Sticky Ribs

I've always been somewhat scared of cooking ribs.  I have no idea why, although I would imagine it's because mum never ever cooked them at home. I love them, and since pork is so damned tasty in this country, thought I'd try them.  Read up a bit out of them and decided I'd try and find "babyback" or "loin" ribs rather than spare ribs, as they have more meat and less bone and fat (even though apparently it's harder to get them as tender, but hey, I'm a big believer in the slow food movement, and understand that even the toughest cut of meat can become the tenderest when treated right!)

This recipe is just an idea more than a fixed thing.  The sauce is completely your choice, it's the method I'm actually focussing on here. 

Just to make this clear, this recipe has 2 parts.  You can choose to make these 2 parts over a few hours, but I highly recommend making part one the night before, or even 2 nights before as I did.   I believe this is the reason they turned out so incredibly fall off the bone tender and juicy :)

Regarding the spices I used for flavouring, it's really a matter of choice.  I had a jar of Char Siu sauce so I decided to stick to Chinese flavourings, but really, it was a complete gamble.You have the freedom to choose whether to simmer (part one) in plain water, or add some flavourings, you have the choice of whether to make your own sticky sauce for afterwards.. As I said, this is essentially the method, but I will tell what spices i used because dayammmm, they be tasty sticky ribs! :D

Ingredients

Part one:
Baby back ribs, 1/2-1 racks per person
A good sprinkling of Sichuan peppercorns (maybe about 20)
Ground ginger and Chinese 5 spice, a good teaspoon of each.
Garlic, couple of cloves, chopped roughly
A couple of tablespoons of dark soy
Sauce - I used Char Siu sauce as I had a jar of it in the fridge.  But you can use Bbq sauce, or make your own, or use honey/soy/hoisin sauce mix, it's completely up to you! 

Place ribs in a large pot, so that they sit comfortably.  Fill the pot with water until the ribs are just covered.  Add all the spices and bring to a boil.  As soon as it boils, cover, turn the heat to the lowest (maybe even change to the smallest burner), and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Take the ribs out of the water, and place into a large ziplock bag. Pour enough sauce over them to cover well, mix around till they are all coated, seal the bag (if not using ziplocks, I would suggest placing the bag into another bag to ensure they are sealed, and place in fridge to marinade for at least 1 hour but ideally at the very least overnight.  Every now and then, when i'd open the fridge to get something else out, i'd mix up the bag a little just to make sure the marinade was really getting in everywhere.  This step will help the sauce really get in there, as well as make the meat super tender (even though the simmering would have made them pretty tender already!)

Part 2
This is the easiest step in existence.
Turn the oven on 200C
prepare a roasting/baking dish by lining it with foil (makes clean up so much easier, sticky sauce is annoying like that!)
I took the ribs out of the fridge about an hour before to bring them as close to room temperature as I could.  I believe meat cooks better when you start it off at room temperature. 
Open the ziplock bag, chuck the ribs into the baking dish, and place in the oven for 30 minutes until they are lovely, sticky and heated well all the way through.  I turned them around once to ensure even stickyness and deliciousness.

I served them with steamed spinach as I'm trying to watch the carb levels, but ideally, these would be served with new potatoes that have been boiled until fork tender in salted water, and then the potatoes are thrown with the ribs into the baking dish to turn a little golden. 

ENJOY!

Remember!  Serve these with a little bowl to place the bones in, napkins and ideally even a finger bowl to rinse off your sticky finger (after you lick them, because this is the kind of dish that requires a good finger licking :P).

yum yum! :D

Marinade for pork - revisited

I love marinading pork for the BBQ.  And Maltese pork is fantastic.  I buy it from Prime butchers (found in all the GS/Tower supermarkets), or the few select good butchers around malta, like Charles butcher in Naxxar, or the guys at Arkadia. 

I made 2 this week, and they were both really tasty! 

Marinade for Pork (bbq)

So - first of all, choose a piece of pork that is likely to be extra tasty on bbq.  The chops are great, although sometimes they tend to be a little dry on a bbq. 

I used Collar (in the picture), it's the pork version of Scotch fillet on a cow.  Tasty with a minimal amount of fat going through it, enough to keep it moist on the barbie :)  So juicy and delicious, and is still very ok when slightly over-cooked, as it just keeps getting more tender whilst the fat crisps up and caramelises.

What you will need:
Soy Sauce
Oyster sauce
Tabasco (the chipotle one is amazing, esp for bbq's!)
Garlic
Ginger, fresh (dried is ok if not)
Lemon

Place the pork in a container (ideally sealable, so that you just have to shake it around every now and then)

Sprinkle the marinade ingredients over, there is no need to put too much, you don't want it to be swimming in it!!!, just very well coated.  I find that this makes for more tender meat, if you chuck it in a pool of marinade, i feel that the juices of the meat seeps out and you will end up with a drier finished product.

Marinade for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Cook on bbq until just about cooked through.  :) 

If i buy my pork from a reputable butcher, i don't have any issues eating it at medium-well done, rather than completely well done.  it's SO much nicer in taste and texture that way :)  but yeah.. make sure you trust the butcher before doing so.

Salad with beetroot and walnuts

This salad is a variation on Zoe's amazing goat's cheese and roast fennel salad.. I didn't have fennel, and instead of fresh goat's cheese I used Dodoni feta.

I love the mixture of nuts, beetroot and cheese, so this is just another addition to the "let's use beetroot in as many ways as possible while they're in season" list :D

Once it gets colder, a simple green salad just doesn't quite cut it, and i like my salads to have substance :)  this is a great example of this!  The flavours of Autumn in the mediterranean simply jump out of this salad :)

This salad doesn't have a dressing in the conventional way of thinking of a dressing.  You dress the beets and along with some of the juices that are released from the slightly charred yet juicy onions, you actually don't need a vinaigrette! 

raw walnuts, roasted beets, fresh tender leaves and tangy goat's cheese.  nom!

Oven Poached Dentici

Dentici is a fish I think my mum would like.  For some reason she's not into the fishier side of fish anymore... i guess tastes change..  So no lampuki for now (unless they're in pikkanti sauce or aljotta, and we dont' actually cook it when she's home hehehe).  I'm totally going back to my bugibba flat in a coming weekend if that means i get to eat lampuki hehehe :)

seasoned and ready to wrap and poach/bake

Salad - Mustard/lemon/olive oil dressing

Apologies for not focussing on salad... i completely forgot to take a pic of it before it was served.. but essentially you won't be able to see the vinaigrette anyway :)

I adore simple salads. ON the other hand, I deplore ready made dressings. I have this thing for artificial flavours, I'd always much, MUCH rather have something made from scratch with ingredients that I recognise. All these thickeners and emulsifiers can't be good for us, and it just doesn't make sense when it's so blindingly easy to make a fresh one from scratch.

Grilled Pepper Chicken

This was adapted from a recipe for Pollo al Diavolo by Rick Stein - which means "Devilled Chicken"...

The recipe is originally from Puglia, a region in Italy famous for its olive oil, pretty much everything from there is soaked in the stuff. The original recipe called for 175mls of oil, but i highly reduced that amount (although i put a decent amount in anyway) and added extra lemon juice. I also didn't have dried crushed chilli flakes, so used powder (will def use heaps of chilli flakes next time though!), and I used boneless thighs rather than a whole spatchcocked chook.

Roast Beetroot, pumpkin and feta/haloumi cheese salad

This is one of my favourite salads ever. Tasted a very similar one at a friend's house, and completely fell in love. Went to the market the very next day to try and recreate it, and it's my “staple” salad to bring to friend's houses and family do's, as everyone seems to love it as much as I do. It's ideal when beetroot is in season, however if you use tinned baby beets or wedges (not slices) it still works well.

Remember to roast the pumpkin and (if you're using fresh) beetroot at least a couple of hours before, as well as cooking the onions. They need to be completely cool before assembling the salad.

I need to make a point and say that if a salad doesn't include iceberg lettuce, it's already a winner for me. I'm REALLY not a big fan of iceberg in anything except as the Thais/Vietnamese have it (they use it as a handheld "cup" for spring rolls etc to catch sauce.. an edible serviette if you like). I'm a HUGE fan of other leaves though, any leaves at all, baby (and regular!) rocket, lamb's lettuce (mache/valeriana), baby spinach, oak lettuce, watercress... This salad works well with the peppery tastiness of rocket and lamb's lettuce, however please feel free to use any tender dark green leaves whatsoever.

Baba Ganoush

Mmmm love love eggplant, and love love tahini, so naturally was really happy to find Rick Stein's book contained a recipe for this, one of my favourite dips.

My adaptation involved a little more garlic, lemon and olive oil than the original recipe (anyone who knows me takes this for granted :P).

add some good extra virgin olive oil to garnish

When making it, it's important not to burn the eggplant as it will taste like smoke nor leave it too raw as it will be bland.

Tzatziki

My first attempt at Tzatziki and Baba Ganoush (post to follow) were inspired when I decided I'm bored with Philadelphia as a dip base, especially in summer. Apart from being really high in fat, it really doesn't go with the typical Mediterranean diet. Don't get me wrong, I love my sweet chilli and blue cheese dips, but I find them more of a wintery thing....

Found these recipes in Rick Stein's "Meditteranean Escapes" book. I absolutely love him, his shows are an inspiration and he's truly a chef after my own heart, one who is less about being a pompous arse, and more about being a true lover of food. I slightly adapted them (i omitted spring onions from the Tzatziki for example).

Tzatziki - traditionally from Corfu

nom nom!  i love how fresh this looks and tastes.

This is great to serve alongside some freshly bbq'd chicken or lamb and pita :)