Slow Cooked Spare Ribs

Spare Ribs have always been a firm favourite of mine. There was a time, not too long ago, that myself and Ali would find ourselves in Judge Roy Beans every Friday for a rack of them. A rapidly expanding waistline may have curtailed my binge eating but my love for ribs will always live on. Many restaurants will cook their ribs overnight on a very low heat to break down any fibers and tenderise the meat but at home 4 to 5 hours should be enough. 

This sauce works brilliantly with the ribs but you may wish to add more chilli powder. The one I used is a tongue melting type I got in Vienna, even a quarter teaspoon may have been a little too much!

Serves 1 Glutton, 2 Hungry Hippos or 4 Dieters

1 Rack of Pork Ribs (1.2 - 1.5 KG)

For the dry rub:
1 tsp each of Chilli Flakes, Dried Thyme, Chinese Five Spice
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

For the sauce:
210g Tomato Passata
10g Honey
5g White Wine Vinegar
20g Dark Soy Sauce
1/4 tsp Extra Hot Chilli Powder 

1. If the rack is too large for a baking tray cut it in half and put each half in a separate tray. Mix all the ingredients for the dry rub together and massage it into the meat for a few minutes. Cover each tray tightly with foil and put into a preheated 140 degree oven for 4 hours.

2. Meanwhile make the sauce. Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. After the 4 hours are up, remove the ribs from the oven and carefully remove the foil. Brush a little of the sauce over the ribs and place back in the oven, uncovered, at 180 degrees for ten minutes. Remove and cut the ribs apart. Serve covered in the sauce with some chips and salad or, like me, with a ratatouille.

Blogroll Week 1 - French Foodie In Dublin

For the next few weeks, on a Monday, I'm going to be letting you know about some of the blogs I enjoy reading. I'll kick it off with French Foodie in Dublin:

French Foodie in Dublin is run by Loire Valley native Ketty. It was set up in 2012 in order to document her food experiences in the capital and has since won numerous awards including Best Food Blog 2014 at the IMAGE.ie Blog Awards. Ketty runs blogging workshops and food tours but it is her restaurant reviews that interest me most. Anytime I'm heading to the big smoke for a meal French Foodie in Dublin is my first port of call for advice and it should be yours too! Ketty is currently taking part in the 12 week course at the world renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School and regular updates are on the website.

Check out French Foodie in Dublin at:

http://frenchfoodieindublin.blogspot.ie/
https://www.facebook.com/FrenchFoodieInDublin
https://twitter.com/FrenchfoodieinD

Dogs in Cages?

Bord Bia are currently filling our airwaves with ads encouraging us to buy and eat Irish Pork. Their quality assurance scheme ensures that "farmers are audited against a range of standards including animal health; welfare and traceability; water and feed......" All of this serves to ensure that the Irish public knows thinks that the animal they are eating has led a reasonable life and has suffered as little as possible.

I think everybody is aware of the plight of the intensively reared chicken. Most supermarkets and good butchers now stock a good range of free range or organic birds and people are slowly deciding against supporting the horrendous conditions they are kept in. Few people seem to know or care about the conditions that our pot-bellied friends are kept in. According to a 2010 Compassion In World Farming report: "The pig industry in the Republic of Ireland is highly intensive, with the vast majority of pigs reared on factory farms. In these, pigs are kept inside large sheds with no access to outdoors, and conditions are often crowded and barren." "Farrowing crates are very commonly used in Ireland and in other countries. The sow is moved to a farrowing crate just before she is due to give birth. She stays there until her piglets are taken away when they are about four weeks old. The farrowing crate is narrow and it is difficult for the sow to stand up or lie down; turning around is impossible" "Many farms in the Republic of Ireland, and in other EU countries, are failing to provide effective enrichment material for fattening pigs" "Although EU law prohibits routine tail docking, 95% to 99% of pigs in the Republic of Ireland are tail docked"

I find it quite surprising that people accept this treatment of an animal that, many experts now agree, is more intelligent than the beloved dog that currently sits by your side. I know if any of us were treating our canine friends the same as pigs it wouldn't be long before the ISPCA would be knocking on our door, and rightly so.

Free Range or Organic Pork is difficult to find in Ireland but even by just asking for it, it gets into the mind of our great butchers and supermarkets. Baby steps like this could lead to a brighter future for our bacon.

If there is a supplier of free range pork near you, leave a comment or send me an email and I'll include them in a future page of my favourite suppliers. 

Stuffed Pork Fillet

Like with beef, the fillet is the tenderest piece of pork available. It is a versatile cut that cooks quickly and is often used in a stir fry. This is the first time I've ever treated it as a roasting joint and I was pleasantly surprised. The problem with the fillet is that it can dry out if overcooked. With beef this can be combated by cooking the joint/steaks rare but (as far as I know) pork should still be cooked through. The key piece of equipment with the fillet is a thermometer. As soon as it hits 73 degrees in the middle, remove it from the oven, let it rest and then slice and serve. The stuffing here adds lots of flavour as the fillet can be a bland cut. You can get your butcher to butterfly the fillet or follow the instructions here.

Serves 3-4

For the stuffing:
3 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves of Garlic (finely chopped)
3 fillets of Anchovies in oil (finely chopped)
1 Bay Leaf
125g Kidney (finely chopped)
125g Fresh Breadcrumbs

1 500-600g Pork Fillet (Butterflied)
1 Carrot (sliced)
1 Onion (sliced)
2 cloves of Garlic (crushed with the side of a knife)
1 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 glass of Red Wine
Chicken Stock

Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

1. First make the stuffing. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over a medium heat and add the onion, garlic, anchovies and bay leaf. Season with some pepper and cook for 5-6 minutes until the onions are soft but not coloured. Add the kidney and cook for 4-5 minutes before stirring in the breadcrumbs and mixing well. Mix in the remaining tablespoon of oil and set aside to cool.

2. Open out the butterflied fillet and spread half of the stuffing on top of it. Roll it up length ways and tie with some butchers string. Rub the oil into the meat and season well. Spread the carrot, onion and garlic out over a baking tray and put the rolled fillet on top. Put into a 180 degree pre-heated oven and cook for 35 minutes. Pour the wine in on top of the vegetables and put back into the oven for 15-20 minutes until the centre hits 73 degrees. If you wish to cook the remaining stuffing, put it in an oven proof bowl, cover with tin foil and put into the oven too.

3. Remove the fillet to a plate and cover with foil to rest. Pour the wine and vegetables into a saucepan and add a little chicken stock. Simmer for ten minutes before straining. You can thicken with corn flour if you wish but I like it left as is.

4. Carve the fillet into slices and serve with some boiled baby potatoes and vegetables. Cover everything in the delicious sauce!

Christmas 2014 Roundup

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....! A rancid ham, beautiful turkey, a smashed tiramisu and gallons of Chianti just about sums up my intake this past Christmas but I think I just about came out on top. I nearly managed to make sprouts edible too.....a great feat for any man, maybe next year I'll get them all the way there!

Christmas for me started on the 10th of November when I started to cure a 4 kg piece of pork leg in order to add to my very DIY Christmas. Unfortunately, 10 days later, I noticed that said leg was smelling particularly foul and had to be flung into the bin. I instead went on the hunt for a dry cured ham but after searching Kildare and Cork City I had to settle for a more standard, wet cured piece. It was delicious, maybe I was being a little too pernickety. The turkey, on the other hand, proved to be no such hassle. Cairns Farm is owned by Ali's cousin Jo-Ann and supplied us with a beautiful 17lb Free-Range Bronze Bird.

The main event

Lard Roasted Potatoes

A couple of days before Christmas I made the Lamb's Liver Paté for the Christmas starter while Christmas Eve was our baking day with both myself and Ali getting stuck into the desserts. My Mam cooked the ham on Christmas Eve and also made her Turkey Soup from the giblets. This left me with a manageable amount of cooking on Christmas morning. The turkey took a little under 3 hours while the lard roasted spuds and roast veg completed the oven work for the day. The traditional sprouts had to be served and so I blanched them for 5 minutes before frying them with some delicious pancetta to try and hide their sock like character....it didn't quite work but I'd be fairly confident it would if the sprouts were chopped up before frying.

Nearly nice sprouts

The dessert turned out to be a bit of a disaster with my mam DROPPING the Tiramisu just before it was to be served but there was plenty of other delights to feast on! The wine flowed (a little too easily for me!) and before long the house was asleep, everyone cultivating their own little food baby. 

My "Rustic" Christmas Cake

Leftovers - Turkey and Ham Pie

New Years Day

As well as Christmas Day, I decided I would also cook on New Years Day. I was very excited about the menu and got stuck in nice and early. The starter was wonderful. I wanted to go with fish to contrast the beef main and decided on Mussels and Prawns with Hogao Sauce. The Colombian sauce is a great accompaniment to almost anything and went down a treat. I wasn't so lucky with the main as not only did I overcook the Beef Wellington, it also fell apart. Plenty of lessons learned here! Dessert went great though, I made another Tiramisu (which made it to the table this time) while Ali made a delicious Panettone Bread and Butter Pudding.

Mussels and Prawns with Hogao Sauce

Our last hurrah for this festive season was a pizza (and wine) night with our friends Anna and Pádraig. We had a lovely night to say goodbye to the most wonderful time of the year.