As Phil Collins once said in Genesis, "He took one of his ribs, and from the rib he made a woman."Now I'm not as talented as Phil, so I took a rib rack from the butcher's, covered it in spices and cooked it for four hours on a low heat. I could have put some potatoes in too, but I thought there was no jacket required.And at the end, I hadn't made a woman, just a delicious manly supper. Bee was out with the 'Rock Mums' for the evening, so while this portion could have been for two, I ate the whole lot in one messy session. I didn't leave a rib spare.To stay on the healthy side, with one hour's cooking left I put in a tray of vegetables to soften and caramelise. Bright rainbow chard, patty pan squash, red onions (one of my favourite roasted things), garlic and a load of tarragon, olive oil, salt and pepper.Ingredients1 rack of pork ribsLove rub seasoning2 bunches of rainbow chard6 patty pan squash. Failing that, use baby courgettes1 bulb of garlic, halved2 red onions, quarteredA few tarragon sprigsOlive oilSalt and pepper to seasonMethodTo cook the ribs, heat the oven to 140c. Get your friend Linda Schindler to send you a jar of California's finest 'love rub', rub it all over the ribs, stick them in a tray with an inch of water and roast away.You can make your own rub if Linda has run out, from sugar, salt, pepper, mustard, garlic, oregano, smoked paprika, cinnamon and cumin. About three tablespoons of each, apart from the cinnamon. Hold back on that a bit.Rub that all over then pour on some olive oil and give it a good juicy massage.Put all the veg in a roasting tray, season and drizzle over olive oil and the tarragon. After the ribs have been in for three hours put the veg in the oven. One hour later, it's all ready.Serve with chilli sauce and paper towels and eat in private.
Rib Tickler
in Meat, vegetables