THE BBQ SAUCE

Make sauce a day ahead.  The ribs were orgasmic.  I could have taken pics of naked bones, but why bother!  We do the ribs slow and long – put some sauce on about 1 hour before done.  It gets perfectly sticky, the ideal foil to melt in your mouth unctuous pork.

Plum Barbecue Sauce

A plum is a plum — or so it would seem, given that most markets just label them simply red, yellow, black or purple. Actually there are over 200 varieties! Once harvested, plums don’t store well and must be shipped and sold within 10 days. So growers produce several varieties that ripen on a staggered schedule from mid-May through October to ensure a constant supply. What this means of course, is that the red or purple plums you saw on your last market visit are probably not the same varieties you’ll find on your next. Variety does not matter too much (although if you make a killer batch, run don’t walk to grab more of the same plums!) Ripeness, however, does matter – firm-ripe for this and for that matter almost all baking involving plums.
Drape this zesty sauce over food after it’s cooked, or brush it on during the last minute or two of cook time. Serve with grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, or burgers. Or add to a slow cooker with pork or beef roast. Smoky chipotle chile powder is a fine substitute for smoked paprika.

1 3/4 cups chopped plums (about 6) 
1 cup ketchup 
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots 
1/4 cup maple syrup 
2 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
1 teaspoon smoked paprika 
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Bring plums, ketchup, shallots, and remaining ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Uncover and cook 15 minutes or until thick, stirring occasionally. Cool 10 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor; process until smooth. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
2 cups (serving size: 2 tablespoons)
CALORIES 41(4% from fat); FAT 0.2g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.1g,poly 0.1g); IRON 0.3mg; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 10.2g; SODIUM 176mg; PROTEIN 0.5g; FIBER 0.5g
Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough , Cooking Light, MAY 2007

Fab 4th

No pics yet. Sipping an Arnold Palmer now (did you know that if it’s made with limeade it is an Arnoldo Palmer – cute) Anyhow, perfect day here. Grilling ribs tonight with Plum BBQ sauce (made with black plums that are amazing) and for dessert Strawberry Rhubarb ice cream. Pretty 4th of Julyish don’t you think!! STILL waiting on the condo……. love to all

Mulberry Pie

Yesterday we went out to Neil and Linda’s and made beer. To fortify us Linda served Mulberry Pie. It was fantastic. She sent us home with 4 cups of berries and Leslie made this pie. It was also fantastic. Who knew that those messy berries that stain the Kebbe driveway could make such a good pie. Thanks Neil and Linda!

Pizza & Pie

A few weeks ago we had the most amazing BBQ Chicken Pizza and Lemon Meringue Pie.  A welcome taste of Spring.  Lucy enjoyed a Classic Manhattan…………..

Shrimp and Grits with Spinach

The Fabian Seafood truck made it’s Spring appearance in Madison so we of course bought some shrimp.

I wanted to try something new and found shrimp and grits in Bon Appetit. It was easy and turned out great.

Good enough to eat

I know, I know it is not food but the sun was so beautiful on these flowers.  Ranunculus is one of my very favorite.  They will be on the table tonight when we have our slow baked pork ragu on pappardelle, baby greens with mustard vinaigrette, and olive oil rosemary bread.

Banana Walnut Cake with Fudge Fosting

It’s been a week of baking. Chocolate chip cookies for Max, oatmeal cookies for grandpa Kebbe, a faux Easter/welcome home Becky and David/Lauren’s birthday cake and finally, tonight, banana bread. Good thing we have many friends to share the bounty!

L’Etoile

We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary at L’Etoile. They are moving in June to a new location so it was perhaps our last visit to the “old L’Etoile.” We were greeted with a personalized menu (see the picture) and wonderful service which included complementary prosecco and a red they were considering for an upcoming dinner.

I had the Pork Pie which was rich and delicious. Leslie had the Honey Crisp Apples. She said was the best salad she has ever eaten. We almost never order the same dishes because we like to taste as much of the menu as we can, but neither of us could resist the NY Strip. We weren’t disappointed. We finished things off by sharing the Vesuvius cake (a hot chocolate cake with a molten center.) which has been on the menu since the early days.

I didn’t include descriptions of the dishes because the menu does a good job. You should be able to enlarge the picture by double clicking on it if you have trouble reading it.

Navarre

Charles and I ate at an excellent restaurant in Portland called Navarre. Great meal! They serve small plates in an informal setting. We decided on “you choose” meaning we let the chef choose our meal.
He started us off with some great bread and olive oil, mild tasty radishes with butter, pickled green beans and an excellent chicken and mushroom pate wrapped in prosciutto.
The second round included the best crab cakes I can remember. They had no breadcrumbs. He used scallops to help bind the cakes and they were cooked perfectly. They were the best part of an excellent meal. We also had mussels in wine sauce and a broccoli rob dish.
Our final courses consisted of lamb with olive tapenade, a pork stew, and kale and rob greens with roasted chestnut with fig vinegar (another favorite) and finally roasted carrots with a million herbs. Every dish was well prepared and distinctive.
We finished off with rhubarb pie and bitter chocolate moose.
Not a bad way to recover from a strenuous week of hiking and a long drive from Bluff, Utah to Portland, Oregon.

No explanation needed…