Tray-Baked Thai Spare Ribs

After having spent a fabulous, unplanned, weekend at my mum's house, normal service is resumed.

By 'normal service', I mean back to work, back to eating a normal amount of food, and back to doing some exercise. In my bid to achieve my target weight of 85kgs (I am now 88), I have decided that I need to try to weigh 80kgs. It's not exactly logical, but I always try to add a margin of error into anything I do. If I know that I need to write 3000 words in a day, I will go for 5000, then when I hit my secret target, I'm happy. If I aim for 3000 words, then I'll probably be OK with 2000. God, I'm weak-minded.

Anyway, first thing this morning, the alarm went off and I made my way to Regent's Park to do my new twice-weekly routine of a 6k run. What a lovely day it was. I aimed for 6k and I DID 6k. Why was my resolve so unusually strong? Well, I'll tell you: When I got onto my mum's very high quality bathroom scales, it actually turns out that I'm 91kgs, not the bloody 88 that my crappy cheapo scales has reassured me that I am. What is even more terrifying, is that I have lost about 7kgs in the last month. WHICH MEANS THAT I USED TO BE 98KGS! No way!

So, 6k twice a week it is going to be for me - obviously for the rest of my natural born life.

The weekend at Mrs Ribeye Sr's was so fun. It's an unspoken rule, that when the wife and I stay over, I will do the cooking. Mum makes a killer breakfast, but I'm in charge if lunch and dinner. Today's recipe was my Friday night offering.

Since I worked all day, I wanted to make something easy that I could prep at home and then transport over to mum's and cook in her oven in very short time. We arrived at 7pm and we were eating our starter of Chinese Smoked Mackerel Pancakes out in the garden with a lovely glass of rose, while the main course took about 45 minutes to bake. And what a main course it was! I've never made a baked Thai green curry in the oven before, but it's amazing. Dead easy and very tasty. Try it - you'll never go back to the hob/saucepan version again.

I used ribs for this recipe, but it works just as well with any meat of your choice. Next time I might use chicken portions, or pork belly slices. For a feast, you might want to bake some crabs or lobsters - go crazy!

Pork spare ribs are so cheap to buy - £5 for two large packs in my local Tesco's. Which means that this dish comes in at a super-cheap £2 per serving. I served mine with rice and frozen peas - it was excellent.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 portion of my Thai Green Curry Paste recipe
1kg pork spare ribs
1 x 400g can coconut milk
Green chilli rings, to serve
Fresh coriander leaves, to serve

Thai or basmati rice, with frozen peas mixed in, to serve

Marinade the ribs in the curry paste for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight). Transfer to a baking tray and mix in the coconut milk. Bake in a preheated 220c oven for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the chilli rings and coriander leaves immediately before serving. Serve with the rice/pea mixture.