Barbecued Spare Ribs and Home Made Oven Fries

Barbecued ribs, home-made fries and coleslaw.

 It's barbecue season again.  Soon our tiny London garden will fill up with smoke and wafts of lovely barbecued food from our neighbours' gardens.
We don't barbecue.
We are hopeless at it; therefore we have given up.
However, we do enjoy barbecued ribs and chicken cooked in our oven, smothered in a home-made barbecue sauce and served with home-made spicy fries.
Here's how:
Wrap ribs or chicken pieces in foil and place in the oven.  Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350/180 degrees until cooked and juicy.
At this point, you can put the ribs on the barbecue and coat them with sauce.  Watch them carefully so they don't burn.
If you are doing them in the oven, turn up the oven to 400/200 degrees. Open the foil and coat the meat with home-made barbecue sauce and then put it back in the oven for another 20 -30 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the meat has a crispy outer layer.
Serve more sauce on the side.
Home-made oven fries
For the fries, peel potatoes and cut into chunky chip-size pieces.
Rinse in cold water and dry on a towel.
Put the potatoes into a bowl, drizzle over one to two tablespoons of vegetable oil, add some salt and pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper and 1/2 a teaspoon of oregano.
Mix well until all the potato pieces are coated with oil and seasoning.
Put a little vegetable oil on a large tray and heat in the oven until it is hot.
Tip in the potatoes and space them evenly around the tray so they will brown, not steam.
Bake at 400/200 degrees for about 1/2 hour, turning once or twice to get them brown all over.

Home-made barbecue sauce (I normally double this recipe.)
2 oz butter
2 Tablespoons oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup catsup (I buy the cheap still for this)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons chilli powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dash of Tabasco sauce (optional0

Heat butter and oil.
Add onions and soften (about 10 minutes on low heat, covered).
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Simmer 5 minutes.

Making Something out of Nothing

We returned from a long weekend in Paris yesterday, where there was so much to inspire me. I am ready to get started on more sewing and blogging.  Meanwhile, this little display in a Mercerie (haberdashery shop) caught my eye because it was a simple idea for a display.  Little organdie bags (for favours or jewellery) were hung on a small wooden fruit crate and dangled in the window.
My husband said it was making something out of nothing, a gift his mother had as she lived through two world wars, rationing and early widowhood.  She was always chic, even on a budget.
In the background you can see the lovely buildings across the road reflected in the window.