Memorial Day Ribs

Potluck at my friend Mary's for Memorial day. Everyone contributed, Mary made pasta salad, Diane brought a green salad-she grew the lettuce, she's a big gardener, Pat brought garlic bread-he burnt it. Judy brought white cake with chocolate frosting-she bakes from scratch-no mixes. My contribution was the ribs. I made three kinds, Tandoori, terriyaki, and sweet barbeque. I didn't get a picture of the bbq, but here are the other two. I just sliced them all and loaded them into my larger copper oval pan. Caitlyn, (pat's daughter and Dan's niece) played her sax for us. She is an accomplished musician and will be studying music at SIUE next year after she graduates high school. We all laughed and played cards until late into the night. A great big slice of Americana.

This tandoori paste is also really good on rotisserie chicken.

Tandoori

2 cups of plain yogurt

1/4 cup grated fresh ginger root

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 hot chili (I used a bird's eye), minced

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tablespoon cumin seed

1 Tablespoon mustard seed

1/4 cup commercial tandoori spice

Combine all of the ingredients except the yogurt in a mortar and pestle and mash into a paste.

Spread the paste over two racks of baby back ribs and marinate over night.

Grill over indirect heat until the ribs are tender, brushing with additional yogurt mixture, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours-keep the heat very low.

Spare Ribs and Kraut or Choucroute Garnie-German or French?

I don't know if this is German or French, but who really cares anyway? It is a marvelous cold weather meal and so easy. I just rinsed a bag of kraut, then mixed it with a sliced onion, a couple quartered red potatoes, one large apple, 1 cup chicken stock, and 1 cup white wine.

I layed a slab of ribs across the kraut mixture, sprinkled the top with some sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and popped it into the oven at 300 degrees for 2 hours. I increased the temperature to 375 degrees, removed the lid (to let the ribs brown on top and some of the liquid evaporate), and returned it to the oven for about 20 minutes more roasting, it was ready to serve. I guess it is really just a casserole.

1 slab of pork spare ribs (about 2 pounds) brined in salt water for two hours
1 pound bag of kraut-rinsed
1 large onion sliced
1 large apple sliced
3 or four red "B" potatoes, quartered
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup white wine
1 bay leaf