Barbecued Spare Ribs and Potato bake

Barbecued Spare Ribs

Serves 4

85g butter
1 onion (Chop the hell out of it)
250 ml (1cup) Tomato Ketchup (which is probably the same a tomato sauce, anybody?)
2 Table spoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 table spoons brown sugar
80 ml (1/3 cup) Lemon juice
80 ml (1/3 cup) Honey (as if it wasn’t sweet enough!)

These are those wonderful sweet ribs that you find at steak houses in South Africa. You know the ones I mean? No… never been there? Well you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Here goes. Heat the butter in a wide non-stick pan and sauté the onions over a gentle heat until soft (not brown). Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the ribs, ha) and 250 ml (1 cup) of water to the pan and simmer for about the time it takes to drink a beer, until the sauce thickens.

Put the ribs and the sauce in large ovenproof dish so that they fit quite compact and leave them in the fridge for at least a few hours (couple of beers and a glass of red).

Next comes the cooking. The recipe actually is a little different to what I did. I’d like to say that because of my deep culinary insight, but actually I simple never read the recipe to the end. Anyway I’ll give you both versions.

My version:
Place the ribs on the medium hot barbie (gas or coal). Scrape off most of the marinade so that it doesn’t burn. Turn regularly checking that it doesn’t burn. Cook for about 15 minutes and the start basting little by little with the rest of the sauce, turning often. Make sure it’s well cooked.

Books version:
Basically the same but remove after 15 minutes and put the ribs back into remaining sauces, ad 125 ml water and cook in the pot till sauce becomes sticky.

And here's the potato bake:

Serving size: Serves 6
Cooking time: More than 1 hour

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons olive oil
4 rashers bacon, chopped
1 small brown onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1.5kg potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
300ml carton light thickened cream
½ cup low-fat milk
1½ teaspoons chicken stock powder
½ cup grated tasty cheese

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to hot, 200°C. Lightly grease an 8-cup capacity (25 x 32cm) baking dish.

2. Heat oil in a large frying pan on high. Sauté bacon, onion and garlic for 4-5 minutes, until onion is tender and bacon is golden.

3. Layer potatoes and onion mixture alternately in prepared baking dish.

4. In a large jug, whisk together cream, milk and stock powder. Pour over potatoes. Cover with foil. Bake for 1 hour, until potato is tender.

5. Remove foil. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake a further 15 minutes, uncovered, until cheese has melted and is golden.