5 or 6 cups of meaty guazzetto, enough for 2 ½ to 3 pounds of pasta

Notes

If you combine pork meat and tomatoes, you’ll end up with a great pasta dressing and some meat left over for a second course. In southern Italy the traditional Sunday dinner has a piece of pork seasoning and peeled tomatoes. With the addition of some dry pasta, in two hours family dinner is ready. 

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds country-style pork ribs, bone-in
  • 1/2 cup dried porcini, soaked in 1-1/2 cups warm broth or water
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ pound bacon, minced in a food processor or finely chopped (about ½ cup)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 1 large onion minced in a food processor or finely chopped (about 1 ¼ cups)
  • 2 large stalks celery, minced in a food processor or chopped (about ½ cup)
  • 1 medium carrot, shredded (about ½ cup)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 3 strips of orange rind, each the size of a band-aid
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 2 to 4 cups hot turkey broth, vegetable broth or water, or some of each, as needed
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, about 4-inches long with lots of needle clusters
  • Freshly ground black pepper
Lidia’s Italian Table

Cookbook

Lidia’s Italian Table

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Directions

Prepping and Cooking the Sauce Base

Trim the fat off the ribs—country ribs often have the fat cap from the loin—leaving only a thin layer on the meat.

Lift the soaked porcini out of the soaking liquid and squeeze the juices back into it. Chop the mushrooms into small pieces; strain the soaking liquid and keep it in a warm spot.

Film the pan bottom with the olive oil and set over medium-high heat. When quite hot, lay the ribs in and let them sear for a couple of minutes in place. When they’re colored and slightly crusted, turn them all to another side and brown well. Turn after 2 minutes and continue to brown evenly all over, about 8 to 10 minutes in all. Thick ribs should be seared on the narrow sides as well as the cut surfaces. Keep the pan as hot as possible without burning.

Remove the crusty ribs to a bowl or a platter and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt all over them. Immediately drop the minced bacon into the pan. Lower the heat and stir the bacon around the pan bottom, rendering the fat and scraping up some of the meat crust before it burns, for about 2 minutes. 

Lidia’s Italian Table

Cookbook

Lidia’s Italian Table

buy now