When you don't have a BBQ...

It's amazing how well you get to know your oven! I never used to cook with it too much but since living in Spain, we have this amazing relationship. Well, that is until I have to clean it... this is the worst house chore possible. I HATE it with a passion. But, as I was saying, until that time comes, I love that little machine :)

Having no BBQ doesn't mean that you cannot have any of those wonderful meals Summer brings. I did some killer ribs the other day with some new potatoes and grilled lettuce. I believe these were the best ribs I have done ever. Our friends were over and they kept on raving about them. They also mentioned that they were the best so far; they would know, they lived with us for almost 3 months! The funny part is that I did not use any BBQ sauce and they were finger-licking good.

Ribs with Creamy Potatoes and Grilled Lettuce



Ingredients:

1.5kg rack of ribs
1kg new potatoes
4 small lettuce heads (cogollos)
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spices
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp curry
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp parsley
1 tsp cumin
oil
2 tbsp cream (18%)
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp pecorino romano
1 tsp rosemary
balsamic vinegar cream
salt and pepper

In a small bowl, mix the paprika, steak spices, cumin, curry, nutmeg, garlic powder, parsley and black pepper. Honestly, I always eyeball my quantities so have fun with the flavors here.

Place the rack of ribs on an oven rack and rub the spices onto it. You might need to double the quantity depending on your meat.

Turn your oven on at broil and grill your rack for a few minutes (this gives you the grill color and helps seal the meat).

Turn the meat around and grill again.

Now the trick to get juicy ribs is to cover them with aluminium foil and cook them for about 1 1/2 hour at 180C.

Remove the foil and broil again on both sides for some added grilled look and taste.

This is the result:

Now while the meat was cooking, wash your new potatoes and slice them in half. Place them in an oven dish and cook in the oven for about 20 30 minutes. Obviously, I did this while the meat was cooking with the foil.

Remove from the oven and add some rosemary, salt and pepper, the butter, cream and cheese (I cheated here and added some of that leftover Alfredo sauce I had but it worked the same).

For the lettuce, wash the heads and slice in half. Drizzle some cream of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper on them. Top it off with a bit of oil.

Broil in the oven at high until they are "grilled".

And there you have it. A perfectly BBQ value meal done in the comfort of my oven :)

Enjoy!

My Mom's Tortellini Alfredo

My Mom is half Italian (from her Dad's side) and having italian blood in our veins makes us huge pasta fans. I could eat pasta EVERYDAY :) I love that stuff; it's really an addiction of mine! Sadly, I've had to control it since David isn't that huge of a fan. He likes it but once a week is more than enough for him. Poor me. Oh well, I get to try new recipe and have found that if I add enough meat to pasta, he doesn't mind at all! haha Boys will be boys. He has surprised me when I often ask him if he wants to eat tortellini and with what sauce he wants it. He keeps on asking for my Mom's alfredo sauce. :) Why this surprises me: it holds no meat whatsoever! He loves it but with reason. It is such a simple sauce but sure makes one heck of a tasty meal.

This is the typical easy and fast sauce to make with some meat or cheese filled pasta. It also works great with fettucini or linguini.

Tortellini Alfredo

Ingredients:

500grs tortellini (I had jamon/proscuitto filled on hand)
250ml cream (I use 12% but it works great with 18%)
1/2 cup pecorino romano
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper

In a large pot to cook the pasta, heat some water to a boil.

In a saucepan, add the butter and melt.

When it has melted, add the cream, cheese, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Mix well and slowly heat. Do not bring to a boil. When it is hot (right before it starts simmering) and has a nice consistency, remove from heat and cover.

Cook the tortellini in the boiling water.

Drain and add the sauce to the pasta.

Mix well. Let it rest a bit so that the pasta absorbs the sauce. Add some more pecorino cheese if you want :)

And there you have it. A wonderful meal in less than 10 minutes. This recipe is a classic in my family and always pleases a crowd. :)

Rice mixed with a few Ingredients equals Magic

Seriously. Well, rice is just wonderful. Meat, fish, veggies... just add anything to rice with some broth and a delicious meal has formed before you know it. It is also a great way of "hiding" the veggies for those picky eaters ;)

I had bought a lamb skirt (falda de cordero) at Makro (Spain's Costco) for a steal and decided to make a nice rice with it. We both really like lamb and the skirt is a nice way to get the flavors from it. Don't expect to have a lot of meat on the bones though; the downside of this cheaper cut.

So here goes my recipe.

Arroz con Falda de Cordero

Ingredients:

1 kg lamb skirt
2 cups rice
5 cups of broth (whichever you prefer, I mixed veggie and meat)
2 carrots
100 grs spinach
1 leek
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp rice seasoning (your own or storebought)
salt and pepper
oil

Preheat your oven at 225C if your stovetop is not big enough to heat the paellera or pan evenly.

In a large pan or paellera, add some oil and heat. In the meantime, season the meat with salt and pepper and cut your veggies.

When the oil is ready, brown the lamb.

When the meat has a nice color to it and it has release some of its flavor in the oil, remove it.

Add the veggies to the pan.

After a few minutes, add the rice.

Mix well to coat the rice.

Add the broth, rice seasoning and meat. Oh, and the spinach... I forgot my spinach until David reminded me the microwave had beeped. My lonely thawed frozen spinach. I added it later on so no biggie :).

Now, if you are like me and do not have a perfect paellera stovetop, place the rice in the oven.

Cook for about 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the broth is almost completely absorbed (you can see some broth on the sides of the pan).

Now the trick to get the rice perfect is to cover it with cardboard or papel towels or even a regular rag for about 5 minutes. It absorbs the humidity from the rice.

And here it is, ready to be devoured!

Buen provecho :)