A cold drab Sunday. The fire was lit, and I started to prepare the food - always enjoyable.
We had bought a superb piece of Pork Ribs from Hudson Meats - quite large, but there were three of us. I dried the skin then rubbed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil and salt for the crackling. As we are leaving town for a few weeks, the usual game of emptying the fridge is on! This dictated our vegetable choices. I had somewhere seen a recipe for onions that I wanted to try - Spanish Onions cut in half and put in a dish cut side down. Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, sprinkle with freshly ground Black Pepper and Salt, strew with Bay Leaves, sprinkle with Brown Sugar and then splash generously with Port. I covered these with foil for the first half hour, then removed the foil for the last 15 minutes or so. Of course we had to have crunchy roast potatoes cooked with the Pork.
I put the Pork on first in a very hot oven for 30 minutes, then reduced the heat and added the potatoes to the pork pan. This is when I also put the onions into the oven. I also sliced a Red Capsicum in two, drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and black Pepper and added that to the oven. I then cooked a whole cauliflower, which is virtually steamed as it sits up on its stalk, then just before serving covered it with 'Doodles' Aoli and freshly cracked Black Pepper and Salt. A little disappointing - good idea, but maybe the good old cheese sauce would have been better. It was also a little undercooked - my fault. Then I briefly tossed some Kale in butter with pepper and salt. Of course no meal is complete without PEAS, which I cooked with heaps of fresh mint, a sprinkle of sugar, salt and pepper, then drained and added a dollop of butter.
Unusually I had to help the crackling along by putting it under the grill - which worked - thankfully as that is of course the best part. I made a gravy, using all the vegetable juices with a splash of Kecap Manis for colour, then served.
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