Venison Spare Ribs w/ spicy red wine reduction

These venison ribs were bought at the South Kensington farmer's market from Wickham Manor Farm. Wickham Manor consistently has beautiful meats and produce.

Ribs
Onion
Hot Chilli pepper
3 cups of Chicken Stock
3 cups of red wine

1) Preheat oven to 110C or 250F
2) Dice the onion, and quarter the chili pepper (removing the seeds and top).
3) Place ribs, meaty side down, in a lasagne dish or other deep baking dish.
4) Add onions and pepper on top. Cover with chicken stock.
5) Braise the ribs in the oven for 3+ hours. Occasionally, spoon stock over the ribs or push them down if they pop up during cooking.
6) Start to create your red wine reduction. Place wine and any remaining stock in a large pan. Place over low heat and stirring occasionally reduce, reduce, and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon.
7) Remove ribs from oven. Carefully remove ribs from pan and cover to keep moist.
8) Put a cast iron griddle or skillet on low heat.
9) Reserve the chilli pepper, and then strain the stock. Add to your red wine reduction and reduce again.
10) With the back of a spoon, mash up the chilli and add to your reduction to give it a bit of a kick.
11) Place the ribs fat side down on a griddle and slowly render the fat. Mopping up excess fat with a paper towel. You don't want to boil the ribs in oil.
12) When the layer of fat has been mostly rendered, you can slowly spoon your reduction over the ribs. Treat it like a risotto, a couple of spoons of reduction over the ribs, let it bubble up and disappear (but not burn) and add a little more.

You could subsitute your favorite BBQ sauce and just do the braising part, but why would you waste all that delicious stock?

Rupert & Rothschild - Baron Edmond 2004 "a classic french blend"

Anyone familiar with South African wines will have had or at least heard of this wine. It consistently gets top marks from the John Platter guide for a reason.
It is a class act, another fine example of a collaboration from a major french producer and a local winery. The wine is a classic french blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and a bit of Cabernet Franc. The 15% alcohol, is not very french, but typical for a South African red.
The wine is still young but drinking beautifully, and I look forward to having it again over the years.

Marianne Pinotage 2004 - "run, don't walk"

This is 3rd time I've had the Marianne Pinotage 2004 from South Africa. The first, was tasting it at the vineyard, the next time was from one of the 3 bottles we bought. This last time was also from our small stash. What was I thinking? I've got to run, not walk, to the nearest distributor and buy as much as I can.

I'm not the only one that loves it. It won a ABSA 2007 Top 10 award as well as a Michelangelo 2007 gold medal.

Delicious plum fruits give way to tobacco and earthy mushroom flavors. Silky soft with a small bite of tannins.

Crayfish and Chicken Jambalaya

Fall is crayfish season in England. The non-native and invasive species, American Crayfish, do so well here, they are sometimes almost 6-7 inches long. More like mini lobsters than the crayfish I've had in New Orleans.
This recipe below was very good. As usual, I modified it to meet my own circumstances.
http://neworleanscuisine.blogspot.com/2005/05/shrimp-and-chicken-jambalaya-recipe.html

Instead of rice I used barley, I like the texture of barley better, and I think it holds up well to longer cooking times. I found a beautiful smoked chicken breast, and some nice chorizo, and I also substituted the shrimp with my crayfish. 1 kilo (2.2 Lbs) of crayfish picked out about a cup and half of meat from the tails and claws. I reserved the shells when picking out the meat and created a stock.

Crayfish Stock:
Reserved Shells (Heads, bodies, picked over tails, and claws)
Medium Onion - Chopped
2 Celery - Chopped
2 Carrots - Chopped
Salt & Pepper
2 Tsp Sage
2 Bay Leaves
2 Tbs Rum or Cognac
Cheese cloth or Butter Muslin

1) Place heads, bodies, and leftover shells into large stock pot.
2) Place on medium high heat, and when sizzling, add the Rum or cognac and ignite (careful don't burn yourself). If it flames too much, don't panic, the flames will subside shortly or put a lid on it.
3) Add the vegetables, spices, salt and pepper to taste. - Cook for 5 minutes
4) Add cold water until everything is well covered. Turn heat to medium low. You want it to simmer, not boil.
5) Periodically, mash the shells with a potato masher. Cook for 3o minutes.
6) Strain the stock through a cheese cloth, wash stock pot, and put stock back into the pot.
7) Reduce until about 3 cups. Skimming and congealed fat by turning the back of a spoon through the stock and wiping clean with a paper towel.

Barley
3/4 Cup Barley
1 1/2 cups stock

1) Wash Barley in strainer
2) Bring stock to boil
3) Add Barley, reduce to simmer cook for about 45 minutes.

That's it for my modifications, otherwise cook as per the recipe above and enjoy.
I served this with a nice spicy Shiraz.