Spare ribs with sweet potato chips
Sticky spare ribs are coated in a spicy glaze before being slowly roasted until tender. The ribs are served with chips, roasted onions and sweet and sour peppers.
Ingredients
For the spare ribs
- 750g/1lb 10oz pork baby back ribs
- 125ml/4fl oz honey
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 30g/1oz tomato purée
- 3 tbsp chipotle chilli sauce
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 tsp hot smoked paprika
- 300ml/10fl oz white wine
For the roasted onions
- 25g/1oz butter
- 2 large white onions, 1 halved horizontally, 1 finely chopped
- few sprigs thyme, leaves picked
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- cornflour, for thickening (optional)
- 1 tsp olive oil
For the sweet and sour peppers
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 red peppers, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp Moscatel or white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
- salt
For the sweet potato chips
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 50g/1¾oz fine semolina
- sea salt
- chopped fresh rosemary, to garnish
- pinch smoked paprika, to garnish
Method
To make the spare ribs, preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
Place the ribs in a roasting tin. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the wine, together in a bowl and rub all over the ribs. Pour the wine into the tin. Cover with foil and roast for 2 hours until tender.
Preheat the grill to hot. Remove the ribs from the tin and grill until sticky and blistered. Transfer the cooking liquor from the tin to a saucepan and reduce down to a sauce that is a coating consistency. Brush the ribs with the sauce and leave to rest.
To make the roasted onions, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the chopped onion, thyme, bay and garlic until the onion is softened. Remove the bay leaf and blitz to a smooth purée with a hand blender or in a food processor. If it needs thickening, add enough cornflour to achieve the desired consistency. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the onion halves until just browned. Transfer to a roasting tin and roast in the oven for 45 minutes until soft. Scoop out the centre of the onions and fill with the purée.
To make the sweet and sour peppers, heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pepper for 20 minutes, or until slightly caramelised. Add the sugar and vinegars and season with salt. Stir in the parsley.
To make the sweet potato chips, preheat a deep fat fryer to 180C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.) Coat the chips in the semolina flour and fry the sweet potatoes for 2–3 minutes, transfer to kitchen paper to drain and sprinkle with the sea salt, rosemary and paprika.
To serve, place the ribs on a serving platter and serve with the roasted onions, peppers and chips.
