Pork Spare Rib Ragù & Linguine

Yoo-hoo, it's the first day of spring, so I decided on  a heavy spaghetti sauce.  :p  OK, well, it was raining and it was really about using up what was in the freezer for Sunday dinner.  I still had some "sweet & sour style" spare ribs in there so decided to make those.  I didn't want to make the obvious with them so considered what else I could do?  Then I thought I'd slow cook them in the crock pot, take the meat off the bones, leave all the fat there and make a fresh pasta sauce - kind of like a Bolognese.  I put them in the crock pot at 7am on low for 10 hours.

They were simply seasoned with S&P and Kirkland organic no salt seasoning (it's kind of like Mrs. Dash).  Half way through, I poured off all the fat!   For my sauce, I used:

• 796 ml can of San Marzano tomatoes ( I can never use any other tomatoes now that I've used these!)
• 156 ml can of tomato paste
• 720 ml bottle of organic low sodium strained tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 1 Serrano pepper with seeds, small dice (not hot at all, it turned out)
• Fresh basil to taste and for garnish, chiffonade
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• Fresh thyme, tied with twine in a bundle
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 carrots, small dice
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• Fresh cracked kosher salt and pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano (courtesy of my absent sous chef son)

I asked my son to try and buy Pappardelle or Tagliatelle pasta at Safeway on his way home from work.  Of course, they didn't carry either.  So, I asked him to get fresh Fettuccine pasta by Olivieri instead. He came home with Linguine so that would have to do.   An hour before the ribs were done, I made the sauce.  

I sauteed all the veggies, added the wine and reduced it all out.  Then I added all the tomato products and herbs, sugar and seasoning.  I brought it to a boil and then simmered it on very low heat.  

The ribs came out fall off the bone tender, so I stripped all the meat off and then put it in the sauce.

The sauce got nice and thick and I continued to simmer it for another hour, adjusting the seasoning twice.  I ended up adding a bit of cayenne pepper since the Serrano had no heat at all, unfortunately.  

I boiled the water for the pasta.  It only needed to cook for a couple of minutes.  

From watching cooking shows, I always save a half cup of the water to put back into the pasta after it drains.  I think it makes the sauce stick better?  Anyway, I always do it.  I added a bit of sauce too, to coat the pasta before I served.  Then I plated, added more sauce, Parmesan and basil.

This was mighty good and mighty filling!  We didn't even get through half our plates before packing it away for lunch tomorrow.  A lot of people at work are getting my leftovers tomorrow.  I hope they enjoy it like we did.