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.

Lala's lasagne

This recipe is pretty much my mum's recipe.. although we always manage to make it taste completely different.  To be honest mine tastes different every time. but i must say, I do like my own (and my family's) lasagne.  There are a few other people's lasagne dishes I've enjoyed, I can literally count them on 1 hand (my Uncle Kiki's, and my Aunt Isabel's, and my best friend's mum Pat).  I'm sure there are plenty of delicious lasagnas out there but i haven't had the pleasure, and frankly, I don't even really want to try cos there's not much I abhor tasting more than a bad lasagne. 

anyway here goes:

Ghagin Tork jew Griek ("turkish" or "greek" pasta, but it's actually Maltese!)

I have no clue as to whether this pasta sauce originates from Turkey, Greece, or anywhere else but Malta, but all I know is that it's absolutely divine, and So ridiculously easy.  You will need at 1.5-2 hours of simmering, so this is not something you make when you're starving after work :)

i love the simple look of this sauce, and the meat is literally melt in your mouth!

A bolognese/ragu based sauce for spaghetti (and baked rice the next day!)

Just like many people, bolognese sauce reminds me of being a kid, it's still the ultimate comfort food dinner for me. It instantly sends me back to being little, with my sister and 3 or 4 cousins, and mum and/or one of my aunts serving up steaming spaghetti loaded with sauce and cheese. Learning how to eat spaghetti with just a fork was like graduating, I remember the pride I felt when mum stopped cutting up the spaghetti because I'd learnt to twirl it deftly around my fork without dropping the pasta everywhere :)

Bolognese is also what started my cooking adventures apparently. At the age of 3, I was at my Aunt's house, and she was making bolognese. I looked at her in shock at one point, and started telling her that "my mummy makes it like this" and went on to explain what she was doing "wrong" and how she should make it. Needless to say she was very amused, and reminds me of this often hehehe...

The recipe I'm about to give is by no means a traditional bolognese. Apparently the original bolognese doesn't even have tomatoes or garlic in it, and uses heaps of milk and even funghi porcini! So I suppose a "ragu" or "meat based pasta sauce" is the better term.