Thai BBQ Ribs

When we moved in here a year ago, everything from the old freezers got just thrown into the new freezers.  I couldn't find anything.  I knew I had some flat meals as Connie calls pre-made dinners.  But, they weren't anywhere easy to find.  It was a mell of a hess.  So, Sunday morning we got up kind of early and headed out to do our shopping.  I knew we were taking dishes to a family get together on Memorial Day, having guests over Tuesday evening for heavy appetizers and wine, having the quarterly neighborhood dinner on Thursday and going back to John and Pam's on Saturday after the service for Donald.  It was going to be a week of cooking and I needed a bunch of things.  Plus, I'd snagged a couple of new cookbooks on clearance at Half Price Books and there were a few recipes calling my name.  I carefully made out all the menus and grocery lists.  Sunday evening was to be salmon on the grill with roasted beets and pine nuts plus roasted radishes with anchovy sauce.  Except that we couldn't find salmon.  I'd gotten ribs to make Friday so those would have to substitute.  And, I'm so glad they did!!!

We got home from our shopping and I started unloading freezers.  Now, all the stock is together.  An entire shelf of homemade stock. 

I see a LOT of risotto in our future.  And, I've found the frozen spaghetti sauce and frozen stroganoff.  And, flat meals have been taken to the office.  Connie's happy to have a stash of chicken Caesar lasagna and chicken green bean casserole.  Vegetables are together.  As are fruits.  And, pestos (mushroom truffle and basil are two of the kinds...)  Meats are organized.  I now know where the ground lamb patties are.  YAY!  All of the shrimp shells and lobster shells for stock are organized. 

I am one happy camper. 

While the freezer was getting cleaned out, I started the ribs.  The recipe called for putting them in the slow cooker.  I knew that putting them on a half sheet, covering them with heavy duty foil and low and slow cooking them in the oven would have the same effect.   And, it meant not having to wash the slow cooker...  I made the initial sauce and slathered it on.  Quite frankly, it looked gross.  Four hours later when I took the ribs out of the oven I wished I'd used a deeper pan.  A TON of fat had cooked out.  It made a mell of a hess in the oven and on the floor.  So, that's the bad news.  The good news is that once I got the ribs on the grill and the bbq sauce on they looked amazing.  And, they tasted amazing. 

Alongside I made goat cheese mashed sweet potatoes and mojito watermelon.  The mashed sweets are super easy.  Peel and cube the potatoes.  Cook them in salted water until they're very soft.  Drain them and toss in a knob of butter.  Mash until that melts.  Add a chunk of goat cheese - maybe an ounce for two small sweet potatoes - and finish mashing.  Devour.

These ribs are right up there with the best we've ever made. 

Thai BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:

juice from one lime (about 1T)
1 T brown sugar
1/2 t cracked peppercorns
1/4 t ground ginger
2/3 c fresh cilantro, divided in half
2 Thai red chiles, divided (I used crushed red pepper - about 1/2 t)
4 lb pork baby back or spare ribs
1/3 c sweet chili garlic sauce
1/4 c BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays

Directions:

In the bowl of a blender put the lime juice, brown sugar, peppercorns, ginger, half the cilantro and one of the chiles.  Blend until smooth.  Put the ribs on a the bottom half of a roasting pan or another pan with relatively deep sides and slather them with the sauce. 

Cover with foil and bake in a very low oven (250F) for a couple of hours.  Heat your grill.  Mix the sweet chili garlic sauce and the BBQ sauce.  Brush the ribs with the BBQ sauce and grill them until the sauce has caramelized and you've got good grill marks.  Serve sprinkled with the remaining cilantro and pepper slices (if you used the real things...)

adapted from Kraft Food and Family