Ramping Up

April 18

Wine: Chateau Maris 2003 Minervois Liviniere

We were looking forward to a Spring Risotto. At the market we bought lots of sweet fresh peas, pea tendrils and fresh ramps. We had never cooked with ramps before and didn’t know exactly what to expect. They are strong in taste and you use both the bulb and the leaves. Cathy created this dish, and it turned out great. She actually used some of the leaves in the broth that is used to make the risotto and that intensified the flavor. We served it with lots of fresh Parmesan cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake.



The Deviled Ribs were a disappointment. We let the ribs reach room temperature then coated them with the breadcrumb mixture and broiled them. Our broiler is very hot a the breadcrumbs were cooked very fast. When you bit into them however, you were biting into the fat of the prime rib which wasn’t what I expected. I guess one has to carefully go over the each rib removing any remaining fat before breading the ribs. Lesson learned.

For dessert we had Pomegranate Chocolate Chip Ice Cream – Sheer Bliss with Carmel Sauce

In reality although the ribs were not all they could have been, the risotto was so good (and there were leftovers) that on balance it was a very good dinner.