SWEET & TANGY SPARE RIBS

Fall off the bone ribs are a favorite of mine. Succulent, savory, slightly sweet, and so tender that you don't notice, or don't care about, the grease on your fingers. These are pretty simple to make too: marinade, oven, glaze, and you're done! Just make sure to have plenty of napkins ready.

Sweet and Tangy Spare Ribs

For 6 appetizer servings

1 rack pork spareribs (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), cut into individual ribs

Marinade:

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

Brown Sugar Glaze:

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Have your butcher cut spare ribs into serving-size pieces. Remove excess fat. Combine marinade ingredients; pour over spareribs. I just popped mine into a freezer bag. Marinade in the fridge for two hours, turning occasionally. 

Preheat oven to 325F

Pull the spare ribs out of the marinade and place them into a shallow roasting pan. Cover pan with foil and roast at 325F for 1 hour, then take out of the oven and pour out the fat. Increase heat to 425F and roast, uncovered, for 45 minutes, basting often with marinade in pan. 

Combine the glaze ingredients, whisking together as best you can (the brown sugar won't fully dissolve). Take the spare ribs out of the oven, flip, and brush the ribs with the brown sugar glaze. Turn up the oven to broil, return the ribs to the oven, and broil for 5-10 minutes, until the brown sugar has caramelized and the ribs are nicely browned.

Serve alone or with your favorite hot sauce or bbq sauce.

TABLETOP TUESDAY: PINK DEPRESSION GLASS

Pink Depression Glass

With summer here, I dream of popping open a bottle of rosé and pretending I'm in the south of France, hanging out with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief. That translucent blush pink is my favorite color in the world, mostly because it only exists in Rosé form.  Try to turn it into a paint or nail polish, and that limpid charm is lost in the thick, dull opacity.  Rosé without it's transparency is just pink. 

The only objects I've found that mimic the beauty of a glass of Rosé is the oxymoronically titled "Pink Depression Glass."  How could something so lovely have "Depression" in its name?

Made in the mid-west during the Depression, where access to raw materials and power made manufacturing inexpensive, bright, fun colors of glass were all the rage.  Ranging from pinks to ambers to bold vaseline greens, these glasses have become popular again in the last 40 years, sometimes making them difficult to track down.

However, I make sure to do a quick search for them whenever I'm on Ebay, Etsy, or at a flea market.  They're so beautiful grouped together on a shelf, and have that sexy blush hue, rather than girlish, five alarm "pink." 

Find your own here!

BREAD PLATTER WITH INFUSED OLIVE OIL

The amount of times I've made a meal out of a crusty loaf of sourdough is WAY more than I'd want to admit.  But chewy bread with a crunchy crust, paired with softened butter and a little sea salt, is almost too sublime to bother thinking too hard about.  This recipe is about elevating the olive oil to the bread.  So the next time you feel like curling up with your boyfriend Monsieur Baguette or Monsieur Boule, take the extra five minutes to create an olive oil up to their standards.

Bread Platter with Infused Olive Oil 

1 cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 sprig rosemary

1 dried chili

1 lemon peel

1 cup mixed olives

1 loaf of bread, sliced

Put the olive oil and garlic in a small sauce pan, and put over medium low heat.  Let it simmer and infuse for about 5 minutes, then add the rosemary, chili, and lemon peel and take off heat.  Let the olive oil steep for about 15 minutes (the longer the chili is in there, the more intense the flavor will get, so take the chili out of the pan when it's to your liking).  If you're using the infused olive oil later, just keep in an air tight container on the counter for up to a week.  Just before serving add the olives, coating them in the oil. Serve in a shallow pan, infusions, olive, and all with sliced bread.

THAI NIGHT FROM FOOD FOR THOUGHT WITH CLAIRE THOMAS

Thai Night

My near obsessive love for Thai food has been well covered on my blog.  It's my go to when I can't bother cooking for myself, and I'll never stop marveling at the perfect balance of savory, sweet, spicy, and fresh, that great Thai manages to hit every time.  

But making Thai food, or any food from a culture that's not your own, can be intimidating.  There's unfamiliar ingredients, techniques, and rules to the kitchen, and sometimes it can be infuriating that you can't get a seemingly simple dish like noodles, to turn out like the ones you order from down the street.  So for today's episode, I feature some of my favorite dishes that are Thai inspired, rather than authentically Thai. Fresh herbs, plenty of spice, and quick simple dishes that are so delicious, you'll find yourself making them again and again. 

Minced Chicken Lettuce Cups

Make in a large dutch oven.

1/2 cup rice, dry

1 pound ground chicken

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 lime, juiced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons fish sauce 

1 tablespoon Thai chili powder (or regular chili powder)

2 tablespoons green onions

1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1/2 cup basil, roughly chopped

1/4 cup mint, chopped

1/2 cup red onion, finely sliced

2 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)

up to a 1/4 cup Toasted Rice Powder

1 head butter lettuce (very round)

Place rice in an empty 12-inch skillet and heat over medium-high heat, shaking constantly until rice is golden brown and toasted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to mortar and pestle and grind until it has the texture of cracked black pepper, or use a spice grinder, and set aside. 

Note: The dried rice powder is for texture, so use as much or as little as you like.

Put a skillet over medium high heat, add the oil, then add the chicken. Cook for about 4 minutes, then add lime juice, garlic, fish sauce, and chili powder.  Cook for another two minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, and transfer to a large bowl and cool for 5 minutes.  Add herbs, sugar, and toasted rice powder. Toss with hands and taste for seasoning, adding more chili if higher heat is desired.

Serve immediately with butter lettuce on the side.

Pan Fried Noodles with Basil and Chili Vinegar Sauce

Make in a large dutch oven.

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons green onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup basil, chiffonade

2 eggs, lightly beaten

8 ounces wide rice noodles, cooked and drained

Chili Vinegar Sauce:

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon white sugar

10 Thai chilies, thinly sliced

Combine the vinegar, fish sauce, and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, and cook until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the chilies and cool to room temp.

Combine soy sauce, molasses, fish sauce, and ground pepper in a small bowl. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil, and once the oil is hot, add the garlic.  Cook for about 10 seconds, just until golden brown. Add the rice noodles and toss until separated and heated through. Push the noodles to the side, add a little oil to the empty part of the pan if it needs it, and pour in the eggs.  Lightly scramble the eggs until cooked through.  Add the soy sauce mixture, green onion, and basil. Cook for another minute or two until everything is coated.  Serve with the chili vinegar sauce for garnish.

Fresh Northeastern Thai Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce 

For 10 rolls

1 packet Vietnamese rice sheets

10 lettuce leaves, (butter lettuce or frilly romaine) cut crosswise into 1 inch strips

1/2 cup fresh mint, whole leaves

10 fresh basil leaves, whole leaves

1 cup cilantro leaves

1 lb small-medium shrimp, boiled

1 jalapeño, thinly sliced

1 cucumber cut into diagonal thin slices

1 cup carrot, cut into matchsticks

Sriracha, to taste

You can serve this on a platter with a bowl of very warm water, where people build their own, or you can make them ahead and keep them in the fridge.

To make, dunk a rice sheet into the very warm water, and turn, wetting the edges.  Once the sheet starts to feel pliable, lay it on a clean surface and add your desired ingredients.  The rice paper is transparent, so I lay my shrimp down first (usually 3 in a row), and then put my other ingredients on top.  Finish with a drizzle of Sriracha, and roll up like a burrito (fold right and left edges over, then the top one, and then roll towards yourself). Set aside on a platter, and finish the rest. Serve with Homemade Peanut Sauce.

Homemade Peanut Sauce:

1/4 cup coconut milk, canned (light preferably)

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/4 cup chicken stock

1 1/2 tablespoons palm or brown sugar

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/4 teaspoon sriracha

Blend everything together in a food processor until desired consistency.

Thai Iced Tea 

For 4 glasses

Make with a french press.

4 cups hot water

1 tablespoon half and half

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/4-1/2 cup Thai Tea (a type of red tea)

Add sugar and sweet condensed milk to a pitcher. Put Thai Tea into a French press or large tea bag. Pour hot water over tea and let it steep for 3-5 minutes, until deep in color. Push down the press or pull the bag out. Pour the tea into the pitcher and stir until the sugar and sweet condensed milk are dissolved. Once cool, pour over crushed ice and top the tea with half and half.

PRETZELS WITH HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE

I'm a little bit of a beer nerd. Not a full blown beer nerd.  I can't pronounce brettanomyces, but I did dabble in home brewing, so, I'm somewhere on the spectrum.  The point is, I love beer, particularly Belgian ales and German doppelbock's.  Beer is one of my favorite things to pair with food, particularly because it's so easy. The sweet malt, bright bitterness, and bubbles make beer a natural pairing with salty, fatty foods.  Think cheese, nuts, meat, or any delicious carbohydrate.  That brings me to today's post and video.

Pretzels and beer are a must.  The warm, chewy saltiness of a pretzel calls out for love of a good beer. These ones are classic, but for a decadent twist, sprinkle yours with truffle salt instead of kosher salt.  It's pretty out of control.

Pretzels with Honey Mustard Sauce

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 cup baking soda

4 cups boiling water

1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and oil and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 15 minutes. Put the dough into a greased bowl container, cover, and sit in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt (or if you want to be decadent, truffle salt). Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Honey Mustard Sauce:

1/4 cup Colman's dry mustard

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 tablespoons brown mustard seeds

1 large egg

1 teaspoon salt 

2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch 

Stir together dry mustard, vinegar, 2 tbsp. water, and honey in a medium metal bowl until smooth. Chill, covered, overnight.

Put oil and mustard seeds in a small frying pan and heat over medium heat, covered. As soon as mustard seeds start to pop, about 3 minutes, remove from heat. Let cool.

Bring a medium pot filled with 1 inch of water to a simmer. To mustard-vinegar mixture, add toasted mustard seeds in oil, egg, salt, and cornstarch and whisk to blend. Set bowl over saucepan and cook, whisking constantly, until mustard thickens, 5-10 minutes.

BOTTLE STOCK

Bottle Stock

Wine related products tend to be on the stuffy side.  Covered in grapes, evoking a Tuscan hillside, looking to an older gentleman with intimidating whiskers for approval, wine related wares can be so boring.  Certainly not the kind of thing you want to pull out when company is coming over.  Well, it's time for wine to get fun, and my girl Whitney is just the woman to do it.

Whitney, you might remember, is the voice behind the fantastic wine blog, Brunellos Have More Fun, and the star of the wine pairing series I produce with her.  She's awesome, and unsurprisingly, her new online shop Bottle Stock is awesome too.

Powder coated wine openers, tie dyed leather cocktail napkins and coasters, adorable tags and gift cards - all of your wine giving and drinking needs can be found on her new site.  I'm so excited for her, and absolutely adore her products.  I'm sure you will too :).

www.bottlestockshop.com

BANANA CREAM PIE WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE & CARDAMOM CUSTARD

I'm generally not a huge banana person, but for some reason banana cream pie is one of my favorites. Creamy, custardy, and cuddled by a flakey pie crust, it's pretty hard to beat.  To heavily gild this lily, I decided to add a layer of dark chocolate ganache and a dose of cardamom.  The bitter richness of the chocolate off-sets the sweet custard, and the cardamom adds a hint of exoticism to this American classic. Enjoy!

Banana Cream Pie with Dark Chocolate Ganache & Cardamom Custard

For Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

4 oz soft unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

For Filling:

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups whole milk

3 large egg yolks

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and chopped roughly

For Topping:

6-8 bananas

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup, plus 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F

In a standing mixer or with a hand mixer, combine crust ingredients until a unified dough forms.  Press the crust into a lightly greased 9 inch (at least 1 inch deep) tart pan with removable bottom. Chill in fridge for 30 minutes, then bake for 10, until golden brown and set.  Let it cool completely.

Prepare an ice bath.  Off heat, whisk sugars, cornstarch, and salt in heavy medium saucepan to blend. Gradually whisk in milk, then egg yolks. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add the vanilla bean. Whisk over medium-high heat until custard thickens and simmers (but doesn't boil!), about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in cardamom and unsalted butter bit by bit. Discard vanilla bean. Transfer custard to large bowl over the ice bath; cool completely, whisking occasionally, about 1 hour.

Stir custard to loosen, if necessary.  In a double boiler or a small pot over low heat, melt the chocolate and add the 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Pour the melted chocolate over the entire crust, smoothing with a spatula.  Cut 2 or 3 bananas into 1/4-inch slices and layer across the crust. Cover with custard, smoothing it into an even layer.  Whisk together the cream, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Using a small spatula, spread the whipped cream on top of the custard. Refrigerate pie, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.

Just before serving, cut 3 or 4 bananas into 1/4-inch slices, lengthwise. Beginning at the edge of the piecrust, arrange the slices in slightly overlapping rows on top of the whipped cream.  Sprinkle with sugar and burn top with a butane torch (Or briefly broil in the oven.  Careful though, you don't want to melt the whipped cream!).  Enjoy!