I want my baby back, baby back, baby back...

Double Wammy

19 June 2011 - Denise's BBQ Spare Ribs and Almond and Chocolate Florentines

After slobbing around being a lazy son of a bitch for a week, I had some catching up to do so decided I should man up and cook two recipes at once and decided on Denise’s BBQ Spare Ribs and Almond and Chocolate Florentines.

I had to put the ribs on the water to boil and they looked truly disgusting! They started boiling over all this grey fatty shit which was so gross and not at all appetising. The sauce should have been really easy, but I couldn't find the tablespoon and could only find a 1/2 tablespoon measure. Seems ok, only I was measuring everything out and then forgot how many 1/2 spoons of each thing I put it and it all got weird. So, who knows if the sauce was actually what it was meant to be. I just chucked stuff in and tasted and added more and changed it, it was very MasterChef.

The recipe said to cook the ribs in the oven for 30 minutes, but after about 20 the sauce was stuck to the bottom of the pan and burnt so I took them out. I later discovered that I was meant to be ‘basting’ the whole time, but forgot to read that part of the recipe. Meanwhile, I had prepared Cam's Mediterranean Vege Salad which we were having for the fourth time - but this was only the 1st time I’d made it correctly as I’d actually never read the recipe and always used Balsamic Vinegar instead of Balsamic vinaigrette. Doff.

The ribs turned out ok, I think if there had of been more sauce it would have been better, but I guess that's only because some of it got stuck to the pan. They also were quite gristly but I'm not sure what to do about that. Sian freaked out and got up on her high horse for a minute when she thought that I'd found a staple in my corn "take it back to Coles, I'm writing a letter"... Then I had to admit that the staple made its way on to my plate after I'd dropped corn on the ground and scooped it back onto my plate. Didn't take long for her to get down off the high horse.

On to desert - I didn't actually know what a Florentine was, but I think they were ok. There was nothing too complex in that recipe so I guess it is as it seems. The recipe says to spread them 8cms apart, which I didn't really do, but should have as they spread a lot in the oven. I was meant to cut them into circles, but didn't have anything to do that with, so they just stayed in the enormous blobs they were in, until I tried to cut them, at which time they just sort of crumbled into weird flakes. They didn't really peel away from the paper, but there was nothing I could do about that... except eat the paper. They taste good though in a caramel sort of way.

They've since become the bane of my existence and even though I don't really like them I can't stop eating them - taking them to work tomorrow!

Tips: Ribs - they didn't take long as long as the recipe said, and it's best to use the appropriate spoon.

Florentines -find a way to shape them without snapping them into tiny pieces.

Music: No Doubt - Return of Saturn