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1 slab baby back ribs/other roasting cut (about 600+ g)"Sometimes, when you're a man, you get this urge to wear stretchy pants." -- Jack Black, Nacho Libre.

And I say, sometimes, when you're a man, you get this urge for Meat.  Specifically, roasted meat.  This urge is always swimming just at the edge of my consciousness, ready to surface like a Great White when I smell a barbecue on a charcoal grill, or, as happened earlier, I saw a nice cut of meat.  When I saw these ribs earlier today, I knew just what I wanted to do with them.  And yes, a diet of this will eventually necessitate stretchy pants. 

The photo above is of the last uneaten third of the roast.  The rest of it is ... well, it's gone.  When Dad and I smelled it coming out of the oven, we just had to attack it immediately ....


Ingredients:
  • 1 slab baby back ribs/other roasting cut (about 600+ g)_
  • 1+ tsp rock salt*
  • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp Italian Seasoning herbs
  • 2 tbsp panko bread crumbs
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Procedure:

Wash and pat dry the meat.  (There are some barbecue gurus who say don't wash meat.  I say, wait til you see the overfed flies in a typical supermarket, even the good ones, and you'l change your mind.) 

Combine all the rub ingredients in a bowl, mix thoroughly, and rub onto the meat.  Make sure to massage it in well.  Drizzle the meat with olive oil; this will help keep it from going dry, and make the rub crust up nicely.

Bake for 1 hour at 300 F, and for a final 15 minutes at 450 F to brown. 

*This is a rub and so is the only flavoring for the roast.  You want it a bit salty, as it'll be the outside of the roast carrying the flavor.

Notes:
Seems the panko was really effective in keeping the juices in.  This was good without garlic, which I avoided because I was afraid garlic in the crust would burn and go bitter.  Next time, and when I have a big enough stock of olive oil, I'll make some garlic oil for cooking.  That way I can get the garlic flavor without fear of burning it.

 
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Korma is one of our favorite curry types, and we make it whenever we can get the ingredients together and the time to cook it.  This North Indian curry gets its richness from its unique sauce, based on ground nuts – usually cashew or almond – and yogurt.  As I had a big jar of almonds in the pantry and found some nice lamb shank in Makati Supermarket, I made this dish for Cat.  


INGREDIENTS (for 3-4 persons)
½ kg lamb shank or neck or shoulder
1 cup yogurt
1 cup toasted almond or cashew nuts, ground fine
1 large white onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
3 cloves chopped garlic
3 pcs cardamom pods (or ½ tsp cardamom powder)
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander seed
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp clove powder
1-2 bay leaves
salt to taste 
about 1 liter water
2 tbsp cooking oil or ghee

PROCEDURE
Cut lamb into serving pieces.  Prepare onion, garlic and ginger, and grind the spices fine.  Combine the ground spices in a bowl.

In a deep pot or pressure cooker (I prefer the latter as it shortens my cooking time), saute the onions til soft and light brown, then add the garlic and ginger; saute these until garlic is also light brown, turn the heat to medium-low, and add the ground spices and bay leaves.  Fry until the spices start to smoke, stirring constantly.  Add in the ground nuts. The paste thus formed will form the base for the sauce.

Add the lamb and stir, making sure to coat the lamb pieces thoroughly in the sauce base.  Add the water, at least enough to cover the lamb, more if you’re going to cook this using the slow-boil method.  

Cooking time for the slow method is about 2-3 hours; let the pot come to a boil, cover, and turn down the heat to let the contents simmer til the lamb is tender.  If using a pressure cooker, you can get lamb or mutton falling off the bone in about 45 minutes.  

When lamb is tender, turn off the heat and remove the pot cover.  If using a pressure cooker, let the pressure out first before doing this!  Turn up the heat again, let the pot come to a boil, and turn off the heat as soon as it does so.  Add in the yogurt, and stir to blend thoroughly. 
This is traditionally an all-meat curry, but potatoes and carrots may be added in cooking if desired.  

    About
    Found Food

    Hello all!  Welcome to Good Living BF's newest feature, FOUND FOOD -- a blog about playing with your food and getting to eat it too! 

    This blog is dedicated to everyone who's had to make dinner without any idea what to have, or is just bored with the same old dishes week in and week out. 

    We're inviting you, the BF Homes community, to step up and share recipes (and pictures) by emailing us at goodlivingbf (at) gmail (dot) com.  You're also welcome to share tips on where to find rare or specially good ingredients, cooking supplies, and other cooking-related-stuff, specially if they're found here in BF Homes!

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