Garlic-Encrusted Baby Back Ribs

  When Brian and I got married in 2009, my parents gave us one of the most awesome gifts I've ever received. They collected tons of yummy recipes, from family and friends, and compiled them into a cookbook for us. It was so thoughtful and creative and it was obvious how much time and effort they had put into typing the recipes, finding pictures to go along with them, and arranging them by category into a lovely book. It contains some of my favorite recipes I grew up enjoying and lots of new ones begging to be tried. Three years later, I still use my cookbook regularly. It is, by far, my favorite cookbook I own. Not only because it is sentimental, but because it contains so many wonderful recipes.
   Both of these recipes came straight from my Daddy's kitchen. That's how I knew they would be so delicious. My Dad is the best cook I know and I credit him for my prowess in the kitchen. The ribs are sweet and garlicky and the best part is they are prepared in the oven! I love that I can cook finger-licking good ribs without having to fire up the grill. These ribs are easy to throw together and the oven does all of the work. The baby blue salad is the perfect accompaniment for the ribs. It's fresh and simple and together they make the perfect light meal.

Garlic-Encrusted Baby Back Ribs

1/4 cup olive oil
10 cloves garlic, minced
3 sprigs rosemary, coarsely chopped
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 lbs baby back pork ribs
1/2 cup BBQ sauce

In a bowl, combine first 7 ingredients.
Place ribs in a shallow baking dish and pierce meat all over to allow the marinade to penetrate. Rub the marinade into the meat with your hands until ribs are entirely coated with garlic and herbs. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Transfer ribs to a baking dish large enough to hold ribs in one layer. Reserve marinade. Brush both sides of ribs with BBQ sauce and arrange, meat side up, in dish. Roast on middle rack for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is cooked and tender, basting occasionally with reserved marinade.
Increase temperature to 500 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes, until edges are crispy. Remove from oven, cut into sections, and serve.

Baby Blue Salad

1 bag spring mix lettuce
bleu cheese, crumbled
Mandarin orange slices
strawberries, quartered
walnuts
balsamic vinaigrette

Toss lettuce mix with balsamic vinaigrette and bleu cheese. Top with oranges, strawberries, and walnuts.

Enjoy!

Beer-Can Chicken with White BBQ Sauce

   We ate some amazing food this past weekend for my Birthday. Saturday, we ate with a bunch of friends at one of my favorite local restaurants Slice Pizza & Brew . Then Sunday, Brian's family and some friends came over and we cooked out on the grill. We never have cookouts for my birthday because it's always so cold, but we decided to brave the cold this year. Luckily, it warmed up a little in the afternoon and, with the grill and fire pit going, it was pretty comfortable.

   We decided to change it up a little this time and made beer-can chicken, smoked sausage, grilled vegetable kabobs, and potatoes au gratin. Of course, I had to make my FAMOUS white BBQ sauce! It is the easiest thing in the world to throw together and it always gets the most raves from our guests. I have yet to meet a person who doesn't LOVE this sauce. It is traditionally served with chicken, but we serve it with all kinds of BBQ. I'm usually pretty vague about the ingredients in my 'secret sauce' but today I am sharing it with all! So make it and enjoy it!

Beer-Can Chicken

3-4lb whole chicken
Can of light beer
Fresh herbs
Garlic
Spice rub
Olive oil

Make a rub for your chicken. We usually just grab whatever catches our eye from the spice rack. This time we used Lawry's seasoning salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, Montreal steak seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder. Feel free to use whatever you like though.
Rub the outside and under the skin of the chicken with olive oil and spice rub.
Pour out (or drink) half of the beer, leaving half in the can. Stuff some whole garlic cloves and fresh herbs into the can. We used thyme and rosemary.
Place the can, right side up, inside the cavity of the chicken. Stand the chicken up using the can as a base to steady the chicken. (You can get metal stands to aid in this, but don't really need one.)
Grill chicken, over direct heat, about 10-15 minutes to get a char on the outside. Then move to indirect heat until temperature reaches 165 degrees. This should take 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the chicken.
Serve with White BBQ Sauce.

    The chicken on the left was basted with a sweet BBQ Beer Sauce during cooking.

White BBQ Sauce
(I always double this recipe, sometimes triple it, and have been known to quadruple it!)

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp horseradish
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp (or more) black pepper
1 Tbsp brown sugar
pinch of garlic powder
pinch (or more) cayenne pepper,depending on how spicy you want it (I say more!)

Mix all ingredients with a wire whisk. Taste and adjust heat/sweetness. This shouldn't be hot, but a little kick is a must!
Chill for several hours and serve!

Enjoy!

Get recipe for Potatoes Au Gratin with Gruyere and Caramelized Onions here.
Stay tuned for recipes for Smoked Sausage with BBQ Beer Sauce and Balsamic Vegetable Skewers.