The Dirty Way

I harvested my garden’s first melon this week. It was perfect. This recipe is a bit of a mutt. It was inspired by a desert served at the CSA Members Potluck Saturday of blueberries, melon, and mint, mingled with a few ideas lifted out of Star Provisions’ peach and mint salad. I was pretty pleased with the results. I know you’re thinking “pepper and fruit?” but go with me here. The mint and lime make it refreshing and cool while the black pepper balances it all out by paying a kind of homage to summer’s heat:

I perfectly ripe, orange-fleshed melon (like cantaloupe)
1 pint fresh blueberries
2 or 3 sprigs of fresh mint
juice of one lime
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Remove the mint leaves from the stem and cut into slivers (my favorite technique is to stack the leaves and roll them up like a cigar, then cut the roll horizontally). Put in a bowl with the lime juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Give the mixture a little stir and let the flavors marry while you get on with the fruit. Remove the rind and seeds from the melon. Cut the melon into small cubes, about one centimeter and toss into the mint and lime juice mixture. Add the blueberries and mix well. I enjoy this dish best at room temperature, but it’s lovely cold as well. Serves 6, generously.

I’m a fan of ribs, low-country mustard, high-country tomato, I just love slow cooked meat infused with hot, vinegary flavour. Ribs are wonderful for a July 4th picnic, and are a destination for my husband and his family every summer at Sweatman’s Barbecue in South Carolina. There’s something about the spiciness of ribs that intensifies the summertime; like somehow, the utter embrace of heat on top of heat makes the southern summer more sultry than stifling. But in the cold winter months, I crave a different kind of heat; something deeply warming rather than sweat-inducing. These ribs are my answer to this urge.

Note: I’m generally a big proponent of what a marinade can do for meat, but I don’t always have the time. Then again, ribs aren’t exactly a fast-food, but to allow for spontaneity, you can drop the ribs in the marinade for an hour or two before you are ready to cook it, just give it a roast in the marinade alone for the first half-hour of cooking.

For the marinade:
3-4 lbs pork spare ribs
1 cup apple cider or juice (not apple juice that’s more sugar than apple, but the real stuff)
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 tbs chilli powder
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
dash of Tabasco, or a couple of slivered hot peppers, if they’re handy

For the braising sauce:
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 tbs of your favourite Worcestershire sauce
4 tbs dark molasses
1 tbs ground ginger
2 tbs ground cinnamon
2 tbs ground dry English mustard
1 tbs chilli powder
1 lemon, plus juice
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbs bourbon or whisky (I use Southern Comfort or Maker’s Mark)

Make small incisions on both sides of the ribs and put the bits of crushed garlic inside them. Mix all the other ingredients for the marinade together and rub into the meat. Let sit overnight, or for a couple of hours (see note). Bring meat to room temperature and drop it with all the marinade dregs into your roasting tin. Then mix together all the ingredients for braising sauce, and brush onto both sides of the meat. Roast for about 2 1/2 hours at 350 degrees. If you have more time, turn the temperature down to 250 and give it another hour or so. The longer the meat cooks, the more tender it will be. You could cook it for 6 or 8 hours at around 200 degrees, but despite my inner slow-foodie, practicality rears it’s head. About every 20 to 30 minutes brush meat with the braising sauce. After the first hour of cooking, turn the meat and roast the other side, remembering to faithfully brush this side as well.

Allow to sit for a few minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 4, generously.

for the lamb:
2 cuts rack of lamb
5 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 shallot, sliced thinly
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
6 tbs butter
best, aged balsamic vinegar

for the potatoes:
1 lb fingerling potatoes
2 sprigs rosemary
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Take the rosemary, crushed garlic, sliced shallot and butter and melt all together in a pan. Allow the aromatic herbs to infuse in the butter and let stand at a low heat for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into smallish cubes, drizzle with olive oil, and toss in the unpeeled cloves of garlic and rosemary sprigs. Go ahead and pop them in the oven at about 400 degrees.
While the potatoes are roasting, dredge the lamb in the now cooled butter mixture until well-coated. Rub lamb with salt and pepper. Pour the rest of the butter mixture into a frying pan, get the pan very, very hot and sear the lamb, no more than about 30 seconds on each side. As soon as you turn off the heat, pour the red wine into the pan to deglaze.
Once the potatoes are tender, pull them out of the oven and arrange the lamb on top of the potatoes, make sure to pour in the jus from the pan. Turn the oven done to about 275 degrees and put the lamb and potatoes in the oven and roast for 5 to 10 minutes, for rare to medium-rare meat. Pull the pan out of the oven and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes. Drizzle a little balsamic on the lamb before serving.

Serves 4 generously.