Yesterday was our second day on this Caribbean adventure and our first stop was St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands for Ginger Lime Pork Ribs with a Mango Guava Barbecue Sauce.
St. Thomas is only 32 square miles in size but there's an awful lot of beauty packed into its rolling green hills. It is the home of the territorial capital and holds the port of Charlotte Amalie, the destination of up to 9 cruiseships per day. Although the island is half the size of St. Croix, the population of St. Thomas is the same but with a much faster pace of life.
The big guy was far from relaxed though and darned happy to get back to Tucson where he could drive AND on the RIGHT side of the road, because they drive on the left in the US Virgin Islands. That's enough to get used to without the fact that the cars are mostly imported from the US with the steering wheel located on the left side of the car. That means the big guy as a passenger was in the line of traffic at all times. He was some stressed - actually he would have been even more stressed if his wife had been the one driving - as if!
He sure wasn't stressed yesterday as he babied these ribs on the barbecue - at least I don't think he was! There was an awful lot of prep work before they were ready to cook, and thankfully we did it together so it cut the work in half. Still, you'll need to make these ribs on a weekend so you've the time they require, but still they're really worth it. The rub is wonderful, the kick from the habeneiro basting sauce very subtle, but the mango guava barbecue sauce is the real winner. Download Ginger Lime Pork Ribs with Mango Guava BBQ Sauce It is sweet, rich, smooth and puts an incredible "dew" on these ribs. Actually I think this barbecue sauce is more like a jam, so I'll be slathering it on a bunch of stuff - shrimp, chicken, english muffins, sandwiches - it would all be good!
We enjoyed the ribs along with a Sweet Potato Salad from the British Virgin Islands. BVI is located east of Puerto Rico and are made up of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, along with over 50 other smaller islands and cays. Only 15 of the islands are inhabited and most are volcanic in orgin so are hilly and quite rugged. A tax haven, BVI is one of the more prosperous economies in the Caribbean with tourism employing most of its inhabitants, although of course financial services provide nearly 50 percent of the government's revenue, followed by agriculture and industry with fruit, vegetables, sugar cane, livestock and poultry, and industries including rum distillation, construction and boatbuilding.
Now as to the salad, I know you're going to comment about the color of this "sweet potato" salad, so I'll head you off at the pass and admit that I used ruby yams rather than sweet potatoes. They honestly looked better at the market and I thought their color would be more "tropical". Certainly I think the flavor is comparable, but please correct me if I'm wrong. This is a very tastie, creamy and fresh salad, but certainly not light as an accompanyment. I honestly think it would have been more enjoyable served on its own rather than along side the ribs. It does have a very tropical flavor with orange, lime, lemon as well as mango, pineapple and currents combined with the sweet potatoes and a hint of cinnamon and allspice. Download Virgin Island Sweet Potato Salad I'll LOVE it with a serving of nice creamy greek yogurt or some low fat cottage cheese for lunch...can't wait, just can't wait.
Those ribs and that sauce look fantastic. Hubby needs to take some grilling lessons from your big guy. The several times he's attempted to grill ribs they turned out, how do I put this delicately so as to not hurt his feelings... like crap. What the heck, he won't read your comments...lol.
Your salad is very pretty! I have an aversion to sweet potatoes if they're not turned into something savory, however. I think it stems back to being traumatized with the traditional Thanksgiving marshmallow tooth-rottingly sweet potato casserole we were forced to eat as kids.
Posted by: Mags | 09/21/2009 at 08:46 AM
Hey - there ya' go. The big guy's already talking about taking a side trip to Indiana on the way to Oregon...talk about a crazy sense of direction LOL - but hey why don't you guys head on out to Arid zona when your weather turns cold and we're basking? That way, Hubby's grillin' lessons could be accomplished while the martini's are chillin'. Quite honestly this salad did taste more like dessert, but wasn't cloyingly sweet. I think I prefer a sweet potato salad with bacon in it though..ah, bacon!
Posted by: June | 09/21/2009 at 09:08 AM