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We have an old family favorite that we shared with The Foodnuts tonight, as we watched a couple of pent-up episodes of Top Chef : Masters.

One of the great things about this recipe is that it’s easy to create to take “on the road”, as our get-together was not at our place  tonight.

Crab Bruschetta:

1 large French bread
2 cups of chopped fresh spinach
2 teaspoons of chopped garlic
4 Romas, drawn and quartered (ok, diced is probably best, but I love the phrase)
2 cans of crab (we’re workin’ folks so it’s the canned for us)
Two to three cups of shredded low-fat mozzarella, depending on how “cheesy” you want this to be.

Combine the spinach, garlic, tomatoes, crab, and cheese in a bowl. Mix.

Quarter the French bread. Remove perhaps half of the “guts” of the bread. Dip this in olive oil and balsalmic vinegar whilst the baking goes on.

Spoon in the crab/tomato/etc. mixture into the bread until it’s gone; place the four quarters on a cookie sheet and place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Bake until the cheese is melted, but not beyond.

We served this with a nice salad and a couple of varieties of dry red wines; followed by chocolate.

It’s a nice light supper and goes well with a pairing of yelling at the Top Chef folks on the television.

Yes, I realize some might be put off by the idea, but I’m all set to give these a try. The recipe was found by my sister-in-law Dorsie who promptly thought of me, for some reason. BTW, Dorsie has joined FoodNuts! and will be sharing with us shortly.

You can find the recipe (and a BUNCH more) at JoyTheBaker.com

I love Brussels sprouts, and I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes with the Food Nuts community. This easy and flavorful recipe is a great side or even as a quick meal in itself. Starting out with farm fresh Brussels sprouts is key. It could probably also be done with frozen, thawed Brussels, but I have never tried it.

In addition to the Brussels sprouts, I use the following ingredients.

Mezzetta roasted red peppers (about 4 large pieces, chopped)

1/2 red onion, chopped

1 cup Spanish red wine, I used a Monastrell

3 tsp agave nectar

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tsp habanero oil

I combined all of the ingredients except for the Brussels sprouts and brought them up to a boil, then lowered to a simmer until the onions had softened substantially. Then I placed each sprout face down into the bubbling wine mixture, which smelled amazing, by the way!

Isn’t this festive looking?! I let everything simmer together, uncovered, until the sprouts were soft enough for me. Leaving it uncovered also helped the wine mixture to reduce to an almost syrupy, sweet and spicy glaze.

If you enjoy this recipe, please visit my blog, http://traveleatlove.com for more food and wine goodness!

Memphis Style Dry Rub Ribs

I am a huge fan of ribs, but I don’t like the mess and the overwhelming flavor of BBQ sauce. Traveling in St. Louis, I came across what they called “Memphis” style ribs, done with a dry rub. I set out to make them on my own.

First, you need ribs. You can get them at any decent grocery store for $2.99 – $4.99 per pound. A full slab usually weights in around 3 pounds and can feed two (normal) people. I find that full slabs at the store are usually much larger than at a restaurant.

There are two kinds of ribs, Baby Back and St. Louis. Baby Back ribs are smaller and when cooked right will be the “fall-off-the-bone” kind of meat. St. Louis style ribs are thicker and have chewier meat. I prefer St. Louis, but have a harder time finding them.

Here’s a big half slab, 1.8 pounds.

And now for the rub. We have a store in Chicago called The Spice House. I buy of ton of different spices and rubs from them, usually just 4 ounces at a time and try as many as I can (until my heart stops). Today’s spice is Smoke House Seasoning.

Rub this all over the top of the ribs. I used about two teaspoons of rub. Any excess went on the sides. Shake off the excess. Excess can burn. Some people pull the bottom “skin” off, but I don’t. Before you cook, make yourself a drip catch out of tin foil. You can use you wife’s good cookie sheets, but you end up with discolored, burned in grease cookie sheets and an annoyed wife. Make sure you make sides to keep the grease from running off, if it hits the bottom of the oven, it will burn and smoke very badly, causing you to disable all of your home’s smoke detectors.

Set the drip tray on the bottom rack of the oven and set to 350. Place the ribs directly above. Cook for 90 minutes undisturbed.

Remove. Cut. Eat.

The King of Salt and Dough

The German-speaking countries of Europe are full of very interesting baking creations. From rye bread to pumpernickel, croissants to Frankfurter Kranz , fruit cakes like zwetschgentorte, dumplings in their huge variety to just regular brötchen (potato breads, too), the list is enormous. But if there is one that sticks out as representative of German baking it’s the pretzel. We know it here as a salty, hard snack that goes well with beer, which is great in its own right. However, in Germany, especially in the south, it is a high art form that bakers spend considerable time perfecting. As of late, I have been doing some practicing myself and, along the way, have learned some very interesting things about this ages-old form of bread.

Pretzels are basically bread dough that has been dipped or boiled in some sort of a salt solution. If you open a cookbook and proceed to make them, the salt will be sodium bicarbonate, otherwise known as baking soda. The formed pretzel is dipped or boiled in the solution, then baked. I like these and like making them, but I always wondered why they never came out that deep, mahogany brown that I know to be the distinguishing color of pretzels I get at the German deli. Then I found out from a German baker why; I’m using the wrong salt. To achieve this color, one must use instead sodium hydroxide, otherwise known as lye. That’s right; the same thing that cleans out drains also makes beautiful pretzels. It’s not poisonous, once baked it converts to bicarbonate, a rather harmless substance. That does not mean that one does not proceed with utmost care when making them. Since I can, I’m going to make them both, as the only difference is the salt. That way I can show, side by side, the difference. I shall then allow you to decide.

Start with basic white bread dough. You can pre-buy this, pre-make and refrigerate it till ready or make it fresh; it just needs to be at room temperature before you start. For our purposes we’ll assume the dough has gone through its first rise and has been punched down and start there (if you have questions on how to make a basic dough let me know; we bake all of our own bread and have it pretty well down. And a Kitchenaid makes it a snap).

Preheat oven to 450⁰.

Take four cups of water and add 1/3 cup of baking soda to it. This is for our baking soda pretzels. Set this aside. In a stainless bowl, add 4 cups of warm water. To this, add ¼ cup of lye SLOWLY. Stir with a wooden spoon and when dissolved, set aside.

Divide the dough, enough for one loaf, into 12 equal parts. The parts should be balls of dough about 2” in diameter. On a smooth, non-floured surface, start rolling the dough into an even strand that is 12-15 inches long.

rolling the dough for pretzel

Try not to add flour, as you want it a little sticky so the pretzel form will not fall apart. When the strand is made, fold it into a pretzel shape. I couldn’t take pictures of this while doing it, as I only have two hands, but here is a little diagram I absconded with from another website:

The mystery revealed

All pretzels made? Ok, take two cookie sheets and lightly grease. Place the baking soda water on the stove and bring to a boil. When boiling, add the pretzels one at a time and boil them for two minutes, turning once. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and place on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt to your liking, and place in the oven for about ten minutes or until brown.

Boiling pretzels in water and baking soda

Now, the others. Put on some painters gloves to protect yourself. With the lye water, place pretzels in the bath and let them sit for 1½ minutes. Fish them out and place on the cookie sheet, salt and bake for about 10 minutes.

The Outcome:

Left: Lye Pretzel Right: Baking Soda Pretzel

Well, they are different in appearance, but not too much in the taste department. I guess I would make the baking soda ones more often, as they are a little easier to make. But I must say that they never last long whichever one I do make. Also, we go through more American prepared mustard when I am on the pretzel-making kick. Enjoy!