BBQ Ribs - a definite favourite!

My son loves BBQ Ribs. He first had them when we went to Chillis some time, a long time ago and almost in a galaxy far, far away. The Lovely Wife decided on ordering some BBQ Beef Ribs and my son ended up devouring half of it.

The Lovely Wife seems to have caught my 'disease' of wanting to try to make something that the kids have eaten and enjoyed outside. I'm all for that so when she declared she was going to try and make Pork BBQ Ribs, I clapped my hands in glee!





The recipe is loosely based on Texan Barbecued Ribs from the book A Cooks Tour by Sarah Gates. This is what The Lovely Wife did:

Ingredients
1 kg Pork Spare Ribs
1 onion - chopped
3 cloves garlic - crushed and chopped
1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
2 tbsp orange juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1-2 tsp mustard
2 tsp honey
2 Tbsp brown sugar
dash of worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil
salt
black pepper
Brandy to deglaze
Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Place the ribs in a roasting pan and bake uncovered for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile mix together all the other ingredients in a pan. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for about 5 minutes. Remove ribs from oven and reduve temperature to 175C. Spoon over half the sauce, covering the ribs well and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the ribs over and baste with remaining sauce and cook for a further 25 minutes. Remove the ribs and pour into a large wok or saucepan. Deglaze the pan with a dash of brandy (or more!) and add into the pan. Stir fry until the sauce is thick and coats the ribs nicely.

The sauce is loosely based on the recipe as The Lovely Wife added more mustard, honey, vinegar and Tomato Sauce till she got a flavour that she wanted. Its all about your own taste buds really so if you try this out, keep testing the sauce till you get what you like. The ribs also let out quite a bit of juices and there was also quite a bit of caramelisation, so the idea to deglaze with brandy and then stir fry again till thick was our own addition to this recipe.




To say that my son liked the ribs would be an understatement. He absolutely loved them!! My son promptly declared them as one of his favourite dishes, if not his alltime favourite!!

These ribs were extremely delicious and it has become a firm favourite in our household. The Lovely Wife sometimes uses the same recipe for BBQ Chicken Wings too.



This dish gives the phrase 'Finger Licking Good' a whole new meaning!!!

Sarah's BBQ Part Two - Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Potatoes to me are a MUST at any Barbecue. The Lovely Wife wanted to make a Potato Salad but I insisted on Mash simply because my little princess wanted Mashed Potatoes, so how could I refuse?
This was a little last minute as I had forgotten about the potatoes as I was busy with starting the BBQ and all sorts of other tasks. But I guess that's the beauty of Mashed Potatoes. As long as you have already boiled the potatoes, the rest is dead easy!

I dont think a recipe is required for mashed potatoes, but this is what I did:

8 potatoes - peeled, cut into quarters and boiled till soft
Generous Glob of Mayonnaise
Glob of soft Butter
Dash of Salt and Pepper
Spash of milk
Spring Onions for garnish

See? Nothing easier. Just mash all the ingredients together, tasting every now and again and you have a lovely creamy dish of mashed potatoes. Dress it up a little with some chopped Spring Onions for a 'wow' factor!




My little princess enjoyed the mash and that was all it needed to vindicate me from the Potato Salad that the Lovely Wife kept insisting would be much better. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, Daddy really Does know best!

Sarah's BBQ part One - Barbecued Prawns

I had mentioned previously that my little princess Sarah wanted a BBQ and this is the first of many posts to come concerning that BBQ!

Not only did she plan the menu, but she also decided she was going to invite her maternal grandparents as well as her uncle, aunt and cousins (on my wifes' side). Since my dad was away, I got my mom to come along too. So yes, quite a few people to cater for - and as usual, we made more than enough food for an army. Not quite, but you get the idea...

Anyway, first item on the menu was Prawns. I had brought back a load of lovely big, huge prawns from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and I marinated them as such:

2 kg large prawns
2-3 inches ginger - pounded
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tsp turmeric
3 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp honey
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Black Pepper

Shell and devein prawns but leave tails intact. Mix all the ingredients together and allow to marinade.



Before grilling them on the BBQ, we needed to set up the BBQ and the kids were more than happy to help me out there.



Getting the fire going was quite a chore and suffice to say it involved burning a wooden stool that I had stupidly used as a base since the legs on the BBQ set were too short. One would think that I had more brains...

Nonetheless, the prawns were rather delicious. My son, who claimed that he "only likes prawns a little bit", promptly devoured more than 10 and then proceeded to proclaim that "actually I like prawns."




The Lovely Wife had a few prawns too although she has an allergy to shellfish. There's just something rather spectacular about BBQed prawns...

Sarah wants a Barbecue and its nothing to do with Palin!

Mention Sarah these days and you automatically associate it with Sarah Palin - the US VP Candidate and maybe even US VP come November 4th. Its amazing isnt it how the whole world focuses on US Politics... but I wont get into my political genre right now and I'll just stick to food!

So...My little princess - Sarah - has been asking for a BBQ for some time now. Since this weekend is a long weekend thanks to Deepavali, we decided to throw a BBQ tonight.

She's all excited about it and has prepared a list of what she wants. Its rather a substantial list too and also includes some of Michael's favourites. This is really going to involve a lot of firsts and will also be a team effort between The Lovely Wife and I. We also plan to get the kids involved as much as we can.

So this is the plan as per Sarah's list...

Satay - home made this time!
Kuah Kacang (Peanut Sauce for the satay)- Home made too. Hope it turns out good.
Ketupat/Nasi Himpit - going the instant route with prepacked goods.
BBQ Chicken Wings
Sausages
Bacon
Mashed Potatoes
Garlic Bread
Meringue with Fruits and Pink Cream

Now, since I just returned from Sabah and bought some lovely seafood there, I've added this to the menu:

BBQ Prawns
Spicy Scallops

So stay tuned for more on Sarah's Barbecue...

In the meantime, to all my Hindu friends, have a Blessed and Happy Deepavali!