and mozzarella cheese over the pork and then drizzle with the 2 tablespoons of hot sauce or enchilada sauce. If you're using the onion, separate the slices into individual pieces and arrange over the top. Shake! Shake! Shake! To be sure it isn't sticking.

Open your oven, position your peel over the back edge of the pizza stone. Flick your wrist to get the dough moving, pulling the peel back as you transfer the dough to the stone. Shut the oven and let the pizza bake on the stone for 8-10 minutes, or until the crust is the desired colour and the cheese is melted and bubbly with golden brown or charred areas. Slip the peel back under the pizza and give a little jerk to move it safely onto the peel. Transfer the cooked pizza onto a cutting board. Let it rest 3-5 minutes before slicing.

If you'd like to, and I almost always do, serve the slices with a handful of fresh salad greens and another drizzle of hot sauce over the top.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/05/11/barbecue-pulled-pork-pizza/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Meat, Party Food, Pizza, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

March 30, 2012 by 15 Comments

My kids friends are good sports. They follow my weirdo rules (no Minecraft or Wii before three p.m. unless there are extenuating circumstances like broken bones or cruddy life events, no drinks in the den, don’t chase the dog, and -most importantly- love is the final rule.) Yeah. Like I said, they’re good sports.

They are my taste-test posse. With very few exceptions, these awesome kids are willing to try anything I put in front of them. (In fact, some of these kids signed up for my ‘Gross Foods’ class locally. On purpose. Willingly!) Most of them don’t ask what it is until they’ve taken their first bites. God love ‘em.

I broke out a new recipe on a group of them just last week. After seeing Maria and Josh’s crispy gnocchi, I was on a gnocchi bender. I figured making lunch for a grand total of ten people was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed. I put on a massive pot of water, grabbed a few boxes of my favourite gnocchi* and assessed the pantry.

*I love hand made gnocchi. I do. I love it when its made by someone else. I know! I’m the Kitchen DIY queen, but gnocchi and I have this issue. Namely, the issue is that I mess them up dreadfully every time I make them from scratch and Delallo? Well, their boxed stuff is pretty darned good. For now, they win. I’ll be back, though! *shakes fist at sky*.

I grabbed Gorgonzola and Romano cheeses, bacon grease (you DO have some in the fridge, right?), and some salt and pepper. I melted said bacon grease in a heavy skillet, thoroughly drained the boiled gnocchi and tossed it into the hot grease. I crisped the gnocchi up around the edges, grated cheese over the top, salted and peppered to taste, tossed in a nub or two of gorgonzola cheese and a splash of the water I’d used to boil the gnocchi. This brings me to a very important point.

Are you aware of how valuable pasta water is? No really! A splash or two and a fistful of cheese and Vi-O-La! you have sauce. Good sauce. You can use it in place of tap water when you bake bread for improved texture. Pour cooled pasta water into your plants to water them. I’m not kidding. Don’t send it down the drain. Pasta Water for President!

To say the gnocchi was finished off is to euphemize (new word. I just coined it. At least that red squiggly tells me so…) the events at the table. If I were to play word association and throw out some words that came to mind watching the kids eat I might say: Hoover, locusts, disapparate, and black holes. I might even toss in a Doctor Who reference for good measure and say, “Crack in the universe into which matter disappears.” But I’d only say that if you’re wearing a bow-tie, fez or Stetson. Because those are clearly cool.

I shall digress.

This was a hit. And it was an even bigger hit when I made it two days later with actual bits of bacon in it and dusted it with fresh parsley. (I told you I was on a gnocchi bender.)

I just have to leave you with one thought before I share the recipe. My angelic blonde-haired, blue-eyed, ten-year-old approached me this morning and said, “Mom. Can we have gnocchi for lunch? Or as I like to call it, guh-naw-chee? Get it? ‘Cause I gnaw on it? Guh-naw?”  Sigh. Phonics jokes are a family trait. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go make my boy some guh-naw-chee.

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Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Rating: 51

Creamy Bacon Gorgonzola Gnocchi

Pillowy gnocchi lightly fried in bacon fat, then tossed into a simple pan sauce of bacon, three cheeses, parsley and green onion.

Ingredients

  • 2 (1 lb) boxes gnocchi
  • 1/2-3/4 of a pound of sliced bacon, cut cross-wise into 1/2-inch strips
  • 1-4 tablespoons crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, to taste (If you are averse to bleu cheeses, you can substitute an equal amount of mozzarella or fontina here.)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese, plus extra for serving
  • 2 thinly sliced green onions (green part only)
  • 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In a large, heavy skillet over medium high heat, cook the bacon until it is browned and crisp-chewy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings.

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions in the pot of boiling water. Use a sieve or slotted spoon to transfer the cooked gnocchi from the boiling water to a colander.

Return the pan with bacon grease to medium high heat. Add the drained gnocchi and toss to coat. Cook the gnocchi, stirring frequently, until golden brown on most surfaces. Lower the heat to medium, add all of the cheeses and a deep spoonful of the water in which the gnocchi was cooked. Stir gently, adding more pasta water -if necessary- to help the cheese melt and form a sauce. Stir in the bacon, sliced green onions and parsley and serve hot with extra Romano cheese if desired.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/30/creamy-bacon-bleu-cheese-gnocchi/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, kid food, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Rebecca, Recipes

Pasties and Beef Gravy | Make Ahead Monday

March 26, 2012 by 18 Comments

Way back in 2008, one of the first recipes I ran on Foodie With Family was for my beloved pasties. (Pronounced PAH-steez, not PAY-steez, thankyouverymuch!) Today’s Make Ahead Monday recipe is a feature of those absolutely wonderful meat pies along with a (tada!) printable recipe and another for *gasp* beef gravy. Read on for why I’m all a-twitter over the gravy.

I was talking with my stepmom, Val, on the phone the other day when she said, “Oh no! Beccy! I have to go!” I said, “Are you alright, Val?” She responded, “I forgot I have to pick up our pasty order from the church. They’re going to close in a couple of minutes.”

All my sympathy and concern that I had queued up for her flew right out the window.

She got to scoot half a mile down the road to pick up a half dozen of the finest Finnish grandmother produced, hand-made, Yooper pasties. I got to drool.

I indulged in a certain amount of self-pity and then roused myself to action. I wheeled on my heel when my husband entered the room and announced, “There WILL be pasties. And it WILL be soon!” imperiously.

While on the whole I find it against my nature to march around making pronouncements, pasties warrant a massive exception. I queened it up big time.

“You must find me a rutabaga! A big one!”

My husband looked at me askance.

“…And we’ll need ketchup!” I added in my most royal tones. Then I said, “You know, Val eats her pasties with gravy. I love her anyway.”

That is where he revolted. “Hey. I know you Yoopers eat ‘em with ketchup and everything, but why? I’d give anything for some gravy with a pasty.”

My every fiber screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”*

 *And here, perhaps, it is time for a brief cultural lesson. People who live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan are referred to –both by themselves and those below the bridge- as Yoopers. Yoopers love pasties. But even more than Yoopers love pasties, they love ketchup on pasties. Why? I haven’t the foggiest idea, but we do. And the quickest way to find out whether someone is a Yooper by passing them a gravy boat and a ketchup jar. Watch them carefully. A moment’s hesitation, a feint for the gravy boat, and you know without a doubt that you are not in the presence of a honest-to-goodness Yooper.

It was my turn to look askance. And askew. And aghast. “What do you MEAN you want gravy?”

He responded, quite reasonably, “I’m not saying YOU can’t have ketchup, but really, we’re talking about a meat pie with potatoes and stuff. What could be better on that than gravy?”

I had to admit that I didn’t have anything other  a traditional leg to stand upon in the argument.  There was no way I could deny him gravy. I’m not ashamed to admit, though, that my head spun a bit as I whipped up the beef gravy. Through my head whirled jokes family members had made about gravy-on-pasty eaters. I remembered a story my dad told about being at a county fair and overhearing some folks talk about being from the U.P. He then approached the couple and said, “Excuse me. I just have one thing to ask. Ketchup or Gravy?” They clapped him on the shoulder and said, “KETCHUP!” They became fast friends.

I put pasties on plates. I put ketchup and –horrors- a gravy boat on the table and watched quietly as all my offspring and my husband poured gravy on their pasties. I reached for the ketchup and scooped a generous portion onto my plate. (Another argument, but one for another day, is whether you put your ketchup on the side or on top of the pasties. What can I say? It’s cold and very rural. We do what we can to keep things interesting.) And then. Then they looked at me and used on me the argument I always use on them, “Aren’t you even going to try it?”

I sensed my authority hanging in the balance and said, “Oh ALRIGHT. Gimme the gravy boat. I’ll try it.” (I was less than gracious about it, but there’s only so much going back on tradition a woman can take with equanimity.) I poured a bit on the corner of my pasty and took a hearty fork full. And then I about died.

It really was not bad. In fact, it was pretty alright. Oh dang. It was good.

Rats.

I won’t have you believe I chucked my Yooper card and ate it wholesale with gravy. Oh no. I still had my ketchup, too, but I grudgingly admit the gravy will be on the table every time I make pasties.

Darnit.

Yoopers, look away.

In this fresh printable version of the old Yooper Pasty post, I’ve included a lovely beef gravy recipe. Just in case, ya know, you wanna freak out a Yooper you love. Or eat a pasty with it. Sigh.

 

 

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Pasties and Beef Gravy | Make Ahead Monday

Yield: 16 large pasties

Pasties and Beef Gravy | Make Ahead Monday

This is comfort food at its finest; hand held meat and potatoes pies with rutabaga, carrots and onions. Traditionally, these pasties are served with loads of ketchup, but folks have been known to love (read:inhale) them when covered with good beef gravy, too.

Ingredients

    For the Filling:
  • 1 large rutabaga and 1 small rutabaga
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 medium onions
  • 8 medium potatoes, preferably a waxy variety like Yukon golds or reds
  • 4 pounds lean ground beef
  • salt and pepper to taste
    • For the Crust:
  • enough sturdy pie dough for eight double crust pies (or eight boxes prepared refrigerated pie crusts) I use a double or triple batch of this pie crust.
    • For the Beef Gravy:
  • 4 tablespoons butter or beef fat drippings
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 2 teaspoons browning sauce
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • a pinch of thyme and granulated onion
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Slice a sliver off one end of the rutabaga so that it stands sturdily on your cutting board. Then use your biggest, sharpest knife to lob it in half. If it’s freaking you out too much to try to hold a slippery, wax covered, round and really hard vegetable while trying to cut it, feel free to whack it in half with a hatchet or an axe. Just don’t do it on your kitchen counter!

Once you have the brute opened, lay it on the flat side and dismantle it further so your original sphere is in quarters. Take another little bit off the bottom so you can stand the quarters up on their ends and use another sharp knife to remove the peel from the sides.

Cut the rutabaga into 1/4? slices and stack them like a deck of cards. Slice them into 1/4? strips that will then be cut into 1/4? cubes.

Peel and dice the carrots, onions, and potatoes in the same way. Combine all diced vegetables in a gigantic mixing bowl. Break the lean beef over the top, add salt and pepper, and use your hands to mix thoroughly.

Roll out a piece of pie crust to a diameter between 8? and 10?. Lay on a pie plate with the crust hanging over the lip of the plate by about 1/4?. Use your hands or a large spoon to transfer as much filling onto the crust as you can, mounding and pressing down lightly with your hands, to fill the half of the crust that is hanging over the plate.

Now fold the empty part of the pie crust over the filling, pinch the seams together, transfer to your countertop and crimp the edges with a fork.

Transfer to a parchment lined pan and slice a couple of small vents into the top of each pasty.

Slide those pans into the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Since pasties don’t traditionally get an egg glaze, they won’t be a shiny brown when done, but a deep crispy looking golden brown.

Serve immediately with beef gravy (see below) or cool completely, wrap with foil and freeze for later use.

To Reheat from Frozen:

Place foil wrapped pasty in a preheated 350°F oven on a rimmed baking sheet for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, open the foil so the top crust of the pasty is exposed and heat for an additional 10 minutes, or until hot all the way through.

To Make the Gravy:

Melt the butter or pan drippings in a heavy skillet or saucepan over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking often until bubbly and fragrant smelling, at least 2 minutes. Whisk in the cold beef stock, thyme and granulated onion and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Taste the gravy, adjust the seasonings and serve hot.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/26/pasties-and-beef-gravy-make-ahead-monday/

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Comfort Food, Freezer Pleaser, Instructional, kid food, Make Ahead Mondays, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: ,
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