Dick Swagger, as Mick Jagger |
A quick review of Rolling Stones songs revealed only a few obvious culinary ideas: Brown Sugar, Little Red Rooster and Potted Shrimp. Of course, with the band's name, we could go with something rolled or something with stone fruit. Getting creative with the names and/or lyrics of the songs provided many more options. With such a fabulous group this week, I think we covered the band quite nicely.
Although these Who Loves Ya Baby-Back? ribs from Alton Brown have a good amount of Brown Sugar in the dry rub, I preferred to name mine Anybody Seen My Baby? baby back ribs. I amped up the finishing glaze with a little stone fruit - tart cherry jam. The racks are braised low and slow in white wine, white wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, honey and garlic resulting in tender, moist, fall-off-the-bone deliciousness...and, I might add, Sticky Fingers.
I loved the dry rub ingredients and cooking method, but I didn't care for Alton's method of reducing down the braising liquid and using it as a glaze to finish the ribs under the broiler. It never reduced to a "syrup" consistency and, as some reviewers said, was a bit too salty. I had about a half cup of tart cherry jam leftover from my cookies, so I added that into the braising liquid which helped thicken the glaze and balance the saltiness.
Anybody Seen My Baby? baby back ribs |
Dry Rub |
Anybody seen my baby
Anybody seen him around
Love has gone and made me blind
I've looked but I just can't find
He has got lost in the crowd
I was never a Rolling Stones fan, but I do love the song Wild Horses. Michele jumped on that one with a few bottles of Wild Horse Cabernet!
Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can't let you slide through my hands
Wild horses couldn't drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away
Carmen came up with some great ideas during the week. Her first thought was to track down squid ink for these Grissini or to make pizza dough - Paint it Black. She also contemplated raw rainbow cheesecake using natural food dyes - She's a Rainbow. What ended up coming to the park was this gorgeous Summer Beet Borscht - Beat Beat Beat album. I had to ask Kerry to pose for a photo with a cup of borscht because it complemented her ensemble so well!
Summer Beet Borscht |
Kai had Potted Shrimp covered...
Potted Shrimp |
Alec's creative juices were flowing when he came up with Short Ribs and Curly Pasta inspired by Short and Curlies. He even printed out the lyrics for me!
Too bad she's got you by the balls
You can't get free at all
She's got your name
She's got your number
You're screamin'
Like thunder
And you can't get away from it all
Succulent Short Ribs and Curly Cavatappi Pasta |
Also at the top in creativity, and voted best dish of the night, was the DeLauro's Shrimp-Athy Fra Diavolo - Sympathy for the Devil. Here's a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis.
Shrimp-Athy Fra Diavolo |
Performing Sympathy for the Devil |
Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame
Shrimp-Athy Fra Diavolo |
Stone fruits were represented with Pammy's Apricot & Arugula Salad (with candied walnuts, fennel and goat cheese) and my Stoned Cherry & Chocolate Jammers
Apricot Salad |
My Jammers were an adaptation of Dorie Greenspan's Port Jammers. I used dried cherries instead of cranberries in the dough and Amaretto instead of port to macerate the cherries and to spike the cherry jam. I also added a halved Luxardo cherry to the top of each cookie.
Amaretto Cherry & Chocolate Jammers |
I wish I had my camera ready when Kellee rode up to the park on her bike with her basket overflowing with bags from Clayton's Mexican Take-Out! She unloaded boxes of taquitos with all the fixings and then proceeded to cut the taquitos in half with her kitchen shears...something "rolled" for Rolling Stones, or was her inspiration from the song Out of Time...?
You don't know what's going on
You've been away for far too long
You can't come back and think you are still mine
You're out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Rolled Taquitos from Clayton's |
More Rolling inspiration with these meatballs... (Here's a recipe for Grandma Maroni's Meatballs)
And Brown Sugar-inspired with Pam's Brown Sugar Cookies with Brown Sugar Frosting, Bryan and Kelley's Brown Sugar-Crusted Baked Brie, and Michele's Roast Chicken Focaccia Sandwiches with Brown Sugar-Caramelized Onions...
Brown Sugar Cookies |
Brown Sugar Crusted Baked Brie |
Roast Chicken Focaccia Sandwiches |
A few more desserts - Under My Thumb Thumbprint Cookies aka Hershey Kiss Cookies, and Stoned Brownies, not really - the brownies were herb-free ;-)
Hershey Kiss Cookies |
Brownies (safe for the kids) |
And finally, more people and band photos as promised!
(Note: Captions are just for fun and nothing is implied from the songs' lyrics)
"Start Me Up" |
"Honky Tonk Women" |
"Street Fighting Man" |
"Some Girls" |
"Wanna Hold You" |
"Waiting on a Friend" |
Will Hyman |
Rick Taylor and Keef Riffoff |
Dick Swagger |
"She Smiled Sweetly" |
"I Wanna Be Your Man" |
"Mother's Little Helper" |
"She a Rainbow" |
Have a great week!
How lucky we feel to be part of such a fun, energetic and culinarily talented group of people! These past two weeks have been a blast! Thank you so much for inviting us to join you and your other friends to these picnics. These posts have truly shown what a wonderful time they are!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteLoved this. Wish I could have been part of the fun.
ReplyDeleteI love all of your blogs. But, this one may be my favorite. What could be better than The Stones, great cuisine, friends and fun in the sun? BTW, Sympathy for the Devil is my all time favorite!
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I comment sometimes that "there were no pretty people" at such and such an event. Definitely this was not the case here, y'all are a pretty people group, and this is my favorite blog of all those you have posted in the time I have been following you. You and your whole group are so fortunate and talented...this has made my day way back in the muggy south of Little Rock. Thank you for sharing this sumptious feast of food and friendship.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Denise. It really captured the fun. Your ribs were ... well, what ribs are supposed to be all about - soft meat, hard bones, sumptuous, spicy - better hush my mouth ;-) And Holli's Shrimp Diavolo was a tribute to the power of the pot! I want the recipe. And there was something about those roast chicken foccacia sandwiches that really spoke to me ... Well, the whole thing spoke to me except the herb (rosemary) brownies the kids were throwing under the table ... little purists! :-D
ReplyDelete