Norman’s Baby Back Spaghetti Dinner

Norman’s Baby Back Spaghetti Dinner

Yesterday, in the office we were laughing over a misstatement the owner of the company made while on the phone. He was talking with a branch of a hotel chain which has multiple locations in the area. He wanted to verify which location he was talking to, but his question didn't come out right. He asked, "Do you know where you're located?"

I could just imagine the possible responses the woman on the other end of the phone could have made! "No, I have no idea. I was hoping you could tell me." Or maybe, "Um, no. Let me ask someone." Or simply, "I hope that's not the first of many stupid questions you're going to ask me!" I find that I also misspeak more often as I get older.

Another thing I noticed as I age is that I like spaghetti more and more. I never seem to tire of it. I seldom make it the same way twice. 

If I recall, the first time I realized how much I love spaghetti was when I was in college. I was visiting some friends at another school. In that town, they had an all-you-can-eat spaghetti place. I don’t remember the name of it, but it had a couple of things going for it. One was a good tasting meat sauce on the spaghetti. The other, was the whole ‘all-you-can-eat' thing. That was a real hit with me.

I came up with this sauce one day when I was going to make spaghetti sauce using pork neck bones. I went to the grocery and, much to my dismay, they were out of neck bones. As I looked over the meat counter, I saw they had baby back ribs on sale, so I picked up a couple of slabs. 

The sauce was a hit with everyone that night. If I remember correctly, here’s how to make it.

Olive oil

2 slabs of baby back ribs, sliced into individual ribs 

1 medium onion, chopped fine

4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. thyme

1/4 tsp. allspice

1-1/2 cups chicken broth

1 can of tomato paste

2 cups red wine

2 28 oz. cans of ground tomatoes

sea salt and fresh ground white pepper

Preparation

Heat a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom and then add the ribs. You want to sear the ribs, stirring often with a wooden spoon until they are nicely browned. Once that’s done add the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, oregano, thyme and the allspice. Stir and cook until the onions soften and start to clarify.

Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer uncovered, for about ten minutes to reduce it a little. Add the tomato paste and stir to dissolve it in the sauce. Add the wine and bring it back to a boil while stirring. Let it simmer for about twenty minutes, stirring often. 

Add the cans of crushed tomatoes and use a little more wine to rinse out the cans. Stir and let the sauce simmer for about a half hour. Stir often. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Go ahead and add a little Tabasco too. That can’t hurt. Let it simmer while you cook the spaghetti and then you’re ready to serve it. Just before serving, remove the ribs to a bowl to have as a side dish.

Serving

To serve this, take a huge pile of spaghetti and place it on a plate. Smother it in the sauce and add several of the ribs. Now hit it all with a blizzard of freshly grated parmesan cheese. What else? Oh yes, add some broccoli spears sautéed in olive oil and hit that with the parmesan too. Next set a big salad next to the dinner plate, and then set out the sliced, freshly baked bread. Make sure there is plenty of butter for the bread. For wine, you can’t go wrong with a Chianti Classico. It sounds good, in fact, set a place for me!