Oven-baked sweet and spicy spare ribs

As I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day, she said, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. D (my brother) decided to become a vegetarian”. The phone almost fell from my hand and I began laughing. She had to repeat that statement at least six times before I finally believed her. D a vegetarian? Whaaat?? D who when we were growing up used to steal the pork chops from my plate? D whose portion of kokkinisto (Greek veal stew cooked in tomato sauce) was at least half a kilo?? I never saw that coming, to say the least.

So, to get on his nerves, as a proper sister should do, and tempt him, even though I doubt he will be tempted, he’s a strong-willed person, I’m posting these spare ribs in his honor.

But besides my brother, there’s you, and since the holidays are upon us, I’d like to share this recipe for spare ribs with you as well as my view on holiday dinners. When you reach the point where you have been cooking Christmas and New Year’s dinners for family, friends and loved ones for some years, you get bored with the same kinds of dishes. Sure, turkey is great, a big ham is excellent, but there are so many meat dishes you can choose to cook apart from those that are, well, boring.

Spare ribs. They may be messy to eat, you may need to use your hands (who am I kidding, you’ll most definitely need to use your hands), and you may have to steal the last piece from your fellow diners, but you will be rewarded with happy people enjoying a fulfilling meal that’s absolutely delicious and holiday-worthy. And, you will not be too tired after preparing it, cause it is so very easy. It only needs fifteen minutes of your time.

You prepare the spice and sugar rub, you rub it all over the ribs, wrap them in foil and bake them in the oven for three and a half hours. When they’re ready, you pour the juices in a small pan, add some vinegar and reduce a bit to create a thick-ish sauce that you pour over the caramelized, sweet and spicy, smoky and hot spare ribs. They are pure sin, with the tender, juicy, falling off the bone meat that melts in the mouth, and the spicy and slightly acidic sauce that balances the sweetness.

They are ideal for those occasions, holidays or not, that you want to share with your closest friends and family, those who don’t mind eating with their hands, those who won’t look you the wrong way when you reach for the beer bottle with greasy hands. In a nutshell, the people we all should be spending our holidays with.

PS 1: Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes on my last post. Your support means a lot!

PS 2: I have nothing against vegetarians. I hope they have nothing against me either.

Oven-baked sweet and spicy spare ribs
Slightly adapted from The New York Times

Serve them with thinly-cut (matchstick) fried potatoes (like the ones in the photos), or roast potatoes, a big green salad or slaw to give freshness to the meal and to balance the sweetness, spiciness and richness of the pork.
We love heat in our ribs but if you can’t stand the heat of chilli, add a little less.

Yield: more than enough for 4

Ingredients
1.7 – 2 kg spare ribs

for the rub
200 g (about 1 cup) soft dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp chilli powder (add 1 Tbsp if you can’t handle very spicy flavors)
2 tsp pimentón de la Vera, dulce (Spanish sweet smoked paprika), (add regular sweet paprika if you can’t find pimentón)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves

for the sauce
the juices from the cooked spare ribs
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Special equipment: large baking pan, aluminum foil, baking paper


Preparation
Rinse the spare ribs and pat them dry with kitchen paper. They should fit in one large baking pan in one layer. I buy two long slabs and they fit in my somewhat small oven in one layer perfectly. If yours don’t, cut them into two slabs.

Preheat your oven to 150°C.

In a medium bowl, add all the ingredients for the rub and mix with a fork or whisk to blend.

Take two large pieces of aluminum foil (large enough to fold around the spare ribs) and lay each one on your kitchen counter. Sprinkle some of the rub mixture along the center of each piece of foil and place a slab of spare ribs (meat-side down) on each aluminum foil piece, on top of the rub. Sprinkle each slab with the rest of the rub and rub it well on all sides with your hands.

Keeping the ribs meat-side down, fold the foil to create two tightly sealed packets. Be careful not to tear the foil or make any small holes.

Line your baking pan with baking paper and place the packets on the baking pan, one next to the other, making sure the seal of the foil faces upwards otherwise juices may run out. The reason you add baking paper to the baking pan is because sometimes juices may run out, causing the aluminum foil to stick to the pan thus making it hard to remove the packet from the pan without tearing the foil and losing the juices.

Place on the middle rack of your preheated oven and bake the ribs for 3½ hours, turning the pan front to back halfway through.
They are ready when a fork easily penetrates the meat.

Remove the pan from the oven. Unfold carefully each packet and pour the accumulated juices into a small saucepan. Fold the foil again to keep spare ribs warm.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir in vinegar. Simmer the sauce until it reduces by a third, being careful not to over-reduce it to the point that it becomes syrupy and too sticky.

Serve the spare ribs on a large platter, whole or portioned, with the sauce on the side so that everyone can add as much or as little as they want on top.

Enjoy!

Cherries (and apricots): the dessert

The hardest thing when dealing with cherries is the pitting part. I admire how the French add them to their clafoutis with their pits still in, adding a sense of danger to the innocent act of savoring a pie.

I prefer to err on the side of caution and pit them first. Being accident-prone, it is guaranteed that I will bite hard into one of them and break a tooth. Besides, pitting cherries gives me the opportunity to get lost in my own thoughts for a while, perhaps daydream about the flavor of what’s about to be cooked. That makes the repetitive act a touch more bearable.

I also love how the British and Americans use not only their cherries but all their summer stone fruits; adding them to the bottom of a pie dish, mixing them with sugar and lemon, topping them with some sort of pastry, either flaky, crumbly or otherwise, in order to create their signature pies, crumbles, cobblers and crisps. All types of baked fruit desserts that were unknown to me for the largest part of my life.

Now, I find myself smitten by them and by the fact that even though they are uncomplicated and quick to make, they produce the most flavorful of results. Like this crisp, or crumble, I really cannot understand what the difference is between the two, so let’s call it a crumble. A sweet cherry and apricot almond crumble that while it was baking in my oven the other day, I was filled with anticipation to taste it as my home was overtaken by tantalizing aromas.

When I took it out of the oven, the bubbling red juices from the fruits at the bottom had made their way to the top, piercing through the crunchy topping, creating an irresistible sight.

It may not look as pretty on the plate as a nice triangular piece of glossy, chocolate ganache tart, a fresh-berry tart with crème pâtissière or a puff pastry fruit tart, but as with many desserts containing cooked down, juicy fruits, it is messy, beautiful and oh so delicious.

The cherry juices fill the bottom of the dish and marry with those from the honeyed apricots producing a sweet and sharp symphony of flavors that along with the incredible fruity smell, the plump texture of the cherries and the tender, fleshy apricots, the crunchy, buttery topping with the deep flavor of dark sugar and the hint of gingery spice in the background, as well as the nutty flavor from the almonds, it’s enough to make you want to eat all of it on the spot. It’s a simple yet genius dessert.

Cherry and apricot almond crumble
Slightly adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Even though this dessert requires that you turn your oven on, it is really worth it even if it’s really hot where you are right now. Besides, it doesn’t take more that 15 minutes to prepare. Well, without counting the cherry pitting, but then again you can be brave and add them as they are. Just make sure you inform those who are going to eat it.

The apricots I used were a little on the sour side. If yours are sweeter, you can add less sugar to the filling or a little more lemon juice.

I served the crumble with crème fraîche as I prefer the tanginess that balances the sweetness of the dessert, but you can also serve it with vanilla ice cream or unsweetened whipped cream.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

for the almond crumble
80 g all-purpose flour
80 g caster sugar
80 g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch of salt
80 g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
80 g blanched almonds, coarsely chopped

for the filling
450 g fresh sweet cherries, pitted
450 g fresh apricots, pitted and quartered
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
70 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or the scraped seeds of a vanilla bean)

Special equipment: cherry pitter, round baking dish 22 cm in diameter and at least 5 cm deep, rimmed baking sheet


Preparation

make the almond crumble
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, caster and light brown sugar, ginger, salt and whisk briefly to combine. Add the cold cubes of butter and with your fingertips, rub it in until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the chopped almonds and cut them into the mixture using a knife. Don’t work the mixture too much.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes, so the topping chills.

In the meantime, preheat your oven to 190°C.

make the filling
In a large bowl, add the pitted cherries, the pitted and quartered apricots, lemon juice and grated zest, sugar, and vanilla bean paste (or scraped vanilla seeds). Mix well with a spatula until well combined and empty into your baking dish.

Take the topping out of the fridge and scatter it evenly over the fruit, pressing some together between your fingers to create small chunks that will become even more crispy once baked.

Place the baking dish on a thin, rimmed baking sheet to catch any fruit juices that might bubble over and place it on the low-medium rack of the preheated oven. Bake the crumble for 40-45 minutes until the fruits are bubbling and the topping is crunchy and golden brown.

Serve warm with crème fraîche, vanilla ice cream or unsweetened whipped cream.

This type of baked fruit dessert is usually eaten warm but I rather enjoy it cold as well, even straight from the fridge.

You can keep it in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, for a couple of days.

Chewy molasses spice cookies

I have been going crazy over cookies these past couple of weeks but I’ve been keeping it a secret. Reason being, the next few days, from today and up until Christmas, are going to be dedicated to cookies here on the blog!

I have wanted to do a themed week for as long as I can remember but never got around to it. Perhaps I was a bit lazy and it was certainly difficult to find time to do it, but now I decided to make time because I want to get all of you excited about making cookies as well. Not that many of you need your arm twisted to start baking, but perhaps some of you are in need of a gentle nudge to get into the holiday spirit.

For the last couple of weeks I have been baking cookies morning, noon and night, testing new recipes, revisiting old ones, photographing, keeping notes, eating lots and lots of them. And I’m not done yet. I have yet a couple to make.

So, let’s start with the first ones, these chewy molasses and spice cookies. Yes, I am aware that I have been posting American recipes lately, but it is a complete coincidence. I don’t know how it happened, honestly, but I’m not complaining one bit.

These cookies are full of molasses flavor and the aroma of ginger, cinnamon and cardamom. They are chewy in the middle and crisp around the edges, and the sugar coating makes them pleasantly crunchy. The dark brown sugar adds more sweetness but don’t go thinking that they are sickly sweet, no, they are just right, especially when eaten with a cup of strong coffee.

Now is the time to revel in the process of making cookies. Make them alone on a quiet afternoon, with your significant other, with your kids, your friends. Gift them to the ones you love because there is no better gift than a handmade one, especially when it comes in the form of a sweet cookie.

Happy baking!

Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
Adapted from Bon Appétit

I used demerara sugar to roll the cookies in. Demerara is an unrefined sugar with large granules that gives the cookies an extra crunch, but you can also use granulated white sugar.

The easiest way to measure molasses or any other sticky ingredient like honey, glucose syrup, etc., without sticking to the measuring jug, is by oiling well its bottom and sides (I use sunflower oil). Remove the excess oil from the jug and pour the molasses inside. Empty it onto the rest of your ingredients and watch how easily the molasses pours out of the jug, without sticking to it one bit.

Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients
260 g all-purpose flour
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¾ tsp ground cardamom
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
65 g caster sugar
60 g soft dark brown sugar
115 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
80 ml molasses
1 large egg

Demerara sugar for rolling

Special equipment: hand wire whisk, plastic wrap, 1 or 2 large baking sheets, baking paper


Preparation
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, baking soda and salt, and whisk. Whisking the dry ingredients is similar to sifting them but easier.

In a large bowl, add the caster and soft dark brown sugar, the melted and cooled butter, the molasses and the egg. Whisk vigorously with a hand wire whisk (no need for electrical) until the ingredients are well blended. You’re not looking to make the mixture fluffy or airy but just to mix together the ingredients well.

Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Switch to a spatula when the mixture becomes too thick to whisk and make sure there are no white spots from the flour in the resulting dough.
You should have a soft and pliable cookie dough that’s slightly sticky to the hands.
Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. The dough will firm up a bit and it will be less sticky and easier to work with.

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 Fahrenheit.
Line 1 or 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a large plate, add demerara sugar.
Take the cookie dough out of the fridge and using the 1 Tbsp measuring spoon, scoop out dough and shape into small balls. Roll them in the demerara sugar and place them onto the prepared baking sheet(s), spacing them 5 cm apart because they will spread considerably while baking.

Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake cookies for 8-9 minutes, until they are puffed, cracked and just set around the edges.
Take the baking sheet out of the oven and place the second one in.

Allow the cookies to stand on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring them carefully to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store them in a cookie tin for up to five days.