I’ve been wishing for a weekend of rain and miserable cold weather. Today I got my wish, however, I should have been more specific as I had in my head visions of sleeping in, watching movies and eating practically non-stop in a toasty warm house for 3 days. NOT of biking in the driving rain to get the ingredients for my perfect weekend.
But blessings sometimes come in watery, 10 degree celcius disguises as I finally managed to not only befriend one of the ladies at Casa Iberica (this is quite a feat as she has to be one of the toughest nuts to crack, even if you speak Spanish, and unless you count knowing the words ‘Caliente’ and ‘Hola’ as speaking Spanish I definitely do not come under this category) but also do an entire grocery shop without setting foot in a supermarket
When I finally I walked through the door at home, despite being rather soggy, with a good book and hot chocolate in the works the only way was up.
Mexican hot chocolate
*1/2 disc Ibarra hot chocolate (or Abuelita)
*1 cup (as in the cup you’ll be drinking from, not a measurement cup)
*Chop or crush the disc into small pieces and mix with the milk in a saucepan
*Heat over a low heat, whisking so it doesn’t burn and it gets nice and frothy, until completely combined
*Done!
What better way to top off a semi-productive day than with sweet and spicy pork ribs, homemade chips and a tamarind jarritos followed by toasted pineapple with coconut sugar?
Rainy day pork ribs
*1/3rd cup honey
*1/4 cup tomato sauce
*1/4 cup soy sauce
*1 Tbsp hoisin sauce
*2 tsp chilli flakes
*3 garlic cloves, crushed
*1 tsp olive oil
*Mix together all ingredients and coat pork ribs (I used 3 but for two people I would use 5 or 6 and double the marinade) in a bowl. Leave to marinate for as long as you can, overnight if possible, although I only marinated mine for an hour and they turned out fine
*Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius
*Line a baking dish with foil then pour in about 2 cups of water, enough to cover the bottom and account for a little evaporation
*Oil a wire rack and place ribs on top, reserving the marinade
*Position the baking tray underneath the wire rack in the oven and bake ribs for about 45 minutes until cooked (make sure to account for size, I had to put one of the larger ribs in 15 mins earlier than the others), turning occasionally and basting with the leftover marinade
*Eat straight away, no cutlery allowed
Pineapple just needs to be toasted up as in my previous pineapple recipe except replace brown sugar with coconut sugar or (if you can’t buy it) a half-half mix of sugar and finely grated toasted coconut
Near perfect day: tick
House clean and tidy: hmmm best not to ask
A Day In The Food 