Country-Style Ribs BBQ Sauce

I always loved this sauce for country-style ribs. I made it per the recipe below, and marinated the parboiled country-style ribs overnight in a Ziploc bag. We then grilled them on the outside grill - often for a large crowd.

On Saturday, I used the sauce on several racks of pork ribs I cooked in the Instant Pot (with one can of beer) for 30 minutes with an instant release. I prefer the Costco pre-rubbed/seasoned ribs (bought in packs of two 14-18-inch racks). 

I curled the ribs (no sauce yet) into the pot on a silicone sling. I was afraid there were too many ribs, but they cooked beautifully in 30 minutes. They didn't fall off the bone easily, but I planned to finish cooking them under the broiler. I generously doused them with sauce and broiled them until the sauce was deeply colored - maybe 5 minutes. Watch closely, as you don't want it to burn.

SAUCE:

Saute:

• 1 cup (2 cups) chopped onion and 1 clove (2-4 cloves) minced garlic in about 1/4 c. oil until soft and golden.:

Add:

• 1-8 oz can tomato sauce (or 1-15 oz can)
• 1/2 cup water (or 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1/2 cup)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce (or 4 T)
• 2 T prepared mustard (or 4 T)
• 1 tsp. celery seed and table salt (or 2 tsp. each)
• 1/4 tsp .pepper (or 1/2 tsp.)

Simmer for 15 minutes or longer but do not burn!

You can multiply the ingredients by 2 (as above) or 4 or more and can this hot sauce in pint jars for 15 minutes. It's great to have on hand.

Rib Sauce

 SAUCE: 

Saute:

• 1 cup (2 cups) chopped onion and 1 clove (2-4 cloves) minced garlic in about 1/4 c. oil until soft and golden.:

Add:

• 1-8 oz can tomato sauce (or 1-15 oz can)
• 1/2 cup water (or 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar (or 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (or 1/2 cup)
• 2 T Worcestershire sauce (or 4 T)
• 2 T prepared mustard (or 4 T)
• 1 tsp. celery seed and table salt (or 2 tsp. each)
• 1/4 tsp .pepper (or 1/2 tsp.)

Simmer for 15 minutes or longer but do not burn!

You can multiply the ingredients by 2 (as above) or 4 or more and can this hot sauce in pint jars for 15 minutes. It's great to have on hand.

Buona Pasqua 2026

 

Easter in Cottonwood Bend was delightful this year with the Opgenorths and Busses. Julie made a yummy Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread) from King Arthur Flour and Sue made a delicious ricotta cheesecake from a relatively new Italian cookbook, Italian American Forever: Classic Recipes for Everything You Want to Eat: A Cookbook.

Gerry made his lasagna (on this blog) and I made Agnello Cacio e Uova - lamb shanks (also on this blog.)

Fusilli Pasta Salad

This is a recipe I've been making for about 40 or more years. It is from one of my favorite 1970s cookbooks, San Francisco Ala Carte by the Junior Women's League of SF.

Somehow, I've forgotten about it for the past decade. I had to go hunting for the recipe after I found out it wasn't on this blog! It's delicious and I used to make it meatless, then with shrimp and this time with cooked sausage slices.

Cook 1 pound of curly fusilli (I use the long curly pasta that is about double the length of spaghetti because it is doubled over.) Rinse and drain.

Make a sauce of the rest of these ingredients and pour over the pasta. 

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white vinegar (I used white balsamic today)
• 1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 T. fresh basil, chopped
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Mix in 1 green pepper and 1 red pepper cut into thin strips (I use tri-colored and often leave out the green)

1/4 head of broccoli cut into florets

Mix in 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan (I used a Asiago/Parmesan/Percorino grated cheese blend)

Add sliced black olives or any other sliced olives if preferred. Add protein if desired. Serve warm OR refrigerate for later.

Pistachio Cake with Sweet Pistachio-Butter Glaze

Oh my.  We love pistachio anything and this cake was delicious. I must admit I needed a cake recipe  with some ingredients I needed to use up here in Florida - yogurt, eggs and some frozen pistachios. I googled those terms (recipe, cake, yogurt, pistachios, and pistachio creme) and voila! A perfect recipe on The Mediterranean Dish. I made some adjustments you will read about below. 

Here are the original ingredients for the cake and my substitutions in italics in the parentheses:

1/2 cup (60 grams) raw shelled pistachios, plus extra for garnish (1/2 cup for garnish and 1/2 cup for bottom of the cake)
Extra virgin olive oil for greasing the pan
1 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour (1 cup flour AND 1 cup pistachio flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (170 grams) plain Greek yogurt
2 large eggs (plus 1/2 egg)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (1/2 tsp. vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp. almond extract)

The glaze: 

• 1/4 cup (68 grams) pistachio butter 
• 3/4 cup (85 grams) powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons of water

Note: I pick up pistachio butter from the shelves of TJ Maxx stores or speciality stores. It's delicious. I had 1/4 of a jar to use up. I had bought pistachio flour online for some other cake so had it on hand. 

Now, for making the cake:

First, prepare a pan. I used a 9 inch deep-rimmed scalloped quiche or tart pan with a removable bottom. I greased the sides and placed a large circle of parchment in the pan to come up the sides, patting it into the pan. This was necessary only because I realized the batter was like cake batter (not thick) and I didn't want it to ooze out the bottom of the pan. 

Next, toast the 1 cup of pistachios. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the pistachios in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Let cool slightly. Take 1/2 cup of the toasted pistachios and place them on the parchment in the pan. Chop the other 1/2 cup to use to top the cake.

(The recipe calls for grinding 1/2 cup of toasted pistachios with 1 T sugar and using this as the pistachio flour. I instead used 1 cup pistachio flour and 1 cup of all-purpose flour.)

Now mix the dry ingredients by whisking together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl by whisking together the Greek yogurt, the remaining sugar, eggs, olive oil, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.

Make the combined batter. Add the flour mixture to the yogurt mixture and use the whisk to stir gently just until no streaks of dry flour remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan in the 350 degree oven. Bake for 30 to 32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then, move it onto a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

Make the Pistachio Butter Glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together the pistachio butter, powdered sugar, and water until smooth. The glaze should be thick but pourable. Add extra water, a teaspoon at a time, to thin to your preferred consistency.

Glaze the cake. When the cake has cooled completely, transfer it to a cake stand or serving plate. Pour the glaze on top of the cake and use an offset spatula or the back of a spoon to coax the glaze to the edges. As it sets, the glaze will slowly drip down the sides of the cake, and the top of the glaze will level and become smooth. Sprinkle the top with chopped pistachios. For clean slices, let the glaze set for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving

Swedish Sticky Cake

I found this recipe how I usually do these days - on Facebook. They come every day like Love Bugs in May, (You may have to live in the southeastern US to get this reference.)

Anyway, I needed to try it right away so that it didn't become one of those recipe images that crowd the photos on my phone. This one is from the cooking blog, 12tomatoes.com.

It was sweet. And it stuck to Gerry's teeth so it was sticky! He's not a chocolate freak and he did love it. I covered it around the edge with cut strawberries. I thought about covering the cake with pistachio cream before the ganache and topping it with crushed pistachios. But that would have been Dubai Sticky Cake.

I used a scalloped quiche pan with a removable bottom. I thought it would be a bit too big at 10 inches but it was perfect. You can see the scallops in the photo - I frosted the cake out of the pan and bought it to the edge, but not over the edge.

Make the cake:

• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 1-1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
• 3/4 flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 salt

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a 8" springform pan or tart pan with removable bottom.
2. In a large bowl, add sugar and melted butter and mix until smooth. Mix in the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Add the flour, salt and cocoa and mix until just combined.
3. Spoon this batter into the prepared pan and spread a thin layer, using all the batter. 
4. Bake 17-20 minutes until it is set in the center. It should all be consistently cakelike and not shiny and wet.
5. Allow the cake to cool. (I put it in the fridge.)

Make the icing:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1-1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract or paste

There was a lot of icing! That's why the larger cake was better. With a smaller cake, you might save half.

1. Add the cream to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla and allow the chocolate to melt into the cream for five minutes. Then blend until smooth with a mixer or immersion blender.
2. You can remove the cake from the pan or keep it in. Pour the topping over the cake and allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour before refrigerating until you serve. 

Remove from pan if you haven't already. Slice and serve. 

Flat Pasta Types and Differences

 

Flat pasta, often referred to as ribbon pasta, ranges from narrow, slightly flattened strands to very broad sheets, ordered generally from narrowest to widest as: 
Linguine (~1/8"), Fettuccine (~1/4"), Tagliatelle (~1/4"–3/8"), Mafaldine (~1/2", wavy), Pappardelle (5/8"–1"), and Lasagna (up to 2").
Flat pasta widths range from narrow, 1/8-inch ribbons like linguine to 3-inch wide lasagna sheets. Common medium-wide options include tagliatelle (approx. 6mm or 1/4 inch) and fettuccine (about 1/4 inch), while wide pappardelle ranges from 2 to 3 cm (3/4 to 1 inch). These, along with mafaldine and trenette, offer varied surfaces for sauces. 

Common Flat Pasta Widths:

• Linguine: ~1/8 inch (3mm), oval-shaped/flat.

• Tagliolini: ~1/8 inch (3mm).

• Tagliatelle: ~6mm (about 1/4 inch), often egg-based.

• Fettuccine: ~1/4 inch (6-7mm), "little ribbons".

• Mafaldine/Reginette: ~1/2 inch (variable), flat with ruffled edges.

• Pappardelle: 2-3 cm (3/4 to 1 inch), very wide.

• Lasagna Sheets: Generally 2-3 inches wide (5-7.5 cm.)

Key Differences:

• Linguine vs. Fettuccine: Linguine is thinner and narrower, resembling flattened spaghetti, while fettuccine is wider and more ribbon-like.

• Tagliatelle vs. Pappardelle: Both are ribbon pasta, but pappardelle is significantly wider than tagliatelle.

• Fresh vs. Dry: Fresh egg pasta (like tagliatelle) is often cut wider than its dried counterparts.