Australia Day Barbecue Lamb Ribs

So How Are You Cooking Your Lamb This Australia Day?
We're fast approaching Australia Day (January 26th). So it's time to start thinking of what incredibly delicious lamb dish you're going to cook this year? Lynda and I walked past the butcher just yesterday and spotted lamb ribs. I thought "I have SO got to try these". So now the challenge today has been to create a delicious marinade sauce to perfectly barbecue them in.

One strip of lamb ribs (about 8 ribs) is enough to feed one person. If you're not a fan of ribs and find them too fiddly and messy, that's okay. :-) Just swap them for your favourite Lamb Loin Chops or cutlets instead. The amazing part is what this marinade sauce does to compliment the lamb. The cut of meat you choose is really up to you.

This meal serves either 2 (I have cooked two strips of ribs). We decided that because this is an experiment, we'd serve it on a simple bed of savoury rice done in the rice cooker while the barbecue was busy sizzling up a feast. A reasonable amount of preparation is required about one hour prior to cooking on the barbecue to give the marinade enough time to work its magic. Actual cooking time for the ribs is about 15 minutes.
Ingredients:

• 2 x Strips of Ribs. (1 strip per person).

The Marinade Sauce

• Steering away from my usual spicy dishes, I thought the lamb deserved something a little more savoury sweet. So this is the sauce we came up with.
• Add all of these sauce ingredients to a food processor and puree until smooth.
• 1 x teaspoon of salt
• 1 x teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 x lemon (freshly squeezed). (You want about 1/3 of a cup).
• Zest the lemon peel in a fine grater and add it in.
• 1 x teaspoon of ground black pepper.
• 1 x cup of your favourite white wine.
• 1 x tablespoon (dollop) of honey.
• 4 x tablespoons of olive oil.
• 1 x teaspoons of garlic
• 2 x onions (roughly chop and let the food processor do the rest of the work)
• 2 x teaspoons of fresh chopped thyme
• 1 x tablespoon of fresh oregano.

The Savoury Rice.

• Add two cups of rice to your rice cooker.
• Dissolve two Gluten Free Vegetable of Chicken Stock Cubes in the water before tipping the water in to the rice cooker.
• Finely chop three shallots (spring onions) and add to the rice mixture.
• Turn on your rice cooker and let it do it's thing. (Mine usually takes around 15 minutes to perfectly cook 2 cups of rice).

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in yoru food processor. (It smells wonderful).
• Add your lamb strips into a shallow tray or a zip lock bag.
• Place about 1/2 of the mix into the zip lock bag or pour over your strips in a tray. (Just so long as the strips are well covered and marinated).
• Sit the marinating strips in the fridge for a couple of hours (1 hour minimum) so that the marinade sauce has time to soak in to the lamb.
• When the hour has passed, heat your barbecue plate on a low setting and cook your strips slowly.
• When it goes all tacky - move the strips to the grill part of your barbecue and turn up the heat.
• Baste the strips with the remaining sauce periodically to keep them from drying out on the barbecue.

Serving:

• Cut your ribs into strips of two of three so they can be easily handled. (This is a hands on dish).
• Place neatly on a bed of savoury rice.
• Any left over sauce (cooked) can be poured over your ribs at this time.
• Enjoy with a glass of the remaining white wine.

While your here. Why not check out my Australia Day Butterfly Lamb with Rosemary, Thyme and Garlic