Almond and Pistachio Brown Rice Pilaf

Source:  unknown

1 small onion finely chopped
2 t olive oil
1 t garam masala
1 c brown rice uncooked
2 cloves of garlic - -minced
2.5 c vegetable broth
1/2 t salt
1/3 c slivered almonds
1/3 c roasted salted pistachios
1/2 c currants
2 T fresh parsley

Saute onion in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat  for 3-4 minutes or until tender.  Stir in rice and garam masala, and cook stirring often, until rice is fragrant and lightly toasted.  Add garlic and cook one minute.  Add broth and salt, and bring to boil.  Cover and reduce heat to low and cook to 45 minutes, or until rice is tender.  Meanwhile, toast almonds.  Fluff rice mixture with fork.  Stir in almonds and remaining ingredients.

I don't usually bother with sophisticated side dishes.  I'd just as soon focus on the main event.  However, this recipe intrigued me -- loved the combination of the exotic ingredients.

Ingredient note -- Garam masala is a spice mixture used in Indian and South Asian cuisines.  It's a combination of peppercorn, cardamom, cumin, cloves and cinnamon.  You can buy it in a regular grocery store.

This recipe was easy to make -- not much more to it than making the rice.  The garam masala gave a rich, deep and exotic flavor to the rice.  The little gems of sweet currants, salty pistachios and crunchy toasted almonds were lovely with the freshness of the parsley.  If you are looking to jazz up brown rice -- try this recipe.  It would even be a nice, hearty vegetarian meal.  

Grilled Spareribs with Fennel Seeds and Herbs

Source: Sunset Magazine
1.5 T kosher salt
1 T each fennel seeds, chopped garlic and  chopped fresh rosemary
1 t chopped fresh sage
2 t each pepper and sweet paprika, chopped fresh thyme leaves and ground fennel seeds
2 racks of pork spareribs trimmed St. Louis style, membrane removed, cut into 8-9 inch portions
2 T olive oil

Combine all ingredients except ribs and oil in a bowl.  Rub ribs all over with oil, and smear with seasonings, putting most on meaty side.  Chill airtight at least 4 and up to 24 hours; let sit at room temperature during last hour.  Meanwhile, scrunch each of 5 (1.5 ft) sheets of foil into a log about 9 in long.  Prepare grill for low (250 to 300) with a burner turned off to make an indirect heat area.  Put a pan in the indirect heat area.  Set ribs with bone tips upright over drip pan, arranging foil logs  between ribs to hold them up.  Grill, covered, until meat is very tender and shrinks back from tips of bones, 1 3/4 to 2 1/4 hours.  Transfer ribs to a rimmed baking sheet and cover with foil.  Let rest about 10 minutes.

I don't eat ribs a lot.  In fact, I hardly ever eat them.  I know they are fatty, and not really good for you, so I might have them once every few years.  Plus, cooking them intimidates me a lot.  Finally, it's winter time, not exactly grilling season, and I don't have an outdoor grill.  This recipe had al kinds of complicated instructions ....so many reasons not to do it.  But, isn't it what this challenge is all about?  Doing things that are intimidating ... even if you fail occasionally?  So I clipped this recipe and waited for the right time to try it.  Then, when I was at Whole Foods yesterday, St. Louis style spare ribs were on sale.  I took that as I sign.

I forgot the garlic from the rub.  I used dried rosemary  (remember that dried herbs are more potent, so I used 1 teaspoon).  And finally, I omitted the ground fennel seeds.  I don't really care for fennel, so I didn't think it was a big issue -- frankly I was just too lazy to grind up the fennel seeds, and I didn't think I would miss it.

I made a big mess with rubbing the ribs with the seasonings, put them in two gallon sized zip lock bags, and put them in the fridge.  Then, I took the easy way out, and them them over to the neighbor's house, and let him deal with the grilling portion.  Then, another curveball -- neighbor's grill also not working -- we are left with out of town third neighbor's grill.....  at that point, we've made the decision to just use the oven.  Long story short -- we put the ribs on racks over a a sheet pan, covered with tinfoil, and baked at 300 degrees for   2 hours and 15 minutes, flipping them halfway through the cooking, and removing the tinfoil for the last 10 minutes.

These ribs were delicious -- fatty, tender, juicy, salty -- absolutely dynamite.  I will spare you all the nutritional info -- it't not pretty.  Suffice to say that this is a "sometimes" food.  Absolute hit.  Go ahead and follow the recipe directions if you want -- in fact, let me know how those work out.  But if you want to take it easy -- shove these guys in the oven like I did, and have a delicious dinner any time of the year.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Source:  Reader's Digest

1 lb strawberries
1 lb milk chocolate chips
2 T shortening

Pierce strawberries through the stem with toothpick.  Melt chocolate chips and shortening over a double boilers.  Dip strawberries and stick them upside down in a piece of styrofoam.  Let it harden up.

This is not the post I had planned for this week.  I had fettucini recipe planned -- and in fact, I made that for dinner tonight.  But then I looked back at my recent posts and noticed an abundance of pasta recipes (I make a lost of pasta these days b/c that is hands down my daughter's favorite food), so I thought I little change up would be welcome.

I made these chocolate covered strawberries for a Superbowl party.  I usually make desserts for parties, and I wanted to do something different.  Also, despite being winter, I found some delicious fragrant strawberries.

So there is not much to chocolate covered strawberries.  There is just a couple of things to make the perfect berry.  First of all, it's important to add the shortening to the chips -- makes the melted chocolate a looser consistency which makes dipping easier.  I also changed up the chocolate chips, and used 70% semi sweet to 30 % milk chocolate chips.  I don't care for sweet chocolate that much, but that's a matter of preference.  I loved the trick with the toothpick -- and the styrofoam.  It cut down on the mess significantly (although I did manage to get chocolate all over my stove), and letting the harden upside down in the styrofoam eliminated the flat part where you would lay the strawberry down, and made for (at least theoretically) a perfectly round, dipped berry.

So these were a huge hit.  Again, can't take credit for the flavors or the idea.  But I can tell you that I made two pounds of strawberries and every last one was gone before kick-off.