Nigel Slater's Pork Ribs with Honey and Star Anise

I'd picked up a pack of Spare Ribs from the Blue Pig Company at a Farmer's Market a few weeks back, (six ribs for a pound - what a bargain!) and frozen them for a rainy, home-alone, TV dinner kind of day. This week provided just such an opportunity and I adapted a Nigel Slater recipe (Pork Ribs with Honey and Star Anise) from his Kitchen Diaries, to provide the honeyed stickiness that ribs just cry out for.

6 meaty pork ribs
3 tbsps honey
1 tbsp oyster sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 star anise
sea salt and szechuan pepper

1. Make a marinade with the honey, oyster sauce, garlic, chilli flakes, star anise, salt and pepper.
2. Place the ribs in a roasting dish and cover them with the marinade. Leave to marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, or better still overnight.
3. Roast at 180C for an hour and a quarter, turning and basting from time to time, taking care they don't burn.

Serve with rice - Thai is good - and salad or veg of your choice. Oh and a fingerbowl. And lots of kitchen roll.

Serves 1, happily!