venison rib ragu

My Beloved went hunting between Christmas and New Years.  He and the two boys he went with came back with two deer, two wild hogs, one jackrabbit, and multiple chukar ( a type of bird).  They split the hunt up between them.  We got part of the venison ribs.  I had just come across a recipe for a rib sauce using pork and decided to try it with the venison.

Rib Sauce

2 pounds ribs (here I am using vension)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves smashed and halved

1 1/2 plus teaspoons salt

28 ounce can fire roasted whole tomatoes

8 - 10 basil leaves

1 cup wine

1/8 teaspoon ground chipolte

1/8 teaspoon ground ancho

In a large dutch oven over medium heat, put in the oil and let heat.  Add the ribs and let brown.  Throw in the garlic, salt, chipolte, and ancho and mix into the oil with the drippings.  Add the tomatoes and mush them up in your hands as you add them.  You do not want whole tomatoes in this but you get a better canned tomato if you buy whole canned tomatoes instead of crushed.

This is how it will look before you add the wine.  Not very rich looking.  If you do not wish to add wine, add 1 cup of vegetable broth and just cook gently over a low heat until it is the right consistency for pasta.

Or add the cup of wine and let simmer.  Cook over a low heat until the meat falls right off the bones.

This is a picture of when I had not simmered some of the water off.  You can simmer some of the water off and make it even richer.  I pulled the bones out and the meat fell right off so we could not have the ribs as a second course.

Instead, the bones went to Bandit, the tall short person's dog, and we had a lovely rib sauce over homemade noodles.  The noodles were not made with eggs (tomorrow, I promise) and I really thought that helped.  All I know was there was not much left in the pot when all was said and done!