Ribs were the star. Of course: we had to center the meal around an American all-star!
I decided that with the arrival of each guest, one plate of appetizers would be brought out. G and A arrived first and were heralded with the two cold cut plates: mortadella and coppa salami, and serrano ham with olive oil and black pepper (no photo). Toasted bread chips, of course, were the serving vessel of choice. I just think they're superior to crackers, bread, or chips.
T was greeted with the tuna tartare, a chopped mix of bluefin, capers, pearl red onions, grapeseed oil, black pepper, and a secret ingredient. Do you like my bowl within a bowl? The outer bowl was filled with water and frozen to keep the tartare cold.
The other T was second to last to show up, and we brought out the burrata in his honor. I wish I'd taken a photo of it broken open. This freshly pulled cheese has an incredibly tender, shreddable interior that's best shown off by just a touch of olive oil, salt, and pepper. I suppose basil and tomatoes would go well, but I really love the flavor and texture of it alone.
Between courses, everyone imbibed on summer drinks. Impaired by the alcohol, I forgot to photograph our raspberry mojitos, which were incredibly wonderful and too easy to drink. My wine holder/ice sculpture was amusing. I froze two empty wine bottles in a bucket of water, filled the bottles with warm water to loosen them, and used the container to hold our Ernst Loosen rose and a riesling that G and A brought. A Seghesio Zinfandel, a favorite of mine, rounded out our drink menu. It was in the tub for the photo, but was taken out after it had reached a cool temperature.
M, being the last to arrive, exclaimed "You guys already ATE?!" when he stepped through the door. Lucky for him, those were just the appetizers. Ribs, caesar salad, corn and artichokes tossed with garlic butter, and polenta tarts were ready to eat within minutes of his arrival.
The polenta tart requires a little explanation. I apologize for its appearance. I was really too sweaty and tipsy from cocktails to be bothered with appearances by the time it was ready to be sliced. A more careful cook would have pressed the squash into the cheese and made sure to slice the squash more thinly. Oh well. It's a polenta base (spiked with a little tomato paste), a layer of chevre and cream cheese, topped with zucchini. A surprisingly delicious combination, but very filling. A one inch square is practically a meal.
Dessert! I finally tried Martha Stewart's vanilla bean ice cream recipe, and wow was it good. Perfectly scoopable consistency, not too heavy on the tongue, and intensely vanilla flavored. Talk about your pain in the ass recipes, though; it was the most frustrating thing on today's menu. Doing a take on the French Vacherin, I served a scoop of ice cream with a caramelized meringue cookie and chocolate syrup. I also made some sugar coils for decorations, because spun sugar is really fun to make. Unfortunately, I forgot I had chopped almonds. Doh.
As always, everyone left extremely full and a little bit tipsy. One person even left with an aluminum foil swan. Happy Fourth!
4 comments:
In the NYTimes Food section today they talked about ribs. Apparently, the meat is not supposed to fall off the bone. Uhhh, why not? Oven baked ribs finished on the grill do that, and I think they're perfect!
Beautiful spread-- I hope you all enjoyed it.
So many competition bbq cooks don't mind 'falling off the bone" at home, but shoot for KCBS standards at the contests (to win, of course!).
It may not be the most popular way to have them, but shooting for that tender-but-not-mushy moist rib that is easy to eat with a slight tug, but doesn't come clean off the bone in one bite, is a real challenge....
have you ever had tillamook vanilla bean ice cream? I just heard today that it is really good. oh there is a tillamook factory near portland which you guys might want to visit when you're here.
Outstanding pics! Love the tuna tartare and that burrata...wow.
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