Original subtitles

We're paying the town red, white, and blue.

So come on into my kitchen.

♪♪

they say it never rains in southern california.

Well, they would be wrong.

But that doesn't mean the party should stop.

It's fourth of July and I want to have a barbecue,

but I going to bring the barbecue inside

with all the flavors from my longtime friends,

jo and david and lisa.

They're coming over. I told him it's raining.

I don't care. We still got to eat.

So we're gonna have some fun anyway.

I am making mini bell pepper poppers with bacon,

frozen watermelon pops, with a dipping prosecco,

kale and carrot slaw,

and chipotle barbecue ribs.

I'm going to show you guys

how you can still do your cookout inside.

I'm starting with the kale slaw.

This is actually a really great do-ahead

because slaw gets better the longer it sits

in the yummy dressing.

I've got a bunch of kale

that I'm chopping up into thin slices.

And now usually when I make any kind of kale salad,

I'll blanch the kale just to bring out

the brightness of the green and tenderize it.

But the dressing has lime and orange juice

and all that wonderful fruit acid,

and that's going to tenderize the kale and carrot slaw

while it sits in the fridge.

And I also want to get a nice little peppery bite in here.

And I love radishes.

We're going to add a few radishes.

I'm going to cut them in half

and then slice them.

I love getting together with dave and lisa and jo.

I actually met jo through dave and lisa

at dave and lisa's wedding,

and I'm so glad that they brought jo into my life.

We're like soul sisters. We have so much fun together.

And dave and lisa are the sweetest couple.

The very first time I met dave was the day

I found out I was pregnant with wolfie.

I don't want to tell you how old my son is

because it's been that long. [ chuckles ]

so now I need the carrots, and I'm not going to sit here

and julienne carrots for you guys

because the grocery store has this great thing

where they already julienned the carrots for me.

Make your life easy.

So, julienned carrots are sliced nice and thin

like little matchsticks.

That would take me forever.

So I'm just gonna plop this in and save myself

a good 20 minutes of julienning carrots.

Now let's make the dressing.

There's no cream in this dressing.

I want to be bright and vibrant.

And limes and orange juice are gonna give that to me.

So let's get a nice 1/4 cup of lime juice.

Fourth of July. I love fireworks.

I think they're so much fun.

They make everybody "ooh" and "ahh,"

and usually what will happen is we'll go out to the beach

and they'll just throw off fireworks

as soon as it gets dark.

Just sit and watch fireworks display.

Just two limes gave me 1/4 cup.

So that's plenty.

Let's see what this orange gives me.

So I'm just getting a couple tablespoons

of orange juice in here,

and I think this half will do it for me.

I have a lot of flavor in here.

We'll get a half a teaspoon of coriander.

Coriander is very floral. Little bit of salt.

And let's get a pinch of pepper in there.

Now we need some oil, and I want really neutral oil in here.

So I've got some grapeseed oil.

And we're gonna get just a couple tablespoons in here.

So it's gonna be more about the citrus

than it is going to be about the oil.

So this whole thing is gonna go all over

our carrots and our kale and our radishes.

Give this a toss.

Want to make sure all of the veggies are covered.

That is so beautiful.

You can actually see the kale starting get a brighter green

just from the oil and the citrus.

So I got to put this in the fridge for a couple hours.

The longer it sits in the fridge,

the better it's going to taste.

And then I'm gonna get started on the ribs.

Ribs get cooked two ways

because you really want to tenderize them

and you want that meat to fall off the bone.

So the first thing we're gonna do is cook them in the oven

for about two hours.

And that's really gonna tenderize the meat,

cook it all the way through,

and then we put the barbecue sauce on it

and throw it on the grill and get it nice and charred.

But we're not going outside in the rain,

so you don't have to worry about that.

Put it under the broiler, and you're gonna get

that beautiful char, too.

So first things first -- spice rub.

A tablespoon each of salt, garlic powder, and paprika

and a little bit of pepper. Mix that up.

So this is the first step of cooking up the ribs.

And now we'll rub this all over the two racks of ribs.

Look at these gorgeous ribs.

These are pork ribs. I prefer pork ribs.

They're just so much more tender, a lot more flavor

in my opinion.

And I can start touching them now

because this is all the seasoning that's gonna go on.

I'm not gonna touch anything with raw meat except this.

Okay. So I want to turn the ribs around.

And they have been sitting out because it's really important

to let the ribs come to room temp

before you put them in the oven.

They will cook a lot more evenly that way.

And you can see the membrane has been taken off by the butcher.

Thank you, mr. Butcher.

And this is gonna help the ribs just fall apart.

So we'll get some rub all around on the bottom, on the top.

And I want the ribs to cook with the meat up.

So that's why I'm doing the bottom part

of the ribs first with all the rub.

So now we'll turn them around.

This is just step one in the flavoring of the ribs.

Then we have this barbecue sauce that we're gonna make.

The rest of the rub goes on the top

and I'm gonna rub it right in.

All right. I am going to wash my hands,

then cover these guys with some foil.

Nice and tight.

I want the steam to get in there

and everything to bake and get these guys

nice and tenderized and flavorful.

Into the oven, two hours, 350 degrees --

low and slow.

While that's happening, I'll get started on the barbecue sauce.

I wanted to make a barbecue sauce

with as little sugar as possible

because I know jo is trying to stay away from sugar,

as am I from doing "kids baking championship."

I ate a lot of sugar during the summer,

so I'm going to try and just pull back the sugar,

but not the flavor.

So we're gonna caramelize some onions,

and that's going to bring out the sweetness of the onions.

So I will get them going and softening up

and cooking them for about 25 minutes, 30 minutes --

basically kind of low and slow, just like the ribs.

You get a lot of flavor from low and slow.

I'm gonna get some oil going in this pot.

Again, this is a neutral oil.

And then get the onions chopped up.

This is just a rough chop

because once the barbecue sauce all comes together,

it's going to end up in a blender to mix up

and get it nice and silky.

So this is the beginnings of our barbecue sauce,

caramelizing the onions.

They're going to add some orange juice, some spices,

some no sugar, ketchup.

Let's get these mixed up a little bit.

Get a beautiful color on them. Let's get some salt in here.

You know, it really doesn't rain in southern california

that often, but inevitably,

it always rains when you plan something.

You can always be prepared to go with another plan.

And that's what we're doing today.

Once these onions caramelize, I'll finish up barbecue sauce,

and then I'll get started on the baby bell pepper poppers.

[ chuckles ]

and I also have a sweet treat in store

for jo and david and lisa.

Valerie: I am putting together a showstopping menu

that is just going to sparkle as brightly as --

I was going to say fireworks, but I'm not sure we're going

to have fireworks tonight because it's been raining.

But my guests sparkle, and we're gonna make a sparkling menu.

So now mini bell pepper poppers.

This is my way of updating a jalapeño popper.

So I'm going to make these with the baby bell peppers.

They're kind of sweet.

And the way I'm going to add the heat is with this fresno chili.

So the heat is going to go into the cream cheese

and cheddar cheese filling.

And then you're gonna get the sweetness

from the baby bell peppers.

So right down the middle, keeping the top on.

That's how you're gonna eat them.

So we're gonna take all the seeds out of the baby bells,

and we're not taking up the seeds because they're spicy.

We're just taking out the seeds because we want that

creamy filling, not crunchy.

So there's a couple of things that need to be chopped

into the filling.

So we're going to chop up this fresno chili.

So this fresno is not quite as spicy as a jalapeño,

a little bit sweeter.

I think every fourth of July has involved a volleyball game.

It's not gonna involve a volleyball game this year

because it's raining.

I love playing volleyball.

I don't care so much about winning.

I just want to play and have fun

and have it volley back and forth.

But some of these people, they really want to win.

I think lisa's a little bit like that.

She has played plenty of volleyball games with us,

and she wants to win! Very funny.

This is gonna go in the filling,

which is going to have cream cheese, sharp cheddar cheese,

and some bacon.

So let me get a bowl and make the filling.

We've got some cream cheese already softened.

It's gonna make it much easier to mix together.

Put the chili peppers in.

And I like putting two different kinds of cheeses in.

We got the creamy cream cheese and then the sharp cheddar.

Let's chop up some bacon that I made earlier.

I want them chopped up enough

so that when I put this mixture into a pastry bag,

I don't stop up the hole.

I love the smokiness, the saltiness of bacon.

Ok. This is our filling.

Just need to mix it together, add a little bit of milk.

I think that should loosen it up just enough.

Right now I just want to get all the cheese and the bacon

and the pepper mixed together.

Do you remember the bicentennial, 1976?

I was 16, and that was such an exciting year.

Everybody was celebrating, like, extra hard.

Like we were really proud to be 200 years old.

That was that was really cool.

A little salt and pepper in there.

Let's get these mini baby bell pepper poppers

stuffed with this creamy stuffing.

But the way to do that is you're it's going to put all of this

in a pastry bag.

And the easiest way to fill

a pastry bag is to get yourself

a smaller vase.

And this is going to help the pastry bag hold up.

And if you don't have a pastry bag, you can use a plastic bag

and just snip off the corner. Go ahead and get it in.

Make sure you get all that filling in there.

I'm going to give the pan a little spray.

That way it won't stick.

And I like to spray over the sink all the time.

Otherwise, it goes everywhere.

So I'll grab the pastry bag.

Take the bag, the very big opening,

and really close it off.

You want to get as much of that filling

down to the bottom as possible.

Now it's time to give it a little snip snip.

You want it big enough to make sure all the filling comes out,

but not too big that it goes everywhere.

So you're going to grab one of these

and just get a little bit down the middle.

Because what's going to happen is once you get them

in the oven, it's all going to spread out

and it will fill up as it melts.

♪♪

filled up -- that yummy, cheesy filling.

So I'm just gonna leave these here.

I'm going to pump up the oven to 400, get the ribs out.

But before I do that, I got to finish up

the barbecue sauce.

Barbecue sauce. So I've got my caramelized onions.

They are gorgeous. Let's put the rest of the stuff in there.

So I'll get a couple oranges.

We're gonna get about 3/4 cup of orange juice

into our caramelized onions.

I love making my own barbecue sauce.

It's just like salad dressings.

You don't have to buy them anymore

because they're so easy to make.

And you know exactly what's going in them.

So I need three quarters of a cup of orange juice.

And if little bits of orange get in there, that's fine.

It's all going to get blended together.

So this goes right into the onions.

Half a cup of water. That goes in.

I'm also going to get to the fridge

and get some ketchup and some worcestershire sauce.

I really love the way grocery stores are now catering

to all of us that want to eat a little bit less sugar

when we can.

And sugar-free ketchup

is a really great addition to anything.

It adds all the flavor, doesn't have all of the sugar.

But if you can't find it, you can use the ketchup

that has sugar in it. It's fine.

We want to get about 1 1/2 cup in.

There we go.

And a couple teaspoons of worcestershire sauce.

This adds a really great flavor.

It's got soy sauce in it.

It's very salty.

These are traditional barbecue sauce flavors.

I want a little garlic in there.

And I also want to really pump up the smokiness

since I don't have a smoker.

And this is where the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce come in.

These are dehydrated and then rehydrated jalapeño peppers.

All kinds of flavors in that.

And it's super smoky and absolutely delicious.

Mmm! This smells like a smoker!

So I gonna get a couple of these in here.

Now because I'm going to use an immersion blender,

I don't have to chop up these chipotles.

Here we go. So let's get a little bit of that sauce in.

Garlic time. Just a couple cloves.

We're just gonna smash these guys, get the skin off,

quick chop, and right in.

A little salt and pepper.

And we'll stir that up

while I wait for my sauce to come to a simmer,

and then we'll get the immersion blender in there.

♪♪

this has really thickened up beautifully.

Got the heat off.

Got my immersion blender right here.

And if you don't have one of these,

you can use a regular blender.

Just be very careful when you're blending hot liquid.

Make sure there's plenty of venting for the steam to escape.

Really looking to get all the bits of garlic and onion

blended into the rest of the sauce.

Looks like it's getting there. There we go.

That looks beautiful and thick and creamy.

Gorgeous. I got to taste it.

Oh, that's delicious.

The chipotle really adds a bite.

That's lovely. And I don't miss the sugar!

It's really delicious.

Okay. So this is going to sit and cool off.

I'm going to get the ribs out and get the poppers in.

Let me change the heat. Now let me get these guys out.

Ooh, it smells really good.

Keep these covered so they continue to cook,

and we'll get the poppers in.

400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Once those poppers are done, I'll pop up the heat to broil

and then I'll slather all this barbecue sauce

that we just made all over the ribs.

They go under the broiler.

And then we're about ready to eat

and have a sweet treat in store for my guests.

♪♪

♪♪

oh, yeah.

Today's menu is a colorful explosion of flavor.

Just look at these baby bell pepper poppers.

I'm going to play them up.

Hopefully one will cool off in time so I can try one.

They look so yummy.

Jo and david and lisa are gonna be here any minute,

and they are going to love these.

I know. So I'll just get all these guys plated,

then I can get the ribs finished.

They're just starting to cool off enough

so they might be able to taste one.

Okay. I have to try one.

I can't. I can't wait any longer.

♪♪

mmm. That's good.

Sweet, spicy, smoky, salty.

Okay. I'll leave this here.

I'm gonna get that barbecue sauce

on the ribs and into the broiler,

which means I got to put the broiler on.

Start. Okay.

Let's get those ribs slathered up.

See how they look.

[ chuckling ] oh, my goodness.

They look beautiful and juicy and tender.

So what I'm going to do now is take that barbecue sauce

that we made and just pour it over.

I going to leave some for dipping sauce.

So just get enough sauce over,

and I'll brush it in,

and the rest I will put in a bowl in a minute.

First, I want to get these in the oven

and get all of this smoky, spicy, slightly sweet

barbecue sauce all nice and broiled.

It'll caramelize a little bit.

Remember, it's already got that dry rub on it.

So these are gonna have a lot of flavor on them.

And you don't need a grill. We can just broil them.

That's only gonna take about three to five minutes.

Okay. Now for that leftover barbecue sauce.

I love having extra sauce to dip the ribs into.

Perfection.

We have sauce.

We have poppers.

And the ribs should be out in about a minute or two,

and then we can eat!

We never let a little rain stop a val party.

No, that's true. [ chuckles ]

it's always good here. You back there, jo?

She better be ready with cocktails.

-Absolutely. -We need cocktails.

[ knocks on door ]

val, we're home!

-Hello! -You caught me.

We're not going to have any weather stop our party.

We never have issues with weather when it comes to us.

I even brought jo with us.

Come in! Come in! Come in! Awesome.

Look what I made. Poppers! Poppers!

-You want some wine? -We've been waiting all day.

Why am I even asking?

-Always. -Have some poppers.

Wait, is that bacon?

We've got to celebrate the holiday with wine.

There's bacon in there. There's cream cheese.

There's sharp cheddar.

Bacon and red wine, good.

-Bacon and red wine. -That's american.

Celebrate that.

I can eat the whole plate, which I will.

-Smokiness. -Isn't that yummy?

I can't eat the spicy, spicy peppers,

so this is really nice.

So, you know, it's our anniversary.

You and I, 30 years ago is when we met, fourth of July.

-Wait a minute. -Yeah.

So I -- I told you I was pregnant

on the fourth of July 30 years ago?

Yeah.

I didn't realize it was the fourth of July!

Oh, my god! This is so perfect!

You were breaking the news.

I was finally telling everybody.

I just didn't realize that was the fourth of July.

So I will always hold fourth of July as our anniversary.

We were all celebrating, and I'm like, "ah, nice to meet you."

and then, who would know, 30 years later.

That's super cool.

Well, here we are, the fourth of July.

No fireworks.

I'm still barbecuing, but I'm doing it in the oven.

Oh, I see the ribs!

Mm-hmm.

I'm going to get the ribs out,

and I'm going to cut them up.

You guys are gonna take the poppers.

I got it.

And someone is going to grab the salad.

And I'll meet you at the table.

Oh, that salad looks so good!

That's right up your alley, jo.

I knew you'd like that.

I'm a kale girl. Yeah.

-All right. -That looks good.

I'll get the ribs out. Serve them up.

And then I have a sweet watermelon surprise

for everyone.

You can find all my recipes

and so many more on the food network kitchen app.

Download and subscribe today.

Oh, yeah.

We are going out with a bang celebrating the fourth of July.

[ all cheering ]

you guys ready for some ribs?

-Oh, yes. -Seriously falling off the bone.

[ laughter ]

literally the only thing left.

There's gonna be some clean bones in here.

-Ribs done right, there. -All right. You ready?

-Yes. -Let's eat.

Spot right here.

-Oh, there they are. -Yes, please.

-Oh, beautiful! -Some extra sauce.

I'll have the top layer.

[ laughter ]

-hand me those tongs, man. -Yay! Happy fourth of July!

Happy birthday, america!

Dave: All right. Val, you get the first.

The starter ribs.

A little extra sauce.

No sugar in this sauce.

Oh, nice. Thank you.

Just natural sugars from orange juice.

-Oh. -Chipotle.

-We can do that now. -Chipotle.

I'll get some salad. Lovely.

-Look at all the greens. -Kale slaw.

Looks so good. What was the dressing on this one?

It's got coriander and lime juice and orange juice

and little grapeseed oil. Amazing.

Basically, this slaw has been marinating in the fridge

with the dressing all day.

It's so good.

This works for me.

This is a great way to celebrate.

Used to be outside, all kinds of bugs.

Now it is inside. This is so civilized.

I'm still eating the ribs with my hands.

Not that civilized.

Oh, well, I'm gonna put that knife away.

Oh, my goodness.

Good spice on that.

Not just spice. That's the chipotle.

And they taste so smokey like they been smoked all day,

and they haven't.

I mean, it just peels right off.

-Mm-hmm. -And onto my face.

So that's good. I got that going for me.

He's all mine, ladies. He's all mine.

[ laughter ]

I think we need some more sparkle on this table.

So I have a sparkly dessert. Sparkly and bubbly.

Oh! Bubbly!

First, we need some sparkling rosé.

And I made the most amazing watermelon pops earlier.

Want to know how I did it?

-Yes, please. -Yes.

Okay. I'll tell you. [ laughter ]

to a blender, add one pound seedless watermelon cubes,

about three cups,

two tablespoons of fresh meyer lemon juice,

two to three tablespoons of sugar,

puree until it's very smooth,

and then pour into pop molds and freeze completely.

So a little surprise.

I made these earlier.

Lisa: Oh, look how pretty that is!

Excellent.

What a brilliant idea.

I'm sorry, david. Did you just call me brilliant?

-I did. -I think I'm brilliant, too!

That's why 30 years, our relationship has been so good.

[ laughter ]

that is an adult dessert right there.

Why don't you pass to your beautiful wife?

I will.

Pass to your beautiful friend.

Yes. [ laughter ]

right on your little american flag.

What says summer? Watermelon.

I love the colors. That's so --

the meyer lemon win the watermelon?

-We can keep dipping. -Yeah.

-That is good. -This is fantastic.

-Oh, and a little bubbly. -Mm-hmm.

It's so good.

Fourth is about friends...

-Family... -...Family,

and having fun no matter what the weather says.

Yes. Cheers to us.

We'll make our own fireworks.

We got fireworks in a glass.

Yes. [ chuckles ]