Oven Baked Thai Ribs

This recipe made its first appearance at our Iron Chef competition a few years ago. The secret ingredient was chilies and Peter and I did dishes from around the world using chilies. I think my favorite were the oysters with a Vietnamese sauce. Spicy, salty, sour and sweet. It’s perfect for oysters. But anywho… back to the dish at hand. Oven baked ribs really couldn’t be easier. The ribs are baked for an hour and then basted in the oven for another hour. When you’re finished you’ve got dark spicy tender baby back ribs. I’m sure this recipe would work well for just about any rib, but I like it with baby back ribs.

3lbs pork ribs

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 cup Mirin wine
1 tablespoon curry paste
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon grass
1 lime zested and juiced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
fish sauce to taste

Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil and place the ribs and ½ cup water into the pan. Cover the pan with foil and bake for one hour. While the ribs are baking prepare the basting sauce. In a medium saucepan heat the oil. When in it’s hot add the garlic and the ginger and cook it quickly. Add the mirin, curry paste, lemon grass and cook until the mixture is reduced by half. Remove from the heat and add the zest, juice, soy sauce and fish sauce.
After one hour remove the foil and brush the ribs with the sauce. Baste the ribs about every 10 minutes or so for about other hour. Remove from the oven and cool slightly then cut the ribs and serve them warm.

Coconut Cupcakes

Frisee and Radicchio Salad with Cider Vinaigrette and Aged Goat Cheese

The beauty of this salad lies in its contrasts. Crunchy radicchio and tender frisee are both bitter.  The cider vinaigrette is sweet and salty and complements the greens very well.  Finally, the aged goat cheese gives a creamy balance to the tart greens and dressing.

For the vinaigrette:

1/2 gallon filtered apple cider or juice

3 T apple cider vinegar

1 small shallot, minced

1/2 clove garlic, minced

1 T dijon mustard

3/4 c. canola oil

pinch crushed red pepper

salt and pepper

Boil the cider until it has almost all evaporated, until there is about 1/2 cup syrup.  This will take about 1 hour.  In a blender or food processor, add 1/4 cup of the syrup, vinegar, shallot, garlic, mustard, and crushed red pepper.  Blend in oil in a thin stream until incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2 small heads radicchio, about 1 pound, sliced thin

1/2 lb. frisee, rinsed

1 small package candied walnuts (or 1 c. roasted walnuts)

1 apple, sliced

1 pear, sliced

1/4 lb. aged goat cheese

Combine the radicchio, frisee, walnuts, apple, and pear in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with kosher salt.  Add enough vinaigrette to lightly coat.  Toss together, season with pepper, and shave the goat cheese over the top.

Smoked Salmon Benedict

Our cousin Sandy lives in Kent, WA and brought us some smoked salmon made by her husband, Kirk. We all agreed that it was the best smoked salmon we had ever had. My first thought was, benedicts! This dish is not for the faint of heart.


Start with a toasted, buttered english muffin. Pile on some smoked salmon. Next comes a poached organic egg. Finally, a generous dollop of hollandaise sauce, with more on the side. Sprinkle with a pinch of cayenne and tear some italian parsley leaves. Yum!

Hollandaise Sauce


4 egg yolks
juice of 1 lemon
3 T tarragon vinegar
12 peppercorns
1-1/2 cup (3 sticks) melted butter
sea salt
ground cayenne pepper


Place a large glass bowl over a pot of simmering water to make a double-boiler. Melt butter in a small saucepan and keep warm. Heat lemon juice in the microwave for 30 seconds. Using a small skillet, crush the peppercorns, put in the skillet with the vinegar and simmer on high heat until the vinegar has almost boiled off and thickens, to about a teaspoonful. Strain into the double boiler using a fine mesh sieve.


Place the egg yolks in the glass bowl and whisk until the yolks begin to thicken. Add the hot lemon juice and continue to whisk until the yolks begin to thicken again. Add the melted butter in a very thin stream and continue to whisk until all the butter is incorporated. The sauce should be thick enough so that it folds back onto itself from a spoon in ribbons. If it is too thick, whisk in some of the simmering water from the double boiler. Season with sea salt and a pinch of cayenne and serve immediately.

Vanilla Cheese Cake

There is a certain joy when you find a recipe that delivers a perfect product every time. You don’t have to worry about it. You know your guest are going to love it, so you can relax. I know that that there are thousands of cheese cake recipes out there, but this one is the quintessential vanilla cheese cake. With each bite your focus goes right to the creamy texture. The flavor is not over powered by vanilla or sugary sweetness. I definitely suggest serving it with a tart raspberry sauce.

One year I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to enter five different cakes in the county fair. They all got blue ribbons, but this one took Best in Show. This recipe comes from Rosalee Hodges of West Virginia.

Crust
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
½ cup butter softened

Filling
4-8oz pkg Philadelphia cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
6 eggs

Topping
2 cups sour cream (do not use reduced fat)
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the bottom of 10” spring form pan. Combine together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and softened butter. Press the crust into the pan. Bake for five minutes at 350. Let the crust cool on a rack while you mix together the filling. Beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer until smooth. Add the sugar, vanilla and mix on medium speed for one minute. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each. Pour the filling over the crust. Wrap the bottom of the pan with two layers aluminum foil and set it in a roasting pan. The double layer of aluminum foil will protect against any water seeping into your pan. Pour ½ inch of hot water into the roasting pan to create a water bath to keep the cheese cake from cracking while baking. Bake for 40 minutes. Discard the water bath and cool the cake for 15 minutes. Make the topping by mixing together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla and pour it carefully over the cake. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Chill 12 to 24 hours. Remove the sides of the spring form pan. Serve with fresh fruit. I highly recommend serving this with raspberry sauce.

Eight Little Lambs

This weeks Sunday Supper was a celebration of late winter. We were treated to one of those rare days in March when the sun shines warm and the fresh buds on each tree burst open. On Saturday we were feeling especially inspired so we started throwing ideas around to come up with an extra special Sunday supper.

Saturday’s sunny prelude to spring had us thinking about lamb. Immediately we settled in on lamb shanks. As per usual our guest list had grown to sixteen so this cut of meat was perfect. We hadn’t prepared lamb shanks before, but Peter gave them a traditional braise and they turned out beautiful. I was thrilled to see our uninhibited guest tear into the lamb with enthusiasm. I’ll have to admit a platter of sixteen lamb shanks is not for the faint of heart.

Along with the lamb we had Duchess Potatoes and a Radicchio Salad with a reduced apple cider vinaigrette. This is one of my favorite salads. To make the dressing we boiled down an entire gallon of cider. It gives the dressing deep flavors of caramel and apples.