This dish is ridiculous. It's pleasing to both the eye, the palate and the mind, and it cooks slowly so you have a good long time to get excited about it.
I've been making
braised baby backs in a tangy tomato sauce for a few years now, and
it's a really special dish. I mean, think about it: you're eating
ribs... and a hearty bowl of pasta! I'll say that again: ribs and pasta! Not ribs and no pasta. Not pasta and no ribs. But both ribs and pasta. At the same time! Now who wouldn't get fired up about that?
I think technically this probably qualifies as a ragu. But whatever you call it, it rules. I don't really have a recipe, per se, for this dish. I started making it as an attempt to duplicate a Bobby Flay braised rib I once had at a showcase for up and coming New York chefs and it's sort of taken on a life of its own since then.
The basic steps if you wanted to recreate this in your home are as follows:
Cut
a rack of baby backs into three sections. (You could also use spareribs
for this, but I prefer the baby backs. While I think it's appetizing to
slide a few bones out of the meat to underscore the mind-numbing
tenderness of the braise, fishing out endless bones and little nubs of
gristle gets kind of tiresome.) Season the meat, then powder it with
flour and sear it off in a dutch oven or similar deep cooking vessel
with a tight-fitting lid.
When you get a good sear on the ribs, remove them to a dish and brown garlic, minced (or grated) carrots, onions and your spices in the remaining fat. (You can really add whatever spices you want to this because, unlike spaghetti and meatballs it doesn't so much need to taste like a classic Italian tomato sauce. Last night I decided to toss in a largeish heap of curry powder and a long squeeze of honey and it was a big hit.) When your aromatics and seasonings are nice and toasty, deglaze the pan with white wine then stir in a can of crushed tomatoes. Next, arrange the ribs, meat side down, so they're almost entirely covered in the sauce. It should look sort of like the log arrangement you'd use when building a fire. Bring the sauce to a bare boil, then cover the pot and slide it into a 300 degree oven for about two hours to finish. Serve each hunk of ribs over pasta and scattered with chopped fresh herbs. Ribs. And pasta. It's magic.
