A Father’s Day Meal that Sticks to the Ribs!

For Father’s Day, we made barbecued baby back ribs, which was a first for me. You would think that, as Ben’s mom, I would be wildly confident about meat preparation, but it seems nobody checked my credentials when I took the job, so I’ve been kind of slipping by. Sure enough, when he declared that we should make ribs for Father’s Day, I googled oven techniques, because I knew I would mess it up on the grill.

Turns out, all that was needed was about 4 hours in the oven, and about 3 minutes of active prep time. Well, shoot. I can do that!

Barbecued Baby Back Ribs

Preheat oven to 275º.
Generously season 2 racks of baby back pork ribs with salt and pepper or seasoning of your choice. (I used Dan’s Chicken Shack BBQ Seasoning – thanks, Lincoln!)
Place ribs on sheet pan and cover tightly with foil. Bake 4 hours.
Turn broiler on high, and brush one side of ribs with BBQ sauce. Broil 2-4 minutes, or until sticky and caramelized. Repeat on other side.
Tent pan with foil if not eating immediately.

These were amazing! Though left to his own devices, Ben would have plowed right through a whole rack on his own, cooler heads prevailed, and we saved some for the next day.

Phil prefers mashed potatoes that are as thin and smooth as possible, so I make something that is about halfway between mashed potatoes and creamy potato soup.

Potato Whip

4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks

1 tablespoon butter

1 1/2 cups milk, heated

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper to taste

Place potato pieces in pot and just cover with cold water. Bring to a rapid boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until potatoes are tender and yield easily when pricked with a fork. I hesitate to give you a time, because it varies based on the size of potato pieces and the amount of water, but count on the simmering stage to take 10-20 minutes.
Drain potatoes and place them in mixer with paddle attachment. Add butter, salt and half a cup of the hot milk to potatoes. Mix a few minutes on lowest speed until lumps are gone, scraping down sides, if necessary. Increase mixer speed to medium, and while it’s running, slowly drizzle in remainder of milk. Mix a few minutes until smooth.
Replace paddle attachment with whisk attachment and whip potatoes on highest speed for a minute or two.

We have featured the shrimp grape salad on the blog before, and it can be found in the recipe index. We all love it so much that when a friend at work gave me fresh dill (thanks, Tammy!), this salad seemed like a no-brainer.

In the morning, we also used some dill with our bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon. Served alongside fresh berries, I’d say we had a good start to our day!