It often happens that family and friends gather around this time of year, younger siblings return from school and Mum and Dad pay a visit. That’s all well and good but what do you make for dinner? It has to be a dish that can stretch to feed 6 or 8 or even more. One dish that fits the bill perfectly is a tasty stew — with some forethought it can be stretched to fit the unexpected guest as well.

In a large non-reactive glass or stainless steel bowl, combine ½ tspn salt, juice of 2 limes and the grated zest (peel), ½  tspn Worcester sauce, a good shake of white pepper and 1 cup water or wine/water mix. If you use wine do make sure that it isn’t from a bottle that’s been lurking in the refrigerator for several days! Modestly priced wines from Chile or Australia are available in shops — a white chardonnay is best for this dish. If you don’t use wine then dissolve a chicken or pork cub in a little warm water and add to the cup. A liquid cup is approximately 250ml (8 ¼ fluid ozs), 1 tspn measures 5ml and a Tbsp is 20ml or 4 tspns.

Separate the ribs if they’re in a rack, chop the larger ones into thirds or halves and put them in the bowl with the marinade, turning them to coat thoroughly. If you like stronger tasting ribs, you can double the marinade recipe — but not the amount of water. Allow them to marinate — all day if you have the time, but at least for 1 hour.

Boil a kettle of water. Chop 10 cloves of garlic and fry gently in 2 Tbsp oil (olive or an olive/sunflower mixture is best) for 3 minutes. Take 3-5 lbs meaty pork ribs, look for the ones that have some marbling of white fat, they will be more succulent, chopped in half if necessary, wash and dry them with a paper towel and dip into 5 Tbsp plain flour mixed with salt and white pepper before adding to the garlic. Fry for 3 minutes either side then add the marinade along with boiled water to cover, set over a medium low heat, put the lid on and cook for 45 minutes.  Check the seasoning and add 1 pork cube if necessary and 1 chopped green apple (Granny Smith) and cook for 10 minutes.

If you have time and the inclination add 1 cup of small shallots/onions (peeled) and cook for another 15 minutes on low. Remove the shallots and dress them with 1 tspn balsamic vinegar or Chinese red vinegar, a pinch of salt and white pepper and set aside.

Slice 2-3 green apples and fry gently for 2 minutes on each side, set aside. To give a contrasting sweetness to the pork ribs and the tart (non-sweet) apples, take 1 or 2 boxes of blueberries and stew them with sugar to taste - around 1 ½  Tbsp per box — for 10 minutes.

Saute 1 pumpkin peeled and cut into cubes until tender — around 4 minutes, dust with grated nutmeg or a very little cinnamon.

To serve; plate 1 or 2  ribs per person, dress with ½ tspn of the stewed blueberries, add a spoonful or two of the pumpkin and the green apple. Serve the vinegar-dressed onions separately. 

You can serve the liquid from the stew in two ways; as a soup with a few very small cubes of cucumber as garnish and a spoonful of cream.

Or you can thicken the liquid from the stew with 2 tspn cornflour mixed to a paste with 2 Tbsp cold water and allow this sauce to cook for 3 minutes to get rid of any raw flour taste. Serve separately. To stretch this further you can add boiled potatoes or rice, just make sure you have enough of the sauce to keep the meat and rice moist.