We have a couple of friends coming over for lunch this weekend. I love having people around, being able to catch up, have some drinks and enjoy ourselves. Simple but always great!
I am huge fan of finger food, food that can be eaten in small plates, no real fuss.
For that reason I've decided to prepare two of my specialties - "Sticky Ribs" and "JM's Ceviche".
Are you ready? Mouth-watering stuff coming your way!
STICKY RIBS
You will need:
- 2 large racks of baby back ribs
- Salt and Pepper (to your taste)
- Powder Garlic (enough to rub all over the racks)
- Extra Virgin Oil (again, enough to rub all over the racks)
- One 12-ounce bottle of larger
- 1 cup of really good ketchup (I love Heinz but feel free to use your fave)
- 1 cup of peach or apricot jam (I usually use apricot...)
- 3 tbsp of lemon juice
What should you do?
- Preheat the oven to 300°. On a rimmed baking sheet, season the ribs with salt, pepper and garlic. Drizzle with oil and scatter the cloves over the ribs and in the pan.
- Pour the beer over the ribs, cover with foil and bake for 2 hours, until the meat is tender.Strain the pan juices into a saucepan.
- Whisk in the ketchup, jam and lemon juice and boil over high heat until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the broiler. Set the ribs meaty side down on the baking sheet, brush with glaze and broil 4 inches from the heat for 7 minutes.
- Turn the ribs and brush with half of the remaining glaze. Broil for 10 minutes, until starting to char. Brush with the remaining glaze and broil until browned, 10 minutes.
- Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.
Dribbling much?!
JM's CEVICHE
JM = Jose Mario, a very good friend of mine from El Salvador and possibly, the best ceviche chef in the whole entire world!
You will need:
- 2 pounds of white fish (I use fresh cod or sea bass but you can also use prawns only, mixed seafood, etc.)
- Enough lime juice to cover ¾ of the fish
- Orange juice (Half of the lime juice, it will break the bitterness of the lime)
- Coriander (as much as you want)
- Freshly grounded ginger (same here…)
- Mint (and same here again…!)
- 2 red onions
- Chilli (the red long one, tiny little slices without seeds unless you want it really hot!)
- Sea salt
Mix everything and leave it for at least 45 minutes! Buen provecho!
Two options above: fresh cod and prawns!