Stickiest-ever BBQ Ribs

Finally… the sun came out at the weekend and that only meant one thing… BBQ time! 🙂

Having a load of ribs and chops ready to be barbequed, we needed a glaze to dress them with, that would finish them off nicely. After reading an old copy of Good Food Magazine during the afternoon, there was a recipe for “Stickiest-ever BBQ Ribs” which sounded perfect!

Once we had found all the ingredients, it was the easiest thing to add them all together, whisk it all up and pour it onto the ribs ready for the BBQ. Now, when they said these were the stickiest ever, they were not joking! After only a few mouthfuls, we were licking fingers clean and trying to wipe the rest of the sauce from our mouths. Everyone devoured the ribs as if they were going out of fashion!

Definitely a keeper for the side of the fridge and one that I just had to share with everyone – really yummy.

Ingredients:
4 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
4 tbsp Soft Brown Sugar
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 tsp Paprika


Served best with cold beer – preferably from the West Country. 😉

Enjoy!

Salmon Tray Bake

Having tried the recipe off the front cover of a previous edition of delicious magazine for my last blog post (The One-Pan Roast), I thought I would also do the same thing again from this month’s edition, titled “One-Pan Winner”. Writing my blog is not only about learning and sharing old family favourites and secrets but also about sharing recipes that I want to try and would try for an evening’s supper, regardless of writing my blog or not!

The idea of these simple ‘one pan recipes’, that use fresh ingredients and that are easy to put together after a long day in the office, is great. Another bonus, is that it is something new to try, rather than reconstituting the same quick meals (with minor variations) that we normally throw together after working long days! If I see anymore of these style dishes on the cover in coming months, then I shall have to review and cook them as well, making a feature about them on the blog!

Being big fish fans and always being able to find Salmon in the fridge, we thought this would be perfect, based partly on the fact that the last one (One-tray roast chicken with white wine, zesty potatoes and asparagus) worked so well. The whole recipe was very aptly named as we thoroughly enjoyed it, not just from the taste but that it was very healthy too, which is never a bad thing.

What I like about these ‘one pan recipes’, is that ‘in theory’ you can try just about anything you want, that your imagination lets you come up with. If anyone has any other ‘one pan recipe’ favourites they love cooking, then please Comment on this post and let me know (including a quick recipe guide) – for the ones that grab my attention the most, I will do a cookup and review in a future post.

Ingredients:
2 Red Onions, cut into wedges
2 Red Peppers, sliced into strips
1 Yellow Pepper, sliced into strips
1 Courgette, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
1 Garlic Bulb, halved across the middle
2 Medium Tomatoes, halved
3 tbsp Olive Oil, plus extra to drizzle
270g Cherry Tomatoes on the vine
2-4 Salmon fillets (depending on how many you are cooking for)
Squeeze of Lemon Juice
Handful of fresh Basil leaves


1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Tumble the onions, peppers, courgette, garlic and medium tomatoes into a roasting tray. Pour over 3tbsp olive oil, season with sea salt and ground black pepper, then gently toss to coat. Roast for 20 minutes.

2. Add the vine tomatoes to the tray and lay the salmon fillets on top. Season, then drizzle with a little more oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Return to the oven for 10-12 minutes until the salmon is cooked through and the vegetables are tender.

Scatter with fresh basil leaves to serve.

Enjoy!

Quick Recipe – Twitter Salad Dressing

I stumbled across this salad dressing recipe, while browsing some old tweets yesterday and immediately thought it sounded good. Knowing that we were going to have a salad with supper, I decided to make it exactly as Donal Skehan had tweeted it:

My fav simple salad dressing: mix 3tbsp EVOO, 1 tbsp balsamic vin, 1tsp whole grain mustard, 1tsp honey, 1 chpd garlic clove, S + P! 🙂

It really is so easy to make and tastes as good as I thought it would, so I decided to share it.

Definitely one to pin to the fridge.

Enjoy!

Quick Recipe – Asparagus baked in Parma Ham

This is another recipe that we used over the Jubilee weekend when we went back to Somerset to visit the family. It is so simple and quick to cook up, either as a starter or to go with a main meal.

As my Mum has always said and to which I agree:

‘I love English asparagus and wait every year for it to appear at a local fruit farm or even supermarkets. It is a short season but I will not buy asparagus from foreign sources, somehow in the autumn and winter it just doesn’t seem right. One day when my vegetable garden is enlarged I shall grow it myself.’

Asparagus is really versatile and can be cooked in various ways, just steamed, with butter (plain or garlic), or hollandaise sauce. Grilled on the barbecue or baked in the oven. The woody ends, which are snapped off before cooking, can be added to stocks for an additional flavour.

This recipe was first made when my Mum had a bunch of asparagus and some Parma Ham and wanted to stretch both to make a starter go further. The Parma ham can be cut into strips and rolled around each spear before baking, but it is fiddly and this is the simplest and quickest method as the Parma Ham always breaks up during cooking. We have made this loads over the years, so thought I would share it with everyone.

The flavour of the Asparagus is simply delicious after roasting with the Parma Ham!

Ingredients:
1 Bundle of fresh Asparagus – (English)
8 Slices of Parma Ham or Prosciutto
Olive or rapeseed oil
Parmesan shavings
Freshly ground black pepper
1 non-stick baking tray

Oven 200C; 400F; Fan 180C Gas Mark 5/6

1. Wash the asparagus then take hold of the woody end and snap it.

2. Lay four slices of Parma Ham onto the baking tray and place the asparagus on top, brush the spears lightly with a little of the oil.

3. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste

4. Lay the other slices of Parma Ham on top.

5. Put in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, checking to make sure the ham is not burnt and the asparagus is soft (al dente is preferred)

6. Remove from the oven and put on a warm dish and using a potato peeler shave Parmesan cheese over the top if required.

7. Serve with crusty bread and/or a rocket and tomato salad, dressed with a balsamic and oil dressing.

NB – this can be part of an antipasto or a starter.

Enjoy!