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27 Apr 2020 Blackberry Ribs
Author:  |  Category: Fruits, Grilling, Main Dish, Red Meat, Seasonal  | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment
Blackberry Ribs on the grill

Blackberry Ribs, one of my family’s favorite BBQ dishes (a close runner up is my Triple Threat Chicken, also on this page).

Quantities are set for 3 lbs. of baby back ribs. I usually make a Costco batch, six pound of pork ribs with double the rub and double the sauce.

This is an easy recipe. Ribs are rubbed, baked in the oven, dunked in the Blackberry BBQ sauce and then finished on the grill.

To cut down on work and mess on BBQ day, ribs can be baked in advance, cooled, brushed with the Blackberry BBQ sauce and refrigerated.  On BBQ day remove ribs from refrigerator, bring to room temperature, then grill until warm throughout.

I like a fruity BBQ sauce, but it’s adventurous fare for some.  Some of your less adventurous eaters might register reservations before tasting, but after tasting, they’ll be fine, and happy!

On another note, one time I couldn’t find blackberries, so substituted blueberries, which worked fine, too

I’ve been making Blackberry Ribs since 2007. I found the original recipe on Epicurious.

Ingredients:

  • 3 lbs. baby back ribs

For the Rub:

  • 4 tsp. chili powder added 1 tsp each of chipotle and ancho chili powders
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1 tsp. sugar

For the Blackberry BBQ sauce:

  • 2 ½ cups fresh blackberries (12-18 oz)
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • ½ cup honey
  • 2 tablespoon fresh ginger paste or diced fresh ginger
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp. Tabasco (or to taste) or substitute desired quantity of crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp. salt

Instructions:

  1. Line baking sheets with foil, you’ll need two or three baking sheets.
  2. Place racks of ribs on foil-lined baking sheets.
  3. Mix rub ingredients together in a small bowl.
  4. Sprinkle rub ingredients onto ribs, putting most on the front meaty sides, and only a sprinkle on the back boney sides. Rub in.
  5. Let ribs sit for until they come to room temperature, or for about 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  7. Place ribs in a preheated hot oven, meaty side up, for 50 minutes. Prepare grill if planning to BBQ now.
  8. While ribs are baking, prepare Blackberry BBQ Sauce.
  9. Place all sauce ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth.
  10. Strain the puree into a heavy-duty medium saucepan. Discard all the solids collected in the sieve.
  11. Bring puree to a boil and simmer slowly for about 10 minutes, stirring often.
  12. Reduce the sauce to 1 cup. (Measure this by pouring sauce into a 1 cup measuring jug. If not reduced to 1 cup, return puree to pan and continue cooking. Measure again. Continue like this until sauce is reduced to the 1 cup mark. (NOTE: if doubling the recipe, reduce sauce to 2 cups) . If  sauce is too thick, thin with a splash of beer, bourbon, coffee, water, juice, Chambord…your choice, make it your own!)
  13. Season sauce to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce, if needed.
  14. Remove ribs from oven.
  15. When cool enough to handle cut rack of ribs into 1 or 2 rib portions.
  16. Brush ribs with sauce on all sides. Use only a little more than half the sauce. Save some sauce to brush onto rubs after grilling. (At this point, ribs can be refrigerated to be grilled later.)
  17. Place ribs on hot grill. (Adding soaked wood chips to the charcoal is a good idea, too.)
  18. Cover grill for smoke to infuse the ribs.
  19. Reheat remaining Blackberry BBQ sauce (OK to warm in microwave)
  20. Grill ribs until hot, turning as necessary.
  21. Remove ribs to serving platter and brush with reserved and warmed Blackberry BBQ Sauce

Share and Enjoy!

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22 Dec 2019 Chicken Curry Sandwiches
Author:  |  Category: Poultry, Sandwiches  | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment
Chicken Curry Sandwiches

Chicken Curry finger sandwiches have been a staple at my English Teas for decades. I don’t remember where I found the recipe, but it’s a keeper. The curry mixture keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for a few days.

Chicken Curry Sandwiches

  • 2 cups cooked and finely diced chicken
  • 2 hard boiled eggs, cooled, peeled and diced
  • ½ to 1 cup mayonnaise (personal preference, I try not to use more than ½ cup)
  • ¾ cup finely diced celery
  • ¼ cup finely diced green onions
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons curry powder (taste and add more if needed, depends on the brand of curry powder used)
  1. Gently combine all ingredients.
  2. Let mixture sit for a few hours for flavors to develop.
  3. Spread onto choice of bread and enjoy (since I usually serve this filling in crustless finger sandwiches I usually use a bakery white bread)

Makes enough filling for 4 good sized sandwiches or 12 finger sandwiches.

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09 Aug 2019 Korean Chicken Wings
Author:  |  Category: Appetizers, Poultry  | Tags: , , , , ,  | Leave a Comment

I love these! This recipe is one of my very favorite new recipes this year. I have my daughter, Abby, to thank for it. She’s been to a lot of Korean BBQ restaurants (I’ve been to none) and she fell in love with these wings. She then searched out a fabulous recipe and cooked them for me a few times, then I got addicted, which is odd since I don’t particularly like chicken or chicken wings. This recipe is based on one found in “Our Korean Kitchen” by Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo. These little pieces of heaven won me over though! These wings have a little bit of everything yummy, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy, a little bit crispy, a little bit saucy and a little bit sticky and they are so very addicting. I think I had a dream about them once…

The recipe has a lot of steps, but they are all easy (and well worth it!). You’ll probably need to visit a Korean grocery store for a few items, but once there you’ll find everything and be able too cook multiple batches of these wings before needing a return trip. The wings are very easy to pull together after making them the first time. Honest, they are easy! You’ll want to make them for all your friends.

Here’s a picture of the not-so-common items you’ll need for these wings. Helpful note, Glutinous Rice Flour is also known as Sweet Rice Flour.

Korean Fried Chicken Wings

Sauce

  •  2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • ¼ cup Rice Vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp Gochujang (available at Korean grocery stores)
  • ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp Honey
  • ½ cup  Ketchup
  • ¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 Tbsp sesame oil

Flour Coating for Wings

  • ¼ cup potato flour
  • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup glutinous rice flour (AKA Sweet Rice Flour-available at most Asian markets)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground pepper

To Cook Wings

  • 3 pounds party wings
  • Vegetable Oil for frying 

Garnish (optional)

  • 1 tsp toasted black sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds

Make the sauce

  1. Combine first six sauce ingredients (except vegetable oil, garlic, and sesame oil) in a medium bowl and set aside.
  2. Place vegetable oil in a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  3. Once garlic is golden, add all the combined sauce ingredients to the pan, and cook until it has thickened and is glossy, approximately 4-5 minutes.
  4. Add sesame oil, mix thoroughly.
  5. Set aside until ready to use.

Make the chicken

Pour vegetable oil into a deep, medium-size pan, with at least two inches between the surface of the oil and the rim of the pot. Place pan over medium-High heat, and using a deep-fat or candy thermometer to guide you, bring oil to 325 F.

  1. Meanwhile, place the ingredients for the flour mix in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add chicken to the flour mix, coating every part evenly. (Shaking wings with flour mixture in a Ziploc works well)
  2. Shake excess flour off wings and set on a baking rack to dry slightly. If flour soaks into wing and looks a little gummy, shake in flour mixture again.
  3. When oil has reached 325F, add the chicken in batches and fry for about 7 minutes.
  4. Remove and drain on paper towels.
  5. OK to keep cooked wings warm in 250 degree oven until needed.

To Serve

  1. Once all chicken is fried, reheat sauce and toss hot wings in warm sauce.
  2. Sprinkle saucy wings with sesame seeds if using
  3. Share and enjoy!
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03 Jun 2019 Filipino Chicken Barbecue (Skewers)
Author:  |  Category: Appetizers, Main Dish, Poultry  | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,  | One Comment

I know nothing about Filipino cooking, but my daughter organized a Boodle Fight for one of our cookbook club meetings. Knowing nothing, and needing to know something fast, I researched cookbooks and ordered one that sounded good, landing on “I Am A Filipino: And This Is How We Cook” by Nicole Ponseca. I made several recipes, Chicken Barbecue, Banana Ketchup Ribs, Pancit, Coconut Flan.  Two recipes were keepers, as is, no changes…, Chicken Barbecue and Banana Ketchup BBQ Ribs.

Good news, Epicurious is going all out on promoting this recipe, too, it’s a keeper! Can you see the chicken on the skewers in the picture above?  Look at all that food! A Boodle Fight is a GREAT idea! If you can’t do all of it, start with the Chicken Barbecue Skewers.

You’ll need some Banana Ketchup, which is ketchup made from bananas, not tomatoes, but tastes nothing like bananas, and is still a vibrant red color! I bought my first bottle of Banana Ketchup on Amazon.  It cost 4 times the amount of my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th bottle of Banana Ketchup.  If you have a Filipino market close by, a bottle of Banana Ketchup will cost less than two dollars, if you order it off of Amazon it will cost over eight dollars. Do what you have to do, get a bottle of Banana Ketchup and make the Chicken Barbecue on Skewers.

Filipino Chicken Barbecue (Skewers)

  • 2 1/4 cups (540 ml) banana ketchup
  • 1 cup (240 ml) 7UP or Sprite
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) white sugarcane vinegar
  • 1/2 cup (110 g) packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (35 g) minced garlic
  • 3 pounds (1.4 kg) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • Cooking spray or vegetable oil, for greasing
  • Wooden skewers
  1. Stir together the banana ketchup, 7UP/Sprite, lemon juice, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and garlic, keep stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
  2. Add the chicken pieces and toss. Cover the bowl or pour mixture into a Ziplok bag and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight.
  3. When you are ready to cook the meat, heat a grill pan over high heat or heat a charcoal or gas grill to medium.
  4. Reserving the marinade, thread 3 or 4 pieces of chicken on each skewer, letting the pieces touch slightly, and set them on a plate or baking sheet.
  5. Pour the marinade into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes; set it aside.
  6. Spray the pan or grill grate lightly with cooking spray. Place the skewers on the grill pan or grill and cook, turning them and basting them often with the heated marinade, until they are cooked through or the center of a piece of chicken registers 165°F (75°C) on an instant-read thermometer. This should take between 8 and 15 minutes, depending on your cooking surface (discard any leftover marinade).
  7. Transfer to a platter. Serve and share.

Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!

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