Tag-Archive for ◊ blackberry ◊

27 Apr 2020 Blackberry Ribs
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!

25 Jun 2019 Raspberry-Ricotta Snack Cake

This cake is simply delicious, light and moist, unassuming and satisfying. It’s good for breakfast, it’s good for a light dessert, and it’s good for an afternoon tea or snack. It’s good for company, it’s good for a family treat, and it’s good for just honoring the fact that you are alive, it’s Summer, and having something completely homemade with fresh fruit is the right thing to do.

The original recipe is from Epicurious, which called for using frozen berries. I’ve only ever made this with fresh raspberries, so that is reflected in the recipe below. Others have made this cake with blackberries, blueberries, pitted and halved cherries, diced mango, and *gasp* chocolate chips.

Not being a ricotta lover, I wouldn’t have made this cake if weren’t made for me at a Cookbook Club retreat a few years ago. I loved it, the ricotta wasn’t overwhelming and is important to the character of this cake. The ricotta keeps the cake moist and light, and allows it to stay moist for two days or more.

If there are any leftover slices, wrap and freeze for an on-demand treat later on.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (188 grams)

1 cup sugar (198 grams)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

15 oz carton ricotta

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup raspberries (6 oz carton) divided use (can substitute blueberries, cherries, blackberries, small chunks of mango, or even, *gasp*, chocolate chips) Ok to add a few extra berries on top of batter.

Zest of 1 small lemon (OK to sub lime or orange zest)

Approx. 1 teaspoon white sugar, vanilla sugar, coarse sugar, or raw sugar, optional

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Line a 9″-diameter cake pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with nonstick spray.
  3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
  4. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs, ricotta, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth.
  5. Stir in dry ingredients, whisk just until blended.
  6. Stir in butter just until combined.
  7. By hand, fold 3/4 cup raspberries (or other fruit), taking care not to crush berries.
  8. Fold in zest.
  9. Pour batter into prepared pan and scatter remaining 1/4 cup raspberries (or other fruit) over top (OK to add more berries to make a pleasing design on top.)
  10. Sprinkle a small amount of sugar, vanilla sugar, or raw sugar on top of cake.
  11. Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. Let cool at least 20 minutes before unmolding.
  12. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Do ahead: Cake can be made 2 days ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

07 Sep 2010 Mixed Berry Pie

Been to the Farmers’ Markets this weekend? Did you buy a bunch of berries? Time for a Mixed Berry Pie! It is still cool enough that it’s OK to turn on the oven making it the perfect time to make this delicious pie. The orange peel sets this pie above all other berry pies, and the cornstarch-flour thickening is perfect. The pie is great served slightly warm for dinner, with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or a bit of whipped cream on the side and absolutely divine room temperature, with a cup of hot coffee on the side, for breakfast.

I haven’t mastered pie crust yet, so use your favorite recipe, or that Pillsbury unroll and bake stuff (like I did) which will enable you to get this pie in the oven in 20 minutes or less. Ready, set, goooooo! You’re going to knock the socks off your dinner guests!

Mixed Berry Pie

1 double crust pastry
1 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
2 T. flour
grated zest of 1 medium orange
pinch of salt
6 c. mixed fresh berries*
1 T. cream or milk
pinch of sugar

Prepare pastry. Roll out half the pastry and line the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate the lined pie plate and the leftover pastry while you mix up the berries. In a large bowl mix sugar, cornstarch, flour, orange zest and salt. Add berries and toss gently to coat each berry. Pile berry mixture into pasty lined pie plate. Roll out second half of pastry. Cut slits in pastry. Lay pastry over berries and tuck into bottom pastry. Decoratively crimp and trim the top and bottom crust to seal together. Brush top pastry with a bit of cream or milk. Sprinkle with a pinch of white sugar. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pie on a baking sheet, and place in oven. Bake 50-60 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is bubbling. Cool completely on rack before serving (juices need to cool to thicken).

*recipe originally came with these proportions: 2 cups blueberries, 2 cups blackberries, 1 cup fresh raspberries, 1 cup quartered fresh strawberries. I wouldn’t use any more strawberries than 1 cup (they don’t hold up well) but the rest of the proportions are mix-and-matchable. Do what I do, buy one or two baskets of everything at the farmer’s market and what makes it home gets put in the pie. If you are a bit short of the required six cups of berries, peel and chop an apple or pear to add into the mixture.

I made the berry pie at the top and my friend Louise made the beautiful berry pie below.  Both of us believe that Mixed Berry Pie is most people’s favorite pie, if it’s not, it’s because they have never tasted this one!

Thanks for stopping by our kitchens today, see you tomorrow!  What shall we make…??

16 Jun 2010 Blackberry Sorbet

I’ve been having so much fun with my ice cream makers. I hope you’ve bought one. Remember that double freezer one I told you about at Costco? SUCH a deal! Get one now so you can make stuff like this blackberry sorbet, which tastes even better than fresh blackberries. It’s so RICH, sooo fruity…, icy, refreshing, delicious…, fabulous!! I am eating the photo shoot sorbet as I type this…! You just can’t buy food like this; the stabilizers, preservatives, thickeners, gums, artificial colors, and so o,,n dull the pure, honest, wonderful taste of real food.

It’s easy to make, too, just be sure you have enough time to chill everything completely before putting it in the ice cream machine.

Blackberry Sorbet

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 lbs fresh blackberries (3-4 baskets)
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (juice from one lemon)

Bring sugar and water to a boil. Stir until sugar dissolves, then boil syrup for an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool (about 3 hours). Puree blackberries and cooled syrup in blender until smooth. Strain into a 4 cup measuring jug or bowl. Discard the seeds and pulp. Stir lemon juice into the sugar-water-juice mixture. Chill until cold. Process cold mixture in an ice cream maker until very thick and slushy, about 20 minutes. Remove to a covered freezer container. Freeze until firm. This can be made one week ahead. Keep frozen until ready to serve.