This Charming Menu. This Charming Man. Both are things that I love.
You already know that I am an over the top Decemberists fan. I have professed my love here and here.
You may not know that I am a die hard Smiths fan. I love all things Smiths/Morrissey related.
The first song I ever heard by The Smiths was This Charming Man. There was no turning back from that point on. LOVE.
This Charming Man obviously influenced a lot of other bands. Two that come to mind are The Decemberists and We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves.
I thought I would throw out a menu for you today. I have SO MUCH STUFF to share with you all, so this will be a good way to send a few new recipes your way.
Menu:
Serrano Wrapped Asparagus
Spaghetti With Crispy Capers And Olives
Romaine And Radicchio Salad With Pepita And Swiss Cheese
Oreo Bread Pudding
Here goes.
Serrano Wrapped Asparagus
Ingredients:
8 stalks asparagus
8 slices jamón serrano ham
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Directions:
1. Blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 2 minutes.
2. Sprinkle center of asparagus spear with oil and vinegar.
3. Roll each asparagus spear up in a slice of ham.
Spaghetti With Crispy Capers And Olives
Ingredients:
1 lb spaghetti
4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra
4 Tbs salted capers, well rinsed and dried
2 x 400g tins diced tomatoes
8 Tbs pitted black olives in oil
freshly grated Parmesan, to serve
Directions:
1. Boil a large pot of salted water and cook the spaghetti. Heat the oil in a sauté pan, add the capers and quickly cook until crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside. Add the tomatoes to the same pan (you can leave in the oil for more flavor) and some seasoning. Let them simmer, then just before the pasta is ready, throw in the olives.
2. Drain the pasta, return it to the pan, add the sauce, mix, then divide between bowls. Scatter over the capers, add an extra drizzle of olive oil if you like, then grate over some Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Recipe doubled and slightly reworded from Woman AT Home Magazine
Romaine And Radicchio Salad With Pepitas, Swiss Cheese And Honey Mustard Dressing
Ingredients:
Romaine Lettice
Radicchio
Pepitas
Shredded Swiss Cheese
Your favorite honey mustard dressing
Directions:
1. Chop lettuces. Toss with remaining ingredients. Serve.
Oreo Bread Pudding
Ingredients:
4 cups day-old French bread
16 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, coarsely broken
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frozen yogurt or whipped cream, optional
Directions:
1. Mix bread cubes and broken cookies in large bowl; set aside.
2. Blend milk, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla extract; pour over bread mixture, stirring to coat evenly. Pour into greased 1 1/2-quart round casserole. Bake at 350℉ for 45 to 50 minutes or until set.
3. Serve warm or at room temperature topped with frozen yogurt or whipped cream, if desired.
Recipe from Oreo With A Twist Cookbook
Alright. Now we need a Segue.
Alrighty then!!
Now for the Charming Music. Ooooooh!!! This is so good!! Colin, you approve? I drowned the Oreo pud in cream.
Hey, We Can’t Enjoy Ourselves…We’ve got Brooklyn in common.
Dear Mr. Giovanni Saldarriaga: Anyone who describes their music as “delightfully unimportant, in poor taste, demonstrably demonic, satanically pointless and thus, absolutely fatal to art history majors, compost or compote enthusiasts, and class-conscious bores.”, needs to come over to my house for dinner so that we can discuss this over food and wine. I promise that we will enjoy ourselves.
Steven, are you on board? After all, you were the inspiration for this post. Just pick the ham off of your starter and you can dig in at any time.
This Charming Man. Perfection in a song.
The Smiths (Peel Session)-This Charming Man
The Decemberists-The Sporting Life
You know that Colin had some Smiths on the brain here. I adore this song. I can see it happening.
Here you can see that Giovanni Saldarriaga has both Colin Meloy (voice) AND This Charming Man on the brain. Brilliant song, this.
We Can't Enjoy Ourselves-Liza (They Don't Call This Dancing)
You know you want to buy all of this great music.
The band that started this post. The Smiths. You can buy their music here. If you don’t have everything they have done then maybe you need to come over for dinner and we can discuss why not. I’ll make you a mixtape.
You can buy The Decemberists’ music and stuff on their website and you should. Most def. Pick up a Team Jenny T-shirt. We love her and wish her back to 100% health.
Definitely check out We Can’t Stop Moving. They have a free download on their bandcamp page. You can buy their album ‘One Belongs Here More Than You’ here. And do you know what?? That album has a cracking track called Charming Man. Love, love.
Cheers!
