Ribs, Collards, Dinner Rolls, and Watermelon: It must be SUMMER! (almost)

Tonight for dinner we had ribs, collards, freshly baked dinner rolls, and a big bowl of watermelon. The ribs were slow cooked with a dry rub using a recipe from Cooks Illustrated (July/August 2002). I used their dry rub method but I cooked them in the oven instead of over a hardwood fire. They lacked the smoky flavor but were still delicious!

Dry Rub for 2 racks of Baby Back Ribs

1T + 1/2t paprika

1 1/2t chili powder

1 3/4t cumin

1 1/2t brown sugar

3/4t oregano, dried

3/4t table salt or 1 1/2t kosher salt

3/4t black pepper

1t white pepper

1/2t cayenne pepper

I cut the racks into 3-4 rib pieces and applied the dry rub.

I put them in a Ziploc bag in the fridge for about 3 hours but you could let them sit overnight. I put them in a baking pan, covered it with foil, and baked them for 3 hours at 250 degrees. Every ½ hour I flipped them over. After 3 hours, I uncovered them and turned the heat up to 400 degrees. I cooked them for 12 minutes and turned them over and cooked them for another 6 minutes. YUM!

I used a collard greens recipe from Simply Recipes and managed to halve the amount of collards and most other things except the sesame oil, whoops. They were great other than that little slip!

And my husband made the rolls, which means I have no idea what he did. I saw some warm water go in a bowl with some yeast and sugar. He whisked that and added some vegetable oil. Then he started adding flour (2C+) until he had the desired consistency.

Then he kneaded the dough with more flour, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, and garlic powder. He made dough balls, placed them in a buttered dish, and baked them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.