Instant Ribs With Mango-Jalapeno BBQ Sauce

With some dishes there are no short cuts.  Ribs are one of those ingredients that require lots of time and labor.  First there is the marinade or dry rub phase, then there's the long, slow cooking process, and for the ambitious ones, there's the final glaze before it finally hits the plate.  This process is usually a labor of love for me, but the UCLA game was about to start, so I didn't have time to babysit a rack of ribs all day.  For a quick-cook method I seasoned the ribs with salt and pepper and set them on a baking sheet with a bit of apple cider vinegar and chicken broth, which I covered with foil and placed in a 250-degree oven for two hours.

While those were cooking, I made a quick mango-jalapeno bbq sauce with chopped jalapeños, garlic, mango, tomatoes, brown sugar, chili powder, apple cider vinegar and S&P, which I cooked down in a sauce pot and let cool, after which I pureed and strained it.  When the ribs were ready, I removed the foil, drained the sheet and glazed them with the sauce under the broiler until caramelized.  Considering these ribs took about three hours from start to finish, as opposed to 12, they were pretty darn good!  They were super tender, but I must admit that the longer cooking method does develop a bit more depth of flavor.  The sauce had a nice balance of sweet from the mango and brown sugar and spice from the jalapeño.  But more importantly, the Bruins came through with a big win!  

Basil Ice Cream

Labor Day signifies the end of summer, so I wanted to pay one last tribute to the season by making ice cream.  I bought some basil at the FM with the goal of making a pesto, but I had to improvise when I realized that I was out of pine nuts, so I thought why not make basil ice cream.  Sounds odd, but it's really no different than the idea of mint ice cream, and nothing says summer like fresh basil.  I went with a Philadelphia-style base, which means no eggs or cooking involved, just cream, milk, sugar, vanilla and basil pureed in the blender and strained before churning in my Cuisinart ice cream maker for 15 minutes.  It was sweet and herbaceous, but the basil was not overpowering.  Adios summer!