Sticky Ribs with Goose Fat Fries | You've Got Meal!

Ah, sticky ribs, the reason God gave you fingers. And there you go. Enjoy! Just kidding, Mrs. G says I have to give you guys the full details of the recipe. Not that I wouldn’t have done that, but I think I mentioned before I’m kind of lazy. 

The main idea of the whole meal is to enjoy a Friday night sticky, greasy, delicious dinner made of some oven baked ribs, some potatoes cooked in goose fat, everything balanced by some crunchy and tangy salad leaves with beets and pumpkin seeds. 

The ingredients we used: 

• 3 single ribs, about 100 grams each (makes it easier to cook), 
• some potatoes, preferably new, 
• salt, pepper, 
• thyme, oregano, smoked paprika, 
• ketchup. 

For  the salad we had some crunchy iceberg leaves, with some radicchio rosso, an oven cooked small beet, cut into sticks, pumpkin kernels, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and a tsp. of some not very strong mustard.

I find that cooking ribs has a positive effect on my mood, maybe because of the delicious smell of grease and condiments melting away into something great. Despite that, it has a definite negative impact on the look of the kitchen, especially if you pan sear it. So, I like to slow cook the ribs in the oven, in an covered tray until the fat melts and the meat gets nice and tasty.

1. Start of by rubbing the meat with the dry condiments and some salt. 
2. For the next step, you can choose to use a tray with a grill on top, so the fat will melt and fall into that, or you can place the ribs straight in an oven tin, in which case the fat will melt and the ribs will also cook in it. 
3. We went for the second, mainly because I find that cooking meat in fat of any kind makes it really tender and elevates the taste. 
4. So, we covered the tray with some tin foil, and cooked the meat for 80 minutes on a medium low heat, turning the ribs half-way and covering back the tray with tin foil. 
5. In the last 10 minutes, remove the tin foil and brush the ribs with some ketchup or barbeque sauce. Turn up the heat and cook in order to create a glaze.

Meanwhile, you can cook the spuds by, you’ve guessed it, frying them in goose fat. Start of by cooking them on high heat for a couple of minutes, in order to get some color, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for around 15-20 minutes, until you get a golden brown color on all sides.

The salad helps the meat and the potatoes tone down on the fatty note. Just make a vinaigrette with the juice of half a lemon, 3 tbs. of olive oil, 1 tbs. of red wine vinegar, 1 tsp. of mustard, salt and pepper. Mix the result with the salad leaves of your choice – choose some crunchy ones, the beet and pumpkin seeds.

This meal, that you’ve just got – pun intended, screams for some Cabernet or a nice, red ale, so take your pick with the alcohol.  A full, heart meal that can get you ready for a lazy weekend at home, perhaps in the company of some chicken wings? Because that’s the second reason God gave you fingers.

Guys, we try and give you in every recipe we post here our honest and explicit experience with food, and any feed-back or tips for further improving any dish is well appreciated. So feel free to comment, criticize or like any post here, can’t wait to be hearing from you!

Enjoy,

Fresh Sardines with Chickpeas and Beets | You've Got Meal!

Butterfly sardines roasted or grilled * Beets and carrots salad * Boiled chickpeas with yogurt-harissa sauce

There are so many advantages to cooking fresh sardines that it’s hard for me to start talking about those wonderful fish. Sardines are super healthy, rich in good fats, super cheap and easy to find fresh everywhere. They’re like the fast food of the seas, except the part with the health benefits. I’ve seen a number of people who only ate canned sardines and that’s a pity, because they are missing out on something great.

Cooking this tiny tasty treat is super easy and fast, it actually takes longer to clean and gut the sardines. For this recipe, we decided to “butterfly” the fish, it looks nice in the plate and cooks faster – even though this is not such a big issue when cooking sardines. In order to butterfly the sardine, cut off the head, clean the guts out, place the fish belly side up and use your thumb to press down, near the spine of the fish, length wise, up to the tail. Remove the spine carefully pulling it out from the meat. I’m not sure if my description helps, but give it a try, it’s actually a very simple and fun process. 

Simply grill the seasoned meat or cook it in the oven – we went for the 2nd one, cooking the fish for 5 minutes at 180 Celsius. 

To accompany the fish, grab 200 grams of canned chickpeas (or boil your own) and mix them with a couple tbs. of Greek yoghurt and 1-2 tsp. of extra hot harissa sauce or another variety of a more dense spiced tomato sauce. Sprinkle some crushed (and optionally toasted cumin seeds on top).

To add some crunch to the fish and vegetable, grate a small beet and 1 or 2 carrots, season with salt, pepper, olive oil (just a small dash), the juice of 1 lemon and a 4-5 finely chopped mint leaves for freshness. 

To keep in the healthy note of the whole dish, you can sprinkle some flax seeds in the beet salad- those tiny bastards are great for you, an amazing source of fatty acids.

So there you go, super easy, super fast and super fast. Just make sure you take out the trash after cleaning those sardines, those guts are not that friendly for the nose.  

Enjoy,

Rice-filled Pumpkin | You've Got Meal!

It took for us to make our own blog in order to start cooking pumpkin, but the wait was worth. Growing up the only way we actually ate pumpkin was in (a very nice) pie, that, I have to admit, is one of the best smelling dishes I’ve ever seen. But bringing this seasonal ingredient to a salty dish was something I wanted to do for a very long time and I started with the stew posted last time. This time, the dish is a little flashier and it can certainly make you feel badass in front of your guests. Honestly, bringing a neat looking pumpkin filled with a spicy, creamy rice to the table has to score some points with the company you keep. 

Let’s start of with the ingredients that I used for filling a pumpkin about 1,3-1,5 kilo pumpkin: 
about half a cup of risotto rice, 
1 medium onion, 
3-4 cloves of garlic, 
1 medium beet, 
4 tbsp capers 
1 chilli, 
cinnamon, ground cumin and cardamom, 
salt, pepper, 
75 grams of butter, 
olive oil and 
100 grams of grated Parmesan. 

And of course the above said pumpkin and its insides. A couple of things about the ingredients: I decided to fill the pumpkin with a risotto style rice and, also, add cheese to this combination, but you can easily turn this recipe in a vegetarian star by using soy or coconut milk/cream, in which case a slightly more oriental touch of aromas could be in case. For the pumpkin, pick a healthy, sturdy one, with no visible marks or soft areas – those can give you trouble in the oven. You need to remove the insides of the “beast” before beginning, but don’t throw it away, you’ll integrate it in the rice. Also, make sure you don’t throw the top of the pumpkin, you’ll use it later.

• To start things of, cook your beet in the oven. First wash the root vegetable, pat it dry, place it on a piece of tin foil, splash a small amount of olive oil on the beet, some salt then close the foil on the vegetable, creating a wrapper that still holds enough room for the steam to build in there. The cooking time depends on the size of the beet, in this case it took 45 minutes. The vegetable is done when you can easily stick your knife through it. When the beet is done, remove the foil, let it cool down then finely cut it -  set aside. 
• Next, start making your risotto by cooking the finely diced onion and garlic for a bout 4 minutes on high heat, in some olive oil. Next add the beet,  the capers and the pumpkin insides (you won’t be able to use all of it, so keep around 1 cup of the finely diced pumpkin “entrails”). Cook the vegetables for another 3 -5 minutes. Add in the rice and all the spices and cook them for a minute before adding the liquid – use only stock or add wine, if you feel like it (1 part wine to 3 parts stock, make sure you simmer the wine down before adding the rest of the liquid).You need to cook the rice to about 90% done, so make sure you taste your rice -  it should take around 20 minutes on a medium high heat. 
• Remove the rice from the stove, add in the butter and mix things. 
• Next, start filling the pumpkin with the creamy rice – add a couple of tbs. of rice and top those with a heavy layer of cheese. Keep going until you’re almost at the top -  don’t completely fill the pumpkin up t the top, it will need some space to bubble up when the insides  start cooking. 
• Place top on the pumpkin and put in an oven tray, with some oven proof paper, on medium heat and cook for about 30 minutes. 
• You can choose to serve the pumpkin whole and cut it at the table or slice it yourself before plating, either way make sure to add some green to the dish with some chopped  parsley or oregano or basil or thyme or mint. Pick one already. And then eat, you’ll like it. 

Oh, and I can’t end this recipe without making this point: you can always use bacon in cooking the rice, just saying, no pressure……

Beet-pickled Deviled Eggs- Appetizers August (1)

I have a great fascination for appetizers, they are highly appreciated at every party, they look good, they are usually finger food and it is easy to make an impression. It is a pity we don't make them often enough for ourselves.

Personally, I find that, at parties, especially wedding parties, I am only impressed by or drawn to appetizers. Maybe because you can have more flavors and tastes on one plate and my greedy, exploring taste buds appreciate that. With that in mind, I am going to dedicate this hot month to those simple bites that prepare us for the main course.

 

For today, I put together  some deviled eggs with goose pate, that as a bonus, are also mildly pickled with beet.

First, you will need to hard-boil 10 eggs and remove the shell.

For preparing the pickled eggs you will need:

1 red beet
1 onion
3 cups water
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp sugar

Bring this to o boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely and then cover the boiled eggs with this mixture. In order for the eggs to get a nice colour you will need to let them in the beet water for at least 1 hour, and for a great taste also it need 2 hours. You can also let it sit overnight it is more convenient for you. The more you let it, the more color you will have when you cut them in half.

For the filling I used:

100g goose pate
2 tbsp sweet mustard
2 tbsp pickled horseradish (also beet-pickled)
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Mix all the ingredients above. Of course, you can use your usual horseradish, it happened that I had one with beets and more pink couldn't possibly hurt. If you don't have horseradish at all you can use a spicier mustard or you can just skip it alltogether for a sweeter finish.


When your mixture is ready and you are satisfied with its consistency, fill the eggs halves and garnish as you like.You could make it less thick with mayo or cream, but taste wise is definitely better without and they last longer to.

Don't they look good? Trust me, they are also very tasty and if you boil your eggs and the beet the day before it doesn't take much time or effort to put it together when you need it.

Enjoy,