Hosting guests can be a challenge because more often that not, people are on special diets or just like their food cooked a certain way. There’s nothing better than having a total carte blanche to cook for people that appreciate your cooking because of your style of cooking. I love to go rustic, no frills, easy- going, all inclusive.
I made pork ribs that I marinated for just over 26 hours and a noodle and vegetable stir fry. We washed it all down with two bottles of Chilean wines, from a late harvest Muscat to a Cabernet Sauvignon which left us all chatting, reminiscing on old times and forgetting that we had revision and classes in the morning. It was a rather enjoyable evening.
For the ribs:
- 1 kg spare ribs
- a bottle of barbecue sauce
- a clove of garlic
- a few parsley leaves
- a pinch of ground sage
- a teaspoon of ground chilli
- a teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice
- a pinch of salt
For the stir fry:
- a packet of egg noodles
- 1/4 green, yellow and red pepper
- 1/4 an onion
- a clove of garlic
- a few mushrooms
- a handful of broccoli
- a carrot
- a handful of bean sprouts
- oyster sauce
- soy sauce
- toasted sesame seed oil
- a pinch of salt
- black pepper ( to taste)
Spare Ribs (1.5 hours)
Pour all the ingredients into a large bowl and lovingly massage the spare ribs into the bowl to let the mixture work its magic into the raw meat.
Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate until you’re ready to cook.
Heat the grill to about 200 degrees.
When it’s piping hot, line a baking tray with tin foil, place the ribs on the baking tray and grill for about an hour and a half.
After about 50 minutes turn the ribs around and baste with the oozing juices and more sauce because they’ll probably be dried- out.
Pop them back in the oven for about 40 minutes and you’re good to go!
Stir fry (20 minutes)
Peel and cut the carrots finely in long strips the blanch with the broccoli for a minute and place in a bowl of cold water to slightly cook them but keep them semi crunchy.
Cut the mushrooms, yellow, green and red peppers in long strips.
Cut the onion into thin strips then add a crushed garlic clove and sauté lightly in a wok with the toasted sesame seed oil.
Add the oyster, soy sauce and vegetables to the wok and cook for about 7-10 minutes on a medium- low heat.
Boil the noodles for about 10 minutes.
Strain, then introduce them to the wok, add a pinch of salt and black pepper and stir until all the sauce and vegetables mix- in with the noodles then you’re ready to serve.
Warmest,
Namir.
