Where have you been all my life Ribs

A revelation happened this week in our house. I am not a big carnivore and perfectly content with a plate of aubergines or mushrooms. However this week the boyfriend asked for ribs, and after enquiring in Waitrose who advised they don’t do racks till BBQ season, I stopped off at a favourite butchers nearby, who I have previously sworn by for the best tasting lamb. After a conversation with the friendly butcher he bought out from the back a giant sized rack, which came in at an eye-watering £18! Even at first glance I could see they were a meat-fest and settled for about 2/3rds which came in at £10.96, as it was only 3 of us for dinner a whole rack was a little extravagant on a week night! It also weighed in at just under 1.6kg!

My oh my these ribs were amazing, and so they should be for nigh on eleven pounds! Totally worth it! The ribs had about 2 inches of beautifully tender meat on them and tasted fantastic, a carnivores meat dream! Whilst admittedly we did eat them all between the three of us, I reckon it would serve 4, when I make them again. Maybe next payday if we can wait that long ;-) ?

For their marinade, I used Jamie Oliver’s recipe for 5* pork ribs from the Jamie’s America cookery book, it had no less than 21 ingredients in, not including the separate spice rub and several processes but overall I found it manageable, a recipe for when you fancy an afternoon pottering in the kitchen! Also justification I believe at long last for having way too much in my store cupboard! The final result had lots of flavours going on with sweetness, spicyness and orangeyness all working in harmony together. I have not posted the recipe as its a bit long winded but will if anyone fancies a go!

The ribs only required half of the marinade, most of the remainder I used to cook some turkey breast in and the two went very well together.

To go with the ravishing ribs, I also made Jamie's Southern Pecan and Apple salad, which is a new favourite of mine, the orange mustard dressing sounded a little off putting as I am not a mustardy person (though I am slowly converting to the stuff..) but it went perfectly with the ribs and was not overpowering at all.

I do warn you now to make extra pecans as you will find they mysteriously disappear when you have caramelized them…..Not that we overly needed any more food I did put together a simple bulghar wheat and pepper mixture which tagged along nicely.

Salad Ingredients:

Olive oil
25g (1oz) butter
50g (2oz) soft light brown sugar
100g (4oz) pecans
2 red or green apples
2 chicory, leaves removed, washed and spun dry – didn’t manage to find any!

A couple of handfuls of mixed leaves, such as rocket and radicchio, washed and spun dry. Mine came from Tesco, a mixed rocket salad was best found!

Dressing:
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1tsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp white wine vinegar
3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Jamie advises to oil a baking tray, I used baking parchment which worked perfectly. Gently heat a pan and add the butter and sugar. Leave on a gentle simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally to stop it catching, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture starts to darken. Now gently stir in the pecans until they are all coated in the caramel. Tip the nuts on to the oiled (or lined!) tray and separate them out into one layer. Allow them to cool until the caramel has hardened. Don't be tempted to taste the caramel at any point as it will be very hot!

2. For the dressing put the orange zest and juice, Dijon mustard and white wine vinegar into a large salad bowl and add a good lug of extra virgin olive oil. (I used a jam jar) Whisk together and have a taste - you want to get a nice balance between the sharpness of the vinegar and the smoothness of the oil, so add a little more oil if needed, then season carefully with salt and pepper.

3. Core, quarter and finely slice your apples and add to the bowl with all your leaves. Break the cooled pecans apart, add half of them to the bowl, and use your hands to delicately toss and dress everything.

3. Serve on one big platter, or divide up between plates, and finish by crumbling over the rest of your beautiful caramel pecans.
Serve immediately - I made sure everything else was ready before adding the dressing.