Lazyman’s pork spare ribs

This is really just another version of my butter-fried chicken with basil. You know, the other lazy dish I posted recently. Can’t help it. Cooking on a 38^oC day is really punishing. The sooner I am out of the kitchen, the better for me. Anyway, while the butter-fried chicken with basil had garlic, onions, tomatoes and basil, I used garlic, onions, pimientoes, basil, parsley and just a hint of chili pepper for last night’s pork spare ribs. I was actually going to attempt making some salt and pepper pork spare ribs a la Causeway Seafood Restaurant but the thought of deep frying meat in an already hot kitchen made me balk. But, what the heck, last night’s pork spare ribs turned out so well we had zero leftovers.

Ingredients :

1 kilo of meaty pork spare ribs
1 whole garlic
1 whole onion
3-4 stalks of leeks (green part only)
6-8 peppercorns
salt
1 tbsp. of finely minced garlic
6 tbsps. of finely chopped onions
6 tbsps. of coarsely chopped pimientoes
1 tsp. of dried basil (or 2 tsps. of fresh basil)
1 tsp. of dried parsley (or 2 tsps. of fresh parsley)
1/3 c. of butter
1 chili pepper, finely chopped

Cooking procedure :

You can cook the ribs whole and cut them just before serving (which is what I did out of laziness) or you can cut them into segments before cooking. Your choice. Cutting them before cooking will shorten the cooking time.

Place the pork spare ribs in a large cooking pan and cover with water. Add the whole garlic, whole onion, leeks, peppercorns and salt. How much salt? A lot so that the liquid is actually too salty. Bear with me. There’s a reason for all that salt. Bring to a boil, skimming off scum as it rises. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about an hour or until the meat is fork tender. Do not add any additional liquid. You’re about to make all that liquid evaporate. What you want is for the meat to absorb all the salt so that you won’t need to add any more salt later.

When the meat is tender and there is only about half a cup of liquid left, remove all the vegetables with a slotted spoon. Add the butter, minced garlic, chopped onion, chopped pimiento, basil and chili pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, uncovered, until the broth has evaporated. Lightly fry the ribs in the hot butter, turning often for even browning. Turn off the heat and add the parsley. Stir lightly.

If the ribs are still whole at this point, transfer them to a chopping board and cut into serving pieces, cutting parallel to the bones. Arrange on a serving platter and drizzle a tablespoonful or two of the butter. Scoop out the garlic, onions, pimientoes, basil, parsley and chili pepper from the pan and place them on top of the spare ribs. Serve hot.