Posted May 25, 2023, 09:47AM EDT
Serves 4
This ragu is technically a Sunday sauce (a traditional Italian pasta sauce made with all the odd bits of meat you have left at the end of the week). This recipe braises beef short ribs and pork baby back ribs together with tomatoes, wine and lots of rosemary.
Ingredients
- 1 rack pork baby back ribs, cut into 3 pieces
- 1 beef short rib Kosher salt
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (or enough to coat the pan)
- 1 stalk celery, diced 1 large carrot, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- ½ head garlic, cloves separated
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary 1 bay leaf
- 1 (28 oz/796 ml) can peeled whole tomatoes
- ½ cup white wine
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 batch Egg Pasta Dough
- Semolina rimacinata, for dusting 1½ tbsp unsalted butter
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil, to finish Parmesan, finely grated
- Fried sprig fresh rosemary (optional)
Instructions
- Salt the ribs the night before (optional). Place the ribs in a large dish or bowl and sprinkle generously with kosher salt all over. Cover the ribs and store in the fridge overnight. The follow- ing day, uncover the ribs and pat dry.
- Sear the ribs: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet with olive oil and line up the ribs on the tray so the meat of the pork ribs and the fat cap of the beef ribs are facing up. Roast the meat for 10–15 minutes until some color develops. Rotate and flip the pieces and continue to oven-sear for a further 10–15 minutes. Remove and let cool slightly.
- Make the base: In a Dutch oven or ovenproof pot with a fitted lid, warm the olive oil over medium heat, then stir in the celery, carrots, onions and garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until just starting to brown. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine, cooking a further 2 minutes. Add the rosemary sprig, bay leaf, canned tomatoes, white wine and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once the sugo base has come to a boil, remove from the heat.
- Braise the meat: Lower the oven temperature to 275°F. Add the seared ribs to the pot and cover with a lid. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook for 2 hours.
- Make the dough.
- Roll out the pasta dough: Working in bartches to make 1/8-inch-thick sheets.
- Cut and dry the noodles: Lightly flour a baking sheet and set aside. Cut the pasta sheets to about 14 inches in length. Dust the sheets with semolina and stack them together. Carefully roll them up and cut them into 1/3-inch-wide noodles. Grab a handful of noodles and shake them out so they don’t stick together. Arrange the noodles on the floured baking sheet and let them dry, tossing every so often, until they feel a bit lighter and stiffer but not brittle.
- Repeat the rolling, cutting and drying process with the remaining dough. the drying process can take up to 1 hour, depending on the ambient humidity of your kitchen.
- Remove the meat from the oven: After 2 hours in the oven, check the meat for tenderness: it should separate easily without falling apart. (You may need to cook for up to 1 more hour to achieve this.) Remove the pot from the oven and allow the meat to cool down for at least 30 minutes in the cooking liquid.
- Make the sugo: Once the braise is cool enough to handle, remove and discard (or compost) the bones, bay leaf and rose- mary stems, then pick the meat off the bones and place in a sepa- rate bowl to cool further. Puree the remaining vegetables and tomato sauce/liquid by passing through a food mill or using an immersion blender for a few seconds until you have a nice but not too smooth sauce (keep it rustic!). Return the blended sauce to the pot and add the meat, shredding it into smaller pieces with your hands, then stir to combine.
- Cook the tagliatelle and assemble: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the fresh tagliatelle until al dente, 2–3 min- utes. Strain and return to the pot. Add the sugo and butter and stir to coat the pasta. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Serve: Divide the pasta among bowls. Add a drizzle of olive oil and lots of grated parmesan. Top with fried rosemary for some extra crunch.
