Sort of ribs, slaw, stuffed skins and corn.

Hello. It’s been a long time since I last updated it, and I’ve genuinely missed my blog. I’m sorry for my absence (in case any of you missed it!) But it has been an absolutely insane few months. 

To summarise I have:

• Got a new job
• Left the old job
• Gone on holiday to Berlin, eaten lots of pork and drank a lot of beer
• Lived in someone else’s house in London for three weeks (thanks Lisette!)
• Started a new job
• Moved back to Leeds
• Found a house, packed up a house and moved to Manchester all in the space of a week

You know, amongst other things. So my culinary inspiration has been low. I have managed to make normal food and real meals more often than not, but it hasn’t been new or interesting or novel, it’s been something that I’ve made before and is probably on this blog already. (or it has been a stir fry. I've had a lot of them)

So I had to ask for help for this one. When asked what kind of meat I should buy for this weekend, my other half said “It’s a while since we’ve had a chicken” and that wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted to cook something different and that I don’t cook all the time. I asked a friend for inspiration for what to do with beef, as I hardly ever cook beef and she suggested Beef Short Ribs. (suggested reading, her blog http://megabekatron.com/) Finally I was getting inspired. I started to think about home-made coleslaw with chilli and coriander. And corn on the cob, with butter. And salads. And potato wedges? Or stuffed skins? Oh, the list is endless. Brilliant. 

You've got to have time for this, although there isn't that much to do and it's not difficult it just takes absolutely ages. Lazy rainy Saturday afternoon ought to do it. 

Beef Ribs, with stuffed potato skins, corn and coleslaw.

Cue lots of confused conversations with my butcher (have found a new butcher now I've moved). Lots. Short ribs is an American name for the cut, and we talked at cross purposes for much of the week, and I'm still pretty sure I don't have short ribs, but you know what? There's meat, there's bone and sod it I might as well just give it a good go. 

Some recipes advocate boiling them first to help keep them tender. I thought this seemed like a good idea as surely the by-product is basically stock? I could always use stock, and lovely beef stock would make an amazing soup. 

So I put the big hunks of rib into a pot with two chopped onions, some celery and a few cloves of peeled garlic as well as some bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. I then just covered with water and simmered for about an hour, occasionally skimming scum off the top. 

I didn't take any photos of this, because it has scum. That's not very photogenic. 

In the mean time shove some potatoes in the oven to bake. And you can probably make your coleslaw at this point too... the recipes are below.

For the marinade: 

Rub the cooled ribs with some cumin, coriander, paprika, salt and pepper. Cover and put in the oven for an hour at about 160 degrees. 

Big hunks of meat rubbed with spices

I mixed two tablespoons of tomato puree, one tablespoon of soy sauce (ours is really good dark stuff from the Chinese supermarket, use more if it's not), two tablespoons honey, and three tablespoons of bourbon. Mix thoroughly with a good pinch of salt, some chilli flakes and salt and pepper. And a splodge of ketchup. Thoroughly coat the ribs in that, then put them back in the oven covered for another hour. 

Uncover them for the last half hour, then whack up the heat to 200 for the last 15 minutes. Add a bit of water to the pan if they look like they're getting dry.

Potato skins

Once your potatoes are baked take them out of the oven and let them cool for a bit. Then cut them in half, scoop out the insides and mix with spring onion and cheese, and salt and pepper.

Put the mix back in the potato skins and put in the oven for half an hour. You could pile more cheese on top, and this is hardly a healthy meal, but I decided enough was enough. Serve with a big dollop of sour cream.

 NB. if you weren't having such a ridiculously meaty meal you could fry/grill some bacon and add to these.

Coleslaw

Mix two big teaspoonfuls of good quality mayo with some lemon juice. You could make your own mayonnaise, but I had enough to be getting on with. I have done it in the past though, look! 

Slice some white cabbage, a carrot and a red onion as finely as you can. (I ended up grating the carrot) A mandolin would be good for this, but I don't own one. It's on the list of things I covet for my kitchen, but the other half thinks I'm being ridiculous. 

Mix it all together with the mayo, a handful of finely chopped coriander, and some finely chopped chilli. Season. 

Boil your corn in plenty of salted water, then toss it in some butter. And you're there.

This is not a healthy meal. And it's not really the meal I was intending to make, and it was the wrong cut of beef, but my word it was tasty and tender. As usual I made far too much, but I'm going to shred the rest of the meat and have it in sandwiches with leftover coleslaw with some leaves.

Whilst making this I was mostly listening to: Giles Peterson on 6music. Good stuff.

This week's soup: will be something involving beef stock. Suggestions welcome.