Ribs, my turn!

Saturday night I achieved a milestone in my life.  My husband left for a few hours to work his shift at the yoga studio and that left me to cook dinner.  Which was scheduled to be ribs.  Yikes.  I generally shy away from making meat, except chicken, because it's more expensive and I don't want to mess it up.  Also, he's just so darn good at cooking meat.  Why mess with perfection.  Anyway, he left and I spent the evening in the kitchen with a challenge and the desire to rise to the occasion.  Of course I couldn't just keep it simple, I wanted to put my own fingerprint on the meal and not just copy what he does.

Here are the steps:

1.  Salt and season the ribs, rub it in, broil each side on high to seal in the juices.

2.  Make BBQ sauce.

3.  Baste with BBQ sauce and wrap in foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour and then at 200 degrees for as long as desired to increase tenderness.

4.  Unwrap, re-baste, broil on low to make the BBQ sauce stick to the meat.

5.  Enjoy with sweet potato fries and hard cider.  Really not a better combo.

Seasoning ingredients were sweet curry and a special curry I received from a coworker.

BBQ sauce ingredients:

• tomato sauce
• tomato paste
• red curry paste
• curry powder
• onion
• minced garlic
• lime juice
• mustard
• molasses
• balsamic vinegar
• apple cider vinegar
• soy sauce
• salt
• ginger
• Winter Jack (whiskey with apple cider liqueur)

I just whipped it all up in the food processor and it was great.

My husband approved of the meal, and was proud of how much my cooking has improved in the last 10 years.  Ten years ago, the only thing I was allowed to make for dinner was spaghetti and cheese bread.  I was definitely proud of this growth.

In other news, I also cooked up some fabulous beef stew (see post from February 2).  Instead of water, I fortified it with beef broth.  To continue my love affair with curry, I also added curry powder and red curry paste.  Gives it a richer, more robust flavor profile.

I also made a few egg bakes for breakfast this week.  Mine included egg whites, bacon, green peppers, tomatoes, spinach, onions, curry powder, salt, mustard.  My husband's included eggs, cheese, hashbrowns, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, milk, cajun, curry, salt.

  

It's so rewarding to spend a day cooking and cleaning so that I don't have to do any of it later in the week.  It's nice to be able to heat up each meal with minimal prep time and get on to the more important things in life.