Savor the best of summer!

With autumn quickly arriving, I had to post this delicious and stunning recipe for Arugula, Peach and Piquillo Pepper Salad with Goat Cheese. Sliced peaches, strips of ruby red piquillo peppers, diced red onion, crumbled goat cheese all tossed with peppery arugula and creamy balsamic dressing. This beautiful salad shows that things that grow together go together. I found this dead simple recipe from forageddish.com. Go buy some peaches!

Arugula, Peach and Piquillo Pepper Salad with Goat Cheese

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pound baby arugula

2 ripe peaches, sliced thin

1/2 cup roasted piquillo peppers, diced (I like strips better. I buy Roland brand piquillo peppers that are sold in cans.)

1/3 cup soft goat cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup red onion, finely diced

Creamy Balsamic Dressing (I use Briannas brand Creamy Balsamic Dressing.)

Directions:

In a large salad bowl, combine arugula, sliced peaches, peppers, and onion. Sprinkle goat cheese over top. 

Just before serving, drizzle with balsamic dressing to taste.

Yum!

*Tips: Use a melon baller to remove the discolored area around the pit of the peaches, for aesthetics! If you haven't tried piquillo peppers before, they are not hot, more fruity. Don't be afraid!

What I learned from "The City of Brotherly Love!"

Years ago, in my Environmental Consultant days, I lived outside Philadelphia and worked primarily in New Jersey and New York, the holy grail of contamination and East Coast style pizza! It was then that I fell in-love with the East Coast classic, "White Pie." The white pie is a pizza covered in roasted garlic, mozzarella, ricotta, salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil; not to be confused with "Pizza Bianca," which is plain dough, baked with olive oil, rosemary, and Kosher salt, a Roman classic. I don't live on the East Coast anymore, so I had to create my own recipe for a white pie, which is pretty close to the original! If you love garlic, you'll love this pizza!

White Pie

Makes 1 large pizza

Ingredients:

1/2 recipe My Basic Pizza Dough

1 head roasted garlic, see Techniques

8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese, use the best quality you can get

About 5 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese, use the best quality you can get

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil, for drizzling

Directions:

Prepare pizza dough. Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack on the lowest setting. When the dough is ready, roll it out as thin or as thick as you like it. Place it on an oiled baking sheet. Drizzle with a glug of olive oil and spread the roasted garlic across the dough with the back of a spoon, leaving room for the crust. Top with the grated mozzarella and dollops of the ricotta. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Bake according to My Basic Pizza Dough instructions. When done, add a drizzle of olive oil and allow to cool slightly, for the best flavor. Enjoy!

Boy Bait

Want to make your man swoon? Barbecue him some ribs! I don't know a man around who doesn't go crazy for some good ribs! (It must be some innate caveman thing.) This recipe utilizes a basic dry rub of paprika, salt, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. The ribs are then smoked over a pan of water while maintaining a temperature between 300-350 degrees for about 3 hours. I know the temperature is higher than most "experts" would swear by, but it is exactly the way I make my Memphis-Style Spareribs and it has never let me down. I do brush these ribs with a little barbecue sauce (my favorite being Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy) and wrap them in foil for the last 30 minutes. So ladies, push your man aside and make him the best ribs he's ever had! (Make sure you really like him, because he just might propose!) Coleslaw, potato salad, and grilled corn are obvious accompaniments.

Best Barbecue Ribs

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

For the Dry Rub

1/2 cup paprika

1/4 cup Kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons garlic powder

2 tablespoons onion powder

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

For the Ribs 

4 lbs pork sparerib slabs, preferably St. Louis style cut, if possible

3-4 handfuls mesquite and cherry wood chips, soaked in water

Your favorite barbecue sauce

Directions:

Remove the membrane from the bone-side of the ribs by sliding a knife under the membrane at the edges and using a paper towel, pull the membrane off. Gross! Mix all the dry rub ingredients in a bowl, and pat it all over the spareribs, rubbing it in well. Place the ribs in a dish, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to 4 hours. Remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before barbecuing. (I also cut each slab in half to ensure they fit in my Weber grill.)

Prepare a charcoal grill for barbecuing over medium-low heat (300-350 degrees).

Place an aluminum drip pan half full of water in the center of the fire bed. Sprinkle some of the wood chips on the coals. Place the ribs on the grill rack over the drip pan.

Cover and grill and smoke the ribs, rotating them every 30 minutes or so (the ribs along the outside will cook faster, so it's good to rotate to the inside, etc.) and adding more wood chips, more coals, and more water to the drip pan as needed.

Continue to cover, grill, and smoke the ribs until they are tender and a toothpick can easily be inserted between the ribs, about 2 1/2-3 hours. Brush the ribs with a little barbecue sauce, stack, and wrap in foil for the last 1/2 hour.

To serve, cut the slabs into separate ribs and pile on top of a platter and serve proudly! With lots of napkins!