The following recipe is intellectual property I gleaned from my former mother-in-law over 22+ years of dating and being married to X. She is a Ferraro and her grandparents came from Italy. I share the recipe here with the world.

There are no quantities really. This is “by feel” cooking. Like in the old days. If you have questions, be sure and ask. I’ll be as helpful as I can. The fun of this kind of cooking is the creativity. Think something will taste good? Try it! If it doesn’t work, don’t do it again. Try something else.

So this is a meat sauce, but it’s not tomato-hamburger gravy like at Perkins or something. I think it’s more like a ragout. (Maybe Stepping over the Junk could ask Chef to identify what the heck I’m doing here?

Start with short ribs. She usually used a combination of beef and pork. Lean is good but they need a little fat for flavor. How many depends on how many people you are feeding. Figure 2-3 ribs per person if it’s family. If times are tight, 1-2 ribs per person. If it’s a crowd, 2-3 people per rib.

I find it easier at the sauce point if the butcher has cut them apart for me…or at least into slabs that will fit into my stock pot. Buy good meat! Don’t skimp and buy meat that’s been shot full of salt and water or other flavorings. It doesn’t have to be organic or free range. Just real. (Ok. That’s just my little rant against the machine…)

Put the ribs in a generous sized roaster, season with salt and pepper and roast them in a slow (325 degree) oven until they are done, but not necessarily falling off the bone. My addition: I peel 1-2 heads of garlic (more if I’m cooking for a crowd and there’s 3 or 4 slabs of ribs I’m starting with) and roast those with the meat. Make sure the garlic is tossed with olive (or veggie) oil before you put them in the oven or they’ll turn green and bitter. Also make sure the meat is in contact with the garlic.

Once the meat is done, remove it from the pan (I usually just put them right in the stock pot, but you could put them on a platter if you need to dirty another dish) and de-glaze the roasting pan on the stove top. You can use water or wine. I prefer wine. The last batch (for the choir party) I actually used white wine because that’s what I had opened although with red sauce, supposedly you should only use red. I thought it tasted great. The main idea is to get all those delicious brown bits scraped off the bottom of the pan and poured into the stock pot.

I usually don’t mess with skimming off the fat, but if you think there’s too much, take some out. But not all of it! You need some fat to carry the flavor. If you’re watching fat intake, cool it on the salad dressing and the butter on the bread.

So now we have a large stock pot with the juice and bits from the pan in the bottom. Add the ribs if you haven’t already. At this point, chop an onion or two and coarsely chop that roasted garlic. Throw that in the pot.

Now we add the tomatoes. My mother-in-law would always use tomato puree or canned sauce. I prefer to use a blend of diced tomatoes and sauce. For the big party I used paste instead of sauce. For a regular Sunday dinner, I use sauce because paste takes longer to cook. Paste also requires you to add extra water (read the can or mix it in a separate bowl before adding it to the stock pot.) Either way is fine because this sauce needs to cook for a while and if you over water it, it will all work out. It’s very forgiving that way.

Ok. Now you should have ribs, crunchy bits from the pan, onion, garlic and tomatos of some denomination in this stock pot. The tomatoes should generously cover the amount of ribs you’ve got in there. So, now is the time to send somebody to the store for more tomatoes if you don’t have enough.

Ok. Got the meat covered by tomatoes/sauce/paste? Great. Put it on the back burner and turn it on medium heat. Cover this puppy or you’ll be cleaning your stove for days. Once it starts to bubble, you can turn the heat down to low. Stir it every once in a while, but just be resigned that part of the cost of this great sauce is needed to really scrub your stock-pot.

Cook this sauce for a couple of hours. You heard me. Hours. I told you, this is old fashioned cooking but well worth it.

As you stir the sauce occasionally now, the bones will have come lose. I remove these along with some of the icky chunks of rib-fat that are in there too.

Keep cooking this sauce until all the meat has fallen off the ribs and is broken apart.

Now is the time to season the sauce. Again, no quantities. Season to taste. Fresh herbs are better, but they’re hard to find sometimes. I mostly use dried, so it’s not like it ruins the sauce or anything. Three main sauce herbs: Sweet Basil, Oregano, and Rosemary. For a big pot of sauce, I’d throw in maybe 3 handfuls like this of dried basil, 1 or 1 1/2 of oregano and a small one of Rosemary. And salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in the herbs and simmer for a while longer. Taste it. It’s going to be dark and rich and stick-to-your-ribs tasting. You don’t need a lot of this sauce for a serving…at least not for a regular serving.

Serve it on Rigatoni or some big pasta. Not elbows or spaghetti. It’s too hearty for that kind of noodle. Add a side salad, some fruit, and a piece of bread to sop up the extra and you have a Nordeast Italian Sunday Dinner…complete with leftovers for lunch on Monday.

If you give this recipe a try, I’d love to hear how it goes.

enjoy!

— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…

Music Monday: Moving In Edition 2009
Ah-ha! 2008
Down to one Mama 2007
Bad day at work? Sing along! 2007
Mom? What’s venison again? 2007

January 19th, 2007 | Category: food | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL