Today is Black Friday

Today is known as Black Friday—I’m not sure why—but it is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year, putting retailers into the black (or something like that). With the economy topsy-turvy it may not still hold true, but it seems like a good time to write about the Grub Club’s dinner a few years ago.  The theme was “black.”


If you’re new to this column or haven’t read about the Grub Club before, my husband and I belong to a dinner club we’ve affectionately termed the Grub Club. Four couples take turns hosting the quarterly gatherings; the hosts choose the theme (it can be almost anything—ethnic, special days, or—as were several of our last themes—color), and each couple brings a course based on the theme.

Black was an interesting color to choose. It doesn’t seem like an appealing food color. But, oddly enough, there are many black foods that are delicious and appetizing, too. The creative genius of the various members of our club was really on display at our black dinner. Here’s the menu:

Appetizers: ribs with a blackberry glaze, sweet potato chips, caviar and a cream cheese mixture on black bread.

First course: black bean soup and black bread

Main course: Blackened pork tenderloin and squid-inked pasta

For dessert we dined on black cherry chocolate truffles, black coffee and Black Russians.

It was all delicious and it seemed doubly appropriate since we were celebrating the election of our first black president.

The course assigned to me and Zig was appetizers. I found a wonderful recipe for ribs with a blackberry glaze, but I am notoriously poor at barbequing and they really needed to be made on the grill. This isn’t Zig’s forte either, so I called my oldest son in Madison who is really a gifted griller. He has a smoker and dabbles in many delicious dishes—among them pulled pork and ribs. As expected, he didn’t hesitate to give me specific instructions which I followed to the letter. They turned out perfect and, incidentally, gave me much-needed confidence to try to do more grilling next summer.

It may seem like the wrong season for the following recipe, but there are many days that won’t be too-too cold and besides, these are worth a little frostbite. Get your Weber going and try these ribs.

Blackberry-Glazed Baby Back Ribs (basic recipe is an adaptation from Bruce Aidells’s Complete Book of Pork)

Back Rib Rub

½ tsp. dried sage
½ tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. light brown sugar
½ tsp. cayenne pepper

3 slabs baby back ribs (about 1 ½ pounds each)

Blackberry Glaze

1 ½ cups homemade or canned chicken broth
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
½ cup crème de cassis or grape juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
¼ cup seedless blackberry jam
2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
2 tsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp. water
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Needed for preparing:

Apple juice
Hickory wood chips, soaked in water

Combine the rub ingredients in a bowl. Massage the rub into the ribs and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight (or up to 30 hours) wrapped in plastic wrap. Put the prepared ribs on a rack in a shallow jelly-roll baking pan. Pour in apple juice to come up half the sides of the pan. Cover with foil and bake at 225 degrees for 2 hours or until cooked and tender, but not falling off bone. Meanwhile, start coals that have been piled on one half of the grill only. When coals are ready, spread a little, keeping them on one side of the grill. Place soaked hickory chips on top of charcoal. Place ribs on the other side of the grill (without the coals) and close cover. Grill for ½ hour. Brush ribs with glaze and continue to grill on coal side for 10 minutes more or until ribs are glazed and dark brown, turning occasionally.

Chocolate Black-Cherry Truffle tartlets (makes 8 individual tartlets)

Filling

1 cup black cherry preserves (about one 12-ounce jar)
2 Tbsp. apple juice
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. Butter
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate pieces
1 ¼ pounds fresh or frozen black cherries

Crust

1¼ cups flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. salt
1¼ sticks chilled butter, cut into pieces
2 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp. cold water

For crust:

Mix flour, powdered sugar and salt in processor. Add butter pieces and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix egg yolks and water in small bowl. Add to flour mixture and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour. Roll out on floured surface. Cut circles 1 inch larger in diameter than individual tart pans. Preheat oven to 350. Press dough circles into tart pans firmly. Freeze crust 15 minutes. Line crust with foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until set, about 8-11 minutes. Watch carefully. Transfer pans to rack and cool the crust.

Filling:

Combine preserves and apple juice in heavy saucepan. Stir over low heat until preserves melt. Strain, pressing firmly to extract liquid. Discard solids. Combine cream, butter and ¼ cup preserve mixture in saucepan. Stir over low heat until butter melts. Add chocolate and stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool for 15 minutes. Spread chocolate mixture evenly into crust. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Arrange cherries over chocolate, pressing lightly to adhere. Rewarm remaining preserve mixture over low heat. Brush generously over cherries. Chill until chocolate sets, about 1 hour.