Donal Skehan's sweet and sticky ribs

I don't know about you, but my absolute favourite thing about summer barbecues is the ribs. Sweet and sticky tender meat, slow roasted and then finished off over hot coals is my idea of heaven. These ribs are covered in my go-to barbecue sauce which I make again and again throughout the summer.

Serves 6

You will need

For the ribs:

3kg pork baby back ribs

2 onions, peeled and sliced in half

1 bulb of garlic, unpeeled and top sliced off

Pinch of sea salt

For the barbecue sauce:

60g demerara sugar

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

4 tbsp honey

4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbsp dried English mustard

2 tsp Tabasco sauce

Method

Cut the strips of ribs into manageable pieces with about 3-4 ribs to each piece and place in a large saucepan with the onions, garlic, a generous pinch of salt and enough cold water to cover. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 1-1ƒ hours or until the meat is tender.

Preheat the oven to 200°C or light the barbecue. Whisk all the ingredients for the barbecue sauce together in a saucepan. Bring to the boil over a high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for about five minutes until you have a thick sauce.

Remove the ribs from the pan and discard the water, onion and garlic. Place the ribs in a large baking dish or roasting tin and coat with half the barbecue sauce. Place in the oven to cook for 20 minutes or place on the barbecue for 5 minutes on each side. Serve with the rest of the barbecue sauce and a lot of paper napkins!

BBQ Corn

One of my all-time favourite barbecue sides is this easy grilled corn. When you’re cooking your meat, place a few ears of corn around the edge and grill for 15-20 minutes. Once cooked, slather with homemade herb butter with garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. If you can get your hands on fresh corn with the husks still on, it’s well worth the effort.

Thirst quencher

Keeping everybody fed and watered at a barbecue can be a nightmare, so I was delighted when I picked up a handy Kilner jar drinks dispenser. It holds five litres of your favourite summer drinks and looks fantastic filled with ice and citrus slices. The best bit… your guests can serve themselves and you can enjoy the party.

Grill-Seeker

A man who knows a lot about barbecues is Mr Christian Stevenson, aka DJ BBQ. Christian is part of Jamie Oliver’s FoodTube channel and is well known for his grilling talents. All of his nuggets of barbecue gold have been gathered up by FoodTube and published in a handy little book along with his (and Jamie’s) favourite barbecue recipes, so it’s well worth picking up. This will become your barbecue bible!

Forkful's speedy suppers

This week I'm sharing two autumnal gateway recipes for autumn; quick breaded mussels for a light supper, and a cosy, simple, savoury sweet potato pie to warm you up.

Breaded mussels

Serves 2  Prep Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins

INGREDIENTS

1kg fresh mussels

5 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley

1 clove of garlic, finely grated

1 tablespoon of finely grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Wedge of lemon, to serve

Baguette or crusty bread, to serve

METHOD

1. Scrub the mussels and pull off any beards you find. Throw away any mussels that are already open.

2. Bring about 150ml of water in a saucepan with a lid to a boil. Add the mussels and steam for 3 to 4 minutes, until they have opened. Remove from the water and throw away any mussels that haven't opened. Remove the top half of the shell and lay the mussels, in their bottom shell, on a baking tray.

3. Mix the breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic Parmesan and olive oil together in a bowl. Spoon a teaspoon into each mussel.

Savoury sweet potato pie

Makes 4 small pies

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cooking Time: 45 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 sweet potato

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

Salt

Pepper

1 x sheet of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry

4 teaspoons of crème fraiche

1 handful of roughly grated parmesan

1 tablespoon of roughly chopped walnuts

1 egg, beaten

1. Pre-heat your oven to 190c/170c fan/gas mark 5. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Peel and finely dice sweet potato into small cubes. Add to the pan, along with the leaves from the rosemary sprig, a pinch of salt and pepper, and fry for 15 minutes or until soft.

2. Meanwhile, lay out the pastry on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. If it’s more of a rectangle shape, cut into a large square (discard the leftover bits of pastry). Then cut the pastry into four squares. Put a teaspoon of crème fraiche in the middle of the pastry. Top with a tablespoon of sweet potato mix. Sprinkle with the roughly grated Parmesan.

3. Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until pastry is golden and cheese has melted. Serve with a lightly dressed green salad.

Discerning Diner: Flavors pop at Thai Palace

CAMP HILL—Thai food, known for its spicy, aromatic flavors, continues to rise in popularity and was recently ranked No. 7 in Parade magazine on a list of ethnic cuisines Americans crave most.

If you have yet to experience the fresh, colorful, taste bud-tingling temptations that are created with ingredients like chilies, galangal, cilantro root, garlic, shallots, lemongrass and kaffir lime, Camp Hill’s Thai Palace is a good place to begin.

Lunch at ‘The Palace’

I usually describe either lunch or dinner in my column, but because some readers may be unfamiliar with Thai cuisine in general, I decided to evaluate both lunch and dinner over the past several days.

The lunch buffet is a great choice for the uninitiated. From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on Sundays, customers can sample a variety of dishes before returning for dinner and investing in an entire entrée.

The buffet, spread out over five tables, offers a nice variety of selections. Monday’s featured soup choices were vegetable lemongrass and curry chicken coconut milk soup. Alongside the soup station was a crunchy Thai slaw made with cabbage, carrots and peanut sauce, vegetable tempura and fried spring rolls. A customer favorite seemed to be the Pad Thai, containing rice noodles sautéed with eggs and scallions, tossed with beans sprouts and sprinkled with crushed peanuts.

Heartier entrees included sweet and sour pork, chicken and broccoli and what turned out to be my favorite, the aromatic basil chicken dish sautéed with brightly colored peppers, onions, whole basil leaves and just-the-right amount of spicy Thai chilies to awaken the senses and make me long for more.

Petite desserts like rich-looking, triple-layered chocolate cake beckoned, but I opted for the lighter demitasse cup of creamy tapioca pearls in coconut milk.

On to dinner

We shared our dinner experience with about 12 other customers, seated in the restaurant’s bright main dining room decorated in shades of red and golds. My husband and I slid into one of the comfy booths and were presented with a seven-page menu, making choosing a bit difficult.

Our waitress, who appeared to be training another waitress, had a degree of difficulty answering our questions, so we decided to “wing it,” (pardon the pun), with a duck salad, which turned out to be an excellent choice. Chunks of cold duck tossed in lime juice and chili paste perched atop spinach and arugula and were joined by cilantro, shallots, tomatoes, cucumber and cashews.

I thought I might find the temperature of the duck off-putting, but was pleasantly surprised that all ingredients worked exceptionally well together. My husband described it as “outstanding” and “unique,” with a “complex flavor profile.”

A refreshing house salad with crisp greens, croutons, strips of crunchy green pepper, raw mushrooms and onions served with a side of light, homemade coconut dressing was a perfect precursor to my entrée. I ordered the smoked chili beef with medium spice, which, to my taste, is hot, but not enough to interfere with the overall flavor of the food. The beef, combined with with bamboo shoots, smoked chilies and sautéed vegetables, was tender and mildly sweet.

My husband ordered the hot version of chili bamboo with pork, and the flavor exploded from the Thai chilies, which were carefully combined with bamboo shoots, carrots, bell peppers and onions. He gave the meal a thumbs up and even cried at one point (although we may have to blame the spices for that).

Portions, served with either brown or white rice, were ample enough to take home to enjoy later.

We ended our meal on a cool note with creamy coconut Thai custard served with mango. The small portions were just enough to cap off a satisfying meal with a spoonful, or two, of something sweet.

Because it appears that dishes are made to order, I will describe the dinner service pace as leisurely, so prepare to linger awhile. You may consider taking along a bottle of wine to enjoy with a companion since Thai Palace is BYOB.

This Lower Parel food delivery service offers delicious Chinese fare

In a city like Mumbai, it would be safe to say that where there's a hungry soul, there's the fried rice. But we never expected that a food delivery service, which specialises in Kolkata or Awadhi food, would surprise us with the humble fried rice. And that's what Feeast (yes, that's how they spell it) a new addition to Lower Parel's eating joints, did.

The eatery, located opposite the Peninsula Business Park, follows the model of the multi-chain retail outlets like Ammi's Biryani (also in the same area) we had written about few months ago, and has outlets in Worli, Antop Hill, Kalina, Wadala (Imax), Andheri (Sangam), and Ghatkopar (R City) along with a full-fledged restaurant in Thane that opened this month.

Our order included three combo meals — Chicken Fried Rice with Choice of Gravy (R160), Mutton Curry with Steamed Rice (Rs 150) and Veg Keema with two Laccha Paratha (Rs 110) — available only between 12 noon to 4 pm. For starters we had Mix Veg Cutlets (Rs 50), Chicken Cutlets (Rs 80), Chicken Wings (R120), Chicken Classic Momos (Rs 100), and a Mutton Tawa Roll with wheat bread (Rs 130). Feeast@East had us with the Chicken Fried Rice. Packed with the right mix of egg and chicken pieces and mixed vegetables (chopped), we were simply blown away by the simplicity and taste of the popular dish. The gravy added to the charm.

Our next favourites were easily the chicken cutlets and the heart-shaped veg cutlets (two pieces each), which for some reason had peanuts in it. The Momos (five pieces) had gotten cold by the time we began tasting the food, but they could still give some of the most popular Chinese joints here, a run for the money. For Rs 100, it was steal. Another surprise winner in the menu for us were the Chicken Wings.

Cooked with soy sauce, sugar and ginger, it added a nice fiery touch to our meal. However, we feel, perhaps some adjustment in the sugar quantity may add a great deal to the dish, as it was a little too sweet for our liking. The Mutton Tawa Roll was also good, but failed to tantalise our taste buds. The most disappointing items, however, were the Veg Keema with Lachcha Paratha and the Mutton Curry with Steamed Rice. Not only was the curry too little to go with the steamed rice, it tasted weirdly off as well. The Lachcha Paratha was a bit too hard for our liking, and the Veg Kheema simply too disappointing to be discussed any further.

Eat This: Dutch Pancakes at Lale

It seems as though brunch is the one meal where it's 100 percent socially acceptable, and welcomed, to go to town on the sweets. That's not counting the afternoon snack or dessert (sometimes lovingly referred to as second or third dinner), of course. With that being said: Put Dutch pancakes on your list to try next if you haven't yet already.

Even a cursory search for anyone with Internet access will already yield generous results when it comes to the brunch joints in San Francisco with delicious pastries, french toast, and pancake options. These days, expensive toast has also been generously added to the mix. A personal favorite of mine that I haven't seen as often is the Dutch pancake, also known as the Dutch baby. (Note: Contains no baby. Sorry, had to.)

A Dutch pancake/baby is inspired by traditional German egg pancakes (which are called eierkuchen), and it's essentially an eggier pancake with crispy edges. Dutch pancakes are made of eggs, milk, flour, and sugar, and then baked in a cast iron or metal pan — hence those delicious crispy edges. They're usually served with butter and powdered sugar, and/or topped with fruit (strawberries, bananas, and apples are all popular). Basically, just imagine that a crepe met a pancake at a bar, and they invited a popover in on the fun, and after too many shots of syrup came their lovechild: the Dutch baby. In other words, it's far more superior than the American pancake. Yes, I said it.

Lale in the Inner Sunset (which quietly took over the slightly dated and old Villa Romana space — rest in peace) has delicious Dutch pancakes. These dessert-like, breakfast-appropriate pancakes are only available on the weekends, and come with a couple of different options for toppings, including caramelized bananas and whipped cream (again, still breakfast appropriate). I prefer their version to Outerlands', because Lale's Dutch pancakes are thicker and heftier, almost more custard-like with their fluffy centers, and still have those deliciously crisped edges.

They also feature a menu with a Mediterranean flare, with a popular lamb wrap available during lunch and dinner, alongside a fairly traditional and San Francisco-approved breakfast and brunch on the weekends (with other notable items here including their Jerusalem Benediction, a corned beef hash eggs benedict atop a homemade English muffin).