1 pound yam, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 red chili, roasted and chopped
1/4 teaspoon harissa
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons peanuts, crushed
salt and pepper
water

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook yam until just fork tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat soy sauce, olive oil, garlic, vinegar, lime juice, chili, harissa and sugar over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
3. Place yams in a serving bowl and pour sauce over them. Garnish with crushed peanuts to serve.

Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 pounds pork spare ribs

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar

1. Combine brown sugar, salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, thyme and pepper and rub liberally over the ribs. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
3. In a saucepan over medium heat combine water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, honey and garlic. Stir until dissolved together, then remove from heat.
4. Seal ribs tightly in a double layer of tinfoil, leaving a small opening on one side. Fill this with the sauce prepared in the saucepan and then crimp shut.
5. Tilt the ribs to disperse the liquid inside the tinfoil shell and place on top of a baking sheet. Put in the oven and cook until the meat is tender and the bones are easily removed, about 3-4 hours.
6. When the ribs are cooked, remove them from the oven and drain the liquid into a saucepan.
7. Preheat oven broiler.
8. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and add the remaining brown sugar. Stir the sauce until thickened to the consistency of a syrup, then remove from heat.
9. Brush the sauce onto the ribs, then return them to the oven, about 6" from the broiler, until they become a golden brown, about 1 minute. Slice into 4 sections and serve.

Makes 4 servings

The last time I made Ribs they were sort of… not good. The simple rub recipe that I had acquired contained way too much salt and I lacked much familiarity with the low and slow process of the barbecue, choosing to use the lowest heat possible and basically making my ribs into a tough, gristly mess.

So, I wanted to try my hand at it again. Only this time I made them in the oven and I had a better idea of what I was actually doing. I went to the butcher shop and he'd just thrown a whole side of ribs out onto display. I said I wanted enough for two people and he threw the whole thing on the counter and said, "For five?" There was enough for five people, if you for had some sort of method of portion control for ribs, but I took the whole rack for Shannon and myself. He offered to half it for me, but since I had no idea what I was doing, I just took it whole and off I went to create my masterpiece.

Okay, so it wasn't quite a masterpiece. To my credit, they were much better than last time, but not particularly outstanding. Shannon quite enjoyed the Glazed Pork Spare Ribs, but I thought that the rub was too salty once again and they were far from the fall off the bone tenderness that I was aiming for. The glaze definitely added a nice flavor and the few bits of crispy fat and meat charred with brown sugar were delicious.

The reason that I fell short of my goal is basically the same as last time; I was hungry. After nearly 3 hours of cooking at 225 degrees I got impatient and turned up the heat slightly. Slightly being to almost double so I could sedate my starvation. If you're going to make ribs for dinner, start cooking at lunch!

Every time we watch the Food Network lately there's an advertisement to substitute sweet potatoes for regular potatoes in potato salad and we're always like, "That sounds good!" and then promptly forget about the idea entirely. Well, we decided to have a sweet potato salad with our ribs. About an hour into cooking Shannon calls me from work and tells me she'll be home late. Not wanting to ruin the original idea of having a basic potato salad with sweet potatoes instead, I made Spicy Tunisian Yams that I figured she probably wouldn't like very much and then I could make the original idea later.

I did not like it very much either. The only way I really like yams, in general, is baked in the oven until they're caramelized. I like them in the skins, which I think are the best part, and without that I'm not particularly fond of the texture. Of course, this can be easily remedied by whipping them, but that wouldn't have worked for this dish. Basically, the flavor was just… off. I don't know how else to describe it. The dressing was spicy, but sort of plain, only not plain enough to not affect the taste of the yam. It ended up in the trash bag and I await making the original sweet potato salad idea now.