Root Beer Floats, 'Messi' Ribs & Rhubarb & Ginger Crumble

After a fab couple of days away at Taste of London and Britmums Live, Sunday was spent tidying up the garden and doing a spot of cooking.

Whilst away a few lovely parcels arrived containing all sorts of exciting things, and I have managed squeeze a few of them into this post.

If you like American sweets then you might be interested to hear that you can win a bundle of sweet treats from Kingdom of Sweets like the one below, just pop over to their Facebook page or Twitter to find out how.

I thought I would introduce the kids to the delicacy that is a Root Beer Float, forgetting that root beer actually tastes like Germoline and I actually can't stand the stuff. My kids (despite being born in America) thought the same as me. I think we'll try coke floats next time.

The peanut butter M&M's were a real treat for breakfast though, and even the husband liked them, despite claiming to detest peanut butter.

Unfortunately you can't win the wooden heart shaped trays with the sweets, but you can buy those from The Kitchen Gift Company for just £15.95 for the set of three.

On the menu for our al fresco dinner was 'Messi Ribs', a World Cup idea from Bacofoil, with a fresh salad and dressing inspired by chef Neil Nugent in the Morrisons lounge at Britmums Live, accompanied by potato wedges and finished off with a rhubarb crumble (with my homegrown rhubarb!)

For the ribs I made a rub, coated the ribs, vacuum packed them and then placed them in an 80 degrees C water bath for around 6 hours. You can of course simmer them in water and spices until tender, before coating with the bbq sauce and popping them on a hot bbq or in the oven. You don't need to use exact ingredients and quantities that I have listed below, depending on your taste you may want to add more spice or more sugar - just experiment until you find your own 'rib rub' and sauce recipe.

Messi Ribs - serves 4

1kg Pork ribs
'Rib Rub', made up of a 'sprinkling' of the following - celery salt, garlic granules, cinnamon & smoked paprika

Barbecue Sauce
500g shallots, peeled & quartered
400g tin chopped tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2cm fresh ginger, peeled & chopped
2 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

• Coat the ribs with the rub and cook in a sous vide or simmer in water until tender
• Drain the ribs and set aside
• Add all of the sauce ingredients to an oven proof (lidded) pot and place in a preheated 180C oven for around 30 minutes, until the shallots are tender.
• Allow to cool slightly before blending to a sauce in a food processor or blender
• Coat the ribs in the sauce and then place on a hot bbq or in a 200C oven for around 20 minutes, until browned around the edges

I chose to oven bake my ribs this time (see my 72hour sous vide bbq ribs recipe here), and to avoid having to scrub my roasting pan I lined it with Bacofoil non stick foil, and then lifted the foil straight out of the pan (with the ribs on) and onto a serving tray.

Rhubarb & Ginger Crumble 

500g Rhubarb - cut into 1" pieces

Ginger syrup (approx 50-100ml depending on how sweet you like it)

150g Plain flour

50g oats

100g Butter

200g Caster sugar

• Place the rhubarb in a pie dish & drizzle with the syrup
• Mix the flour and oats together and rub in the rubber, until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Stir in the sugar and top the rhubarb
• Bake in a 180C oven for around 30 minutes, until golden on the top and the rhubarb is tender and bubbling through the crumble

This post includes a few items that I have been sent for the purpose of review/to use in my cooking, as follows:

Bacofoil non stick foil
Shallots
Kingdom of Sweets
The Kitchen Gift Company
Lindeman's Chardonnay (received in my Britmums goody bag)