This is sticky finger food at its very best.  This recipe is from our cookbook author of the week, Diana Henry.  Rather than roasting, try cooking these tasty ribs on a braai, or smoke in a kettlebraai, as we do at Wickedfood Cooking School, in our outdoor cooking class. Also try the marinade with chicken wings or drumsticks.

±3kg rack pork spare ribs

5 cloves garlic, crushed

1T  Tabasco

4cm ginger, peeled and very finely chopped

¾ cup syrup or molasses

½ cup honey

3T  balsamic glaze

2½T  Dijon mustard

1½T  Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup bourbon or whiskey

1. Mix all the ingredients (except the ribs) together. If you have time, pour two-thirds of the liquid over the ribs, rubbing it in well, and leave them to marinate overnight. If not, preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line two or three big roasting tins with foil and paint the ribs on both sides with the glaze, keeping back about a third to add during cooking.
3. Arrange the racks meat-side up in the tins, making sure they don’t touch. Roast for 30 minutes then reduce the heat to 140°C and cook the ribs for another 1½ hours, basting with glaze from time to time.
4. Add the last bit of glaze 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Cut into individual ribs and serve.

Click here for more recipes from Diana Henry

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

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This is a simple, yet truly delicious way of preparing pork.  Serve it simply with some boiled potatoes or crusty bread and a big side salad.

Taken from our cookbook of the week, MoVida Rustica chef and author Frank Camorra explains the recipe as follows .

“I have always wondered why — apart from the fact that it tastes so good — the Spanish eat so much pork. Perhaps it originated as a knee-jerk reaction during the post-Moor period when the Spanish Inquisitors were roaming the country torturing anyone who didn’t conform to their particular brand of monotheism. Jews and Muslims who had converted to Christianity often lived in fear and proclaimed their new faith by publicly eating pork. The more enthusiastic converts would hang a ham or sausages above their door. Every time my dad goes back home he heads down to the old town and seeks out his favourite grill, just near the Mezquita (great mosque). There he sits and orders a great plate of sliced grilled pork loin served with two lively sauces: a fresh oregano and raw garlic sauce, and a red sauce made from piquillo peppers and chilli. I now find myself following in my father’s footsteps.”

2 handfuls of oregano leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped
a handful of parsley
± 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2T  fennel seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 lemon, juice of

Salsa de piquillo

250g jar of piquillo peppers, drained
2 red bullet or other medium-hot chillies, seeded
2 garlic cloves
1t  smoked paprika
1T  ground cumin
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

To serve

4 pork loin fillets, about 350g  each
Oil, for frying
Fine sea salt

Salsa verde

• Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for 1–2 minutes, or until smooth. Season to taste, pour into a serving bowl, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Salsa de piquillo

• Put all the  ingredients in a food processor and blend for 1–2 minutes, or until smooth. Season to taste, pour into a serving bowl, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To serve

• The pork loins can be chargrilled or pan-fried. To chargrill the pork, heat some barbecue coals so that you can only hold your hand 12 cmabove them for no longer than 3 seconds. Season the fillets well and grill each of the four sides for 3 minutes each, then turn and cook each side again for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and allow to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
• To pan-fry the pork loins, preheat the oven to 200ºC.
• Place ±1/4 cup olive oil in a large, heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan over medium–high heat until very hot.
• Add the pork fillets and cook each of the four sides for 1 minute each, sprinkling each side with fine sea salt as you go. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook the pork for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
• Cut the fillets into slices 2 cm thick and enjoy with the two salsas.

Serves 6

For more delicious recipes from the book, MoVida Rustica:

• Chocolate with sweet olive oil
• Artichokes with jamón
• Nougat
• Spanish tomato, egg and cumin soup
• and more
  

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

© David Loftus

At Wickedfood Cooking School, we have used a number of Jamie Oliver books over the years as inspiration for Jamie Oliver cooking classes. This recipe is taken from his latest book, Jamie does…, Jamie Oliver’s personal celebration of amazing food from six very different countries.

When the Moors invaded Spain they brought grapes and dried fruits with them. Their love of mixing dried fruits with meats definitely left its mark on Spanish cooking and this is my nod to that time in Spain’s history. Cut into these big tender chops and you’ll get sweet juicy flavours inside perfectly cooked meat. Go to a good butcher and ask for chops that are 2.5cm thick, ideally with two different colours of meat on them: the sweet darker meat, and the leaner eye meat. Then head to any good food store for a jar of beans. Spanish beans are like the Bentley of beans, so although they cost a bit more than the tinned ones they make all the difference.

For the chops

a few sprigs of fresh oregano or marjoram, leaves picked
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small handful of raisins
good quality dry sherry
Spanish extra virgin olive oil
4 large, thick pork chops (approximately 350g each), bone in, the best quality meat you can afford

For the beans

2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
a few fresh bay leaves
1 x 540g jar of white beans or butter beans, drained
400g Swiss chard, stalks trimmed, or spinach leaves

1. Pound most of your oregano leaves with a small pinch of salt and pepper in a pestle and mortar. Roughly chop the raisins, then add them to the pestle and mortar with a splash or two of sherry and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Muddle everything together to make a paste, then put to one side for a minute.
2. Lay each pork chop in front of you so the side with the fat is farthest away. Carefully insert a knife into the side nearest you and move it around to make a pocket inside. Use your fingers to fill each pocket with the raisin paste. (click here to see a video on how to do this.)
3. Fry the strips of fat from your bacon in a medium pan on a high heat for a few minutes, then add the bacon and a drizzle of olive oil. Stir in the chopped onion and pepper, then turn the heat down and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Roughly chop your rosemary leaves and add those to the pan along with your bay leaves.
4. Add your beans to the pan with 350ml of water. Stir, then leave to cook away for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the beans and add a splash more water if they look dry.
5. Get a barbecue or griddle pan really hot. Rub some olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper all over the pork chops. Put them on the very hot side of your barbecue and sear them for 2 to 3 minutes on each side to get some good colour going, then move them to the gentler side of the barbecue so they can cook slowly. If you’re using a griddle pan, turn the heat down to medium low and cook for a further 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
6. Meanwhile finely chop the stalks of the Swiss chard and add them to the pan with the beans. Roughly chop the leaves and add them to the pan for the last minute or two of cooking so as not to lose the flavour. Taste the beans and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a few more minutes if you want to achieve a thicker consistency.
7. Divide the beans among four plates and lay a pork chop on each. Sprinkle   reserved oregano leaves over chops, finish with a drizzle of olive oil & serve.

Serves 4

For more recipes from the book …click here.

Wickedfood Cooking School, Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Every day during the Football World Cup Delia Smith will add a recipe that reflects the cuisine of one of the teams playing. This is her take on the braai. The sauce is suitable for all meats – lamb cutlets, pork ribs or chicken drumsticks. The quantity is enough to glaze six of each, which makes a nice mixture of meats to serve to six people. One important point is that drumsticks need pre-baking in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 180°C, for 15 minutes just before braaiing. This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection.

6 chicken drumsticks

6  lamb cutlets

6 pork ribs

For the apricot barbecue glaze:

6 dried apricots

2 T dark brown sugar

Few drops Tabasco sauce

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup light soy sauce

1T grated fresh ginger

1T ground ginger

2T tomato purée

1 clove garlic, minced

For the apricot barbecue glaze:

1. Begin by placing the apricots in a small saucepan with just enough water to cover them, then bring them up to simmering point and simmer for 5 minutes. Place them, with the leftover liquid,  in a blender or food processor together with all the other glaze ingredients. Whiz everything to a purée and the sauce is ready.
2. All you need to do now is arrange the meat in a shallow dish, pour the glaze over them – turning the pieces of meat so that each one gets a good coating – then cover and leave in a cool place until you’re ready to cook, preferably overnight. When you light the fire, pre-cook the chicken drumsticks as above, then cook with the other meat.
3. Scrape any sauce that’s left in the dish into a small saucepan, add a glass of white wine to it and bring it all up to simmering point to give some extra sauce.
4. Serve with oven-roasted potatoes, a crisp salad and some very robust red wine!

Serves 6

For more Fifa World Cup recipes from Delia Smith, … click here

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

This Austrian specialty has a long and illustrious history. Traditionally it is made with thin slices of veal, coated in breadcrumbs and fried. It is very important to use plain breadcrumbs and not flavoured ones. If however veal is unavailable, you could use pork fillets, chicken breasts fillets or even thin slices of rump or sirloin.

6 veal schnitzels
Salt and pepper

300g flour
3 eggs, beaten
300g plain breadcrumbs

Pork fat or oil
2 lemons, cut into wedges
Parsley for garnish

1. Take the schnitzels, and with a sharp knife, cut gently across the grain, ensuring that you do not cut all the way through the meat. Lightly pound with a meat mallet to flatten evenly, then prick with a point of a knife all over and season.
2. Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in three separate flat bowls.
3. When ready to fry, dip the schnitzels in batches, first into the flour, then the eggs, and last into the breadcrumbs, shaking off the excess each time.
4. Heat approximately 2cm of oil in a large pan, and once very hot, fry the schnitzels in batches, in one layer until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towel and then place on a warmed serving dish, while you fry the remainder.
5. Serve with wedges of lemon, a potato salad, creamed spinach, spicy cabbage and/or a green salad.

Serves 6

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studios. Cooking lessons are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cookery classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.