Bon Appetit ~ Round 6: Amazing Ribs!

It's time for Round 6 of the Bon Appetit Throwdow and I see that we will be bar-b-qing up some ribs!  

   The real challenge here might be our ummm, "bar-b-qing situation." You see our deck is all torn up because we are getting it rebuilt this summer and our killer grill is currently sitting in the driveway. Since The Big Guy has the mother of all grills, it requires electricity to fire up the rocket-launching- jet-propelled-turbo-starter, and it's an extension cord or two away from juice.  

   

Personally I'm confident that Big's ribs can kick Bon Appetit's ribs butt. In fact it was just a couple of weekends ago when The Big Guy had a hankerin' for some ribs, so we cooked up a few racks and had a some friends over for what were lip-smakin', falling-off-the-bone, to-die-for ribs! 

The Grill Master, puttin' the burn on 13 racks!

It's true, and you heard it here first...The Big Guy can do to ribs what a fat-free, zero-calorie, double fudge, salted caramel cheesecake does to us girls, and that's leave us all skinny and happy and wanting some more.  IN OUR DREAMS!

Stay tuned...and by the way we need some taste testers...who wants to volunteer?

Thai Cusine 101

I held a Thai cooking class recently and not only did we have a blast, but we ate some pretty great Thai food. Because, remember folks, this is Hickville, I had to go online to find rice papers. A little Asian market via Amazon came through with the best rice papers ever.

Next I had to recruit my daughter, The Know-It-All, to make a run to Whole Foods for me and then Fed X me lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and Thai Basil.

Kevin's pretty proud of his Spring Roll!

Armed and dangerous with real Thai ingredients we started the evening by making Thai spring rolls. Everyone got in on the fun by making their own rolls and sampling the two dipping sauces; a traditional soy based one and a killer peanut sauce. Cathy tried to screw up the soy dipping sauce by confusing a teaspoon for a tablespoon, but under Becky's watchful eye she pulled it off  before someone got high on sake. Dang!
     Big T = Tablespoon, little t = teaspoon, Cathy! Pay attention, there will be a test!

Becky made a dang near-perfect Spring Roll!

For our second course I made one of my favorite new recipes; Sweet and Spicy Lemon Shrimp. Having the fresh ingredients on hand elevated this dish to the next level.  I promise to share that recipe soon because you are gonna want to make it!
  
Next, Scott and Kevin made my Thai Coconut-Lime Soup with Chicken. Those guys knocked it out of the park with the fresh kaffir lime and lemongrass. It's an amazing soup, loaded with so much flavor. Scott even declared it was the BEST soup he had EVER eaten. Seriously! You can find the recipe under the "Soups-Salads-Sides" tab at the top of this page.
     Karen, Lisa and Dana held down the bar stools and oversaw Cathy and Becky while they made the Thai Curry Pasta and the Tomato-Ginger Chutney, which was our final course.      

Amanda was the master of the Spring Roll and the swish!

After about 3 hours of eating I rolled every one out the door, but not before we made a plan to get together for the next class. Stay tuned...

For the Spring Rolls Thai Dipping Sauce and Peanut Sauce recipes click on the "Appetizer" tab at the top of this page.

The Smoked Salmon Secret

I'm a huge fan of smoked salmon, so the other day when Steve, my longtime seafood supplier showed up at my door with some beautiful apple wood smoked salmon, I couldn't wait to make a spread. Steve supplies me with the heartier, oily, skin-on type, which is what I prefer over the silky lox type.
     Always in the mood for hors d' oeuvres, tapas, appetizers or any type of first course finger food, I made a smoked salmon pate to take to some friends house that night.

This pate strays a wee bit from the traditional cream cheese, caper, and dill routine, and because my chives are up and blooming like crazy I decided to use some of them. That, and the truth is I don't have any dill in my herb garden.

I removed the skin and any dark meat and mashed up the salmon with a fork; added a small dollop of sour cream, red onion, chives, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Mixed it all up, then added what is the "Secret Ingredient"...are you ready for it?  Melted butter!  Yep, about 2 tablespoons worth.  

Here's how I know this...I once made an Ahi tuna pate that called for melted butter and it tasted silky and decadent when it first all came together. I then chilled it for a few hours before serving and that's when I noticed that something had definitely been lost in the cooling process. The "WOW" factor to be exact.
     Taste tests since then have revealed that you should NOT chill the spread AFTER you add the melted butter. If you want your pate served on the cool side, chill your fish BEFORE you make it or make the pate and then chill it. Right before you get ready to serve it stir in the melted butter. I swear it makes a difference! 
     Now YOU are in the know!

Serve with toasted baguette slices.  Go to the "Appetizers" tab at the top of this page to get the recipe.