Holiday Dinner #1: Ribs
Approaching Christmas, last night the Messy Chef hosted the first of several holiday dinners. I have decided to share some of the recipes and details regarding this first, and successful, dinner.
Chinese Style Ribs
This recipe was once again a success. It comes from the large tome that came out 2 years ago, The Gourmet Cookbook edited by Ruth Reichl. These pork ribs got marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, ketchup, garlic, and ginger and sherry for overnight, then were roasted and basted for 1 hour, 45 minutes in the oven.
Now, what should go with that?
Chinese-Style Beans
This was my own recipe. I par-boiled French-style green beans, then later stir-fried them in a neutral oil with garlic and ginger. Added to that was salt, sesame oil, and soy sauce. I didn’t have them, but they could have been garnished with toasted sesame seeds.
Light Potato Balls
These are another Messy invention. I boiled and riced red-skin potatoes, added salt, olive oil, and garlic. I mushed the mixture together with parmesan cheese and sour cream. The mixture was formed into balls, dusted with fresh-cracked pepper, and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until lightly brown.
The balls deflated, but could have kept their shape with the addition of 2 egg whites, I imagine.
“Whoa, Delicious!” cried one diner.
Bread and Butter
Father of Messy Chef demanded to have bread, and picked up a Richmond-favorite, Billy Bread. It’s got quite a chew, and we enjoyed it slathered with a compound butter of garlic, olive oil, and salt made at Thanksgiving. To wit, the said chew:
Sadly, the dessert course was not photographed. But Mother of MessyChef concocted a key-lime pie in graham-cracker crust, and topped with whipped cream tableside by the MessyChef. Some of the dolloping got so out of hand that diners were splattered and covered in Vanilla Rum-fortified whipping cream. Hey, it’s a messy meal.
I’m guessing we earned 4-5 stars. Recommended wine: Reisling. Seasons Greetings.
2 Responses to “Holiday Dinner #1: Ribs”
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Mother of Messy
Said this on December 21st, 2006 at 10:19am:Take it from me it was all delicious, but there was an extremely messy cleanup!
x
Said this on December 27th, 2006 at 9:05pm:the amount of beans is not enough for everybody.