Tips From a Lesbian Husband

Linnea grew up with Italian cooking. "This dish is something I tend to make in the winter because it's pretty heavy. I don't know what it's called in Italian. I always just called it Pork Sauce. My mom made it and so did my grandma."

From Grandma to Mom to Linnea: Pork Sauce

• Country style pork spare ribs, 1-2 packages of 4 ribs each
• 6 large cloves of garlic
• 1 can of tomato paste (6 oz.)
• 3-5 large cans (29 oz.) of tomato puree

Lightly coat the ribs with salt and minced garlic, then brown in a large saucepan. Remove ribs and brown the garlic in the fat. (For a leaner version, brown the ribs in a separate pan, and brown the garlic in olive oil in the saucepan.)

Stir in tomato paste. This adds a hint of sweetness to the sauce and thickens it. Once heated, add the tomato puree. Bring to a simmer and season to taste with salt, pepper, oregano, basil and fennel (optional). Add the ribs and simmer low for at least one hour. Two or more hours will produce a richer sauce. Can be cooked a day ahead and refrigerated.

Serve over spaghetti or macaroni.

Tips:

On tomatoes: "I like the puree. Commercial tomato sauce comes pre-spiced. You can put tomatoes through a food mill until you get the equivalent liquid sauce; once you've made your own sauce, it's hard to go back to canned. For this pot, I used half canned and half 'fresh' from last summer in the freezer."

On Spices: "Ground kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. You could get fancy--use a shot of anisette instead of fennel."

On Serving: "Invite your friends and mangia!"