Thomasina Miers’ recipe for pork ribs with pineapple salsa

It was in the beautiful, clay-baked walls of Casa Oaxaca’s restaurant in Mexico that I had a memorable salad of enormous heirloom tomatoes tossed with the juiciest, sweetest slices of pineapple, fresh lime, Mexican oregano and good olive oil.

This woke me up to the many different ways of cooking with pineapple. I had never before thought of it in the same light as a tomato, but tossed in this simple salsa, its sweetness and acidity work remarkably well with the caramelised, fatty pork.

Pork ribs with pineapple salsa

Although you can slow cook ribs, they are also beautifully tender when roasted hot and fast.

Prep 25 min
Marinate 2 hr+
Cook 1 hr 15 min
Serves 4-6

1.2kg pork loin back ribs

For the marinade
1 dried chipotle chilli, or 1 tbsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp molasses sugar
75ml cider vinegar
Salt and black pepper

For the pineapple salsa
½ small, ripe pineapple, peeled and core removed
½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
½ small bunch mint, finely chopped
½ small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/ 390F/gas 6, if you are going to cook the ribs without marinating.

For the marinade, put the chipotle chilli in a small pan, cover with boiling water and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until soft. (Alternatively, to speed things up, put the chilli and water in a heatproof bowl and blast in a microwave for a minute or two). Once soft, discard the stem and remove most of the seeds. Transfer to a tall jug with the cumin, garlic, mustard, tomato puree and molasses sugar. Blitz with a stick blender, slowly pouring in the vinegar to create a smooth paste, and season well with salt and pepper.

Put the ribs in a large, foil or silicon-lined baking tray and rub in the marinade. Preferably, leave to marinate for a few hours, or overnight, but if you want to serve them sooner you can cook them immediately. Roast for an hour, turning them over halfway, until the ribs are golden, caramelised and the meat is soft. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest somewhere warm for 10 minutes.

To make the salsa, cut the pineapple into long, thin strips, then finely chop and transfer to a bowl. Add the other ingredients, and season to taste, adding more lime if needed, and a pinch of sugar if the pineapple is not sweet enough.

Serve the ribs with the salsa, some baked potatoes and a crisp slaw of wafer-thin red and white cabbage, radishes, fennel and chopped coriander.

And for the rest of the week

Sweat two onions in butter for 15 minutes until soft, then add the marinade ingredients, plus half a bottle of ketchup for a delicious homemade barbecue sauce (ramp up the chilli, if you like). Or mix the marinade into pork or beef mince for delicious burgers. Eat any leftover salsa with chargrilled mackerel or baked sweet potatoes.