Mantia's Pickles--The Secret Revealed

We get so many requests for our pickles, and sometimes folks get a little testy when we won't sell them. We make them here, and we just don't have enough room to make more than we do now. This isn't a secret recipe; it is in most of the community cookbooks in the South, as Fire and Ice, Good and Evil, or Sweet and Hot.

Here is what you do: Got to Sam's or Costco and pick up a gallon jar of whole dill pickles. Dump them in a colander and drain them, discarding the liquid. Cut them as you prefer. We do chunks here, but at home I like to do some of them in slices, because I like them so well on sandwiches.

Anyway, besides the pickles you need two pounds of white sugar, 1/4 cup of garlic, peeled and very finely minced (we do ours in the Cuisinart) and a small bottle of Tobasco sauce. Some recipes call for also adding pickling spices, but we don't.

Now, in the original jar, layer some of the pickles, some of the sugar, some of the garlic and a few sprinkles of Tobasco. Repeat until everything is used up (we only use the equivalent of about half the small bottle of Tobasco for this quantity).

Put the top on tightly and keep in a cool dark spot (no need to refrigerate) for at least two weeks, turning upside down every couple of days. They keep just fine at room temperature, but chill before eating for the best texture.

That's it!

Moroccan Crabcakes...Yummy stuff!

Several people have asked about a good recipe for crab cakes, something a little out of the usual Old Bay Seasoning East Coast crab cakes. And heaven knows I aim to please! I’ve been into the seasonings of North Africa lately, and I thought those spices would work marvelously with crab.

You can make these as a dinner entrée, serving two cakes per person. They would also work well on a first course salad, with one cake per person. Use the sauce as the dressing; just thin it a bit with a little more orange juice and a couple of tablespoons of good white wine vinegar. Another option would be to make tablespoon sized ones as a party appetizer. Yummy! Cook them ahead and reheat briefly in the oven at party time.

I served these with a lemon-scented rice pilaf. Couscous would have been more authentic, but I’m not a huge fan of couscous. As a side dish, I tossed thickly sliced carrots with olive oil and sprinkled them with equal parts of ground cardamom, ground coriander and kosher salt. I roasted them for about 15 minutes at 400F. They made the perfect accompaniment.

If at all possible, use fresh or pasteurized crabmeat. It isn’t necessary to use the hugely expensive jumbo lump. Backfin or “special” comprises the smaller pieces that result when lump meat is being picked from the crab body, and makes a great crab cake that won’t break the bank. I avoid canned crab if possible but then, I have a friend who maintains that “canned crab is better than no crab at all!”

However you serve them, I am sure your friends will love them as much as mine did!

Moroccan Inspired Crab Cakes

For the crab cakes:
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, including any green leaves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh ginger, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp each ground cumin, coriander and cardamom
1 tbsp ground turmeric
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
1 lb crab meat,
? cup mayonnaise
1 lemon, finely grated zest and juice
1 cup panko crumbs, or more fresh breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil for frying

For the sauce:
1 orange, juice and finely grated zest
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 cup cilantro leaves, minced
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tiny pinch ground cloves

Cook the bell pepper and celery in the olive oil over medium heat until softened. Add the ginger, garlic and green onion. Cook and stir a couple more minutes. Add the spices and stir constantly for one minute. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the crab meat and two cups fresh breadcrumbs, the mayonnaise and lemon juice and zest. Measure out in level ? cups. You should have 12 crab cakes.

In a flat dish roll each in panko (for a crisper outside) or additional fresh crumbs. Place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet and pat into cakes about 1/2” thick. Cover and chill until ready to cook, at least an hour and up to 8 hours.
Meanwhile, mix all sauce ingredients, cover and chill.

Add enough vegetable oil to a heavy skillet to just film the bottom. Heat over medium high heat until very hot. Add the crab cakes, in batches to avoid crowding, and cook until dark golden brown, turning once. Serve at once with the sauce. Serves 6 as a main course.

NOTE 1: If you are among those who hate cilantro, substitute fresh mint in the sauce. It will be equally tasty.

NOTE 2: One of the invited guests cancelled at the last minute, so I had a couple of the uncooked ones left. In the interest of culinary curiosity, I froze them, completely made but not cooked, on a baking sheet. When they were solid, I put them in plastic freezer bags. A few days later I pulled one out to see how it had fared. I let it thaw at room temperature for about half an hour, then proceeded to cook it as directed. Perfect! So you could make these well ahead. I love things you can make ahead!

Olive Garden Restaurant: Recipes: Cooking Demonstrations

You might want to take a look at the online Olive Garden Restaurant Cooking Demonstrations. They demonstrate, in video format, several of their latest recipes. You might not think that the Olive Garden is your favorite Italian restaurant, but all three of these dishes look pretty good to me!

Chilled Melon Soup

  By now you know that I am blessed with friends who cook. A while back I got a call from my friends Mike and Darlene Whitfield. Mike had been to the farmer’s market at the Agri-Center. He had found, among other treasures, perfectly ripe cantaloupes and was making soup. I was on my way!

Mike, known to his friends as “Big Mike,” is a culinary academy graduate and has worked in the kitchen of several fine Memphis restaurants. Currently he is Manager of Product Development and Education for a local wine distributor.

Originally from Arkansas (another of his self-designated sobriquets is “Chef Bubba”) he frequently combines the foods of his youth in ways that are surprisingly sophisticated. He tells me that he first came up with this soup at Chez Philippe, that wonderful restaurant at the Peabody Hotel, when faced with a basket of melons just about to go over the hill. It has become one my favorites. As hot as it has been lately, the prospect of something cool that doesn't have to be cooked is hugely appealing.

As the guests gathered, Darlene was making a fresh salsa with diced tomatoes (perfectly ripe, also from the farmer’s market), chopped onion, a bit of garlic, a generous handful of minced cilantro, finely minced jalapeno pepper and lime juice. Mike was starting on the soup. Fresh lady peas simmered with fragrant seasonings.

The soup went into the refrigerator to chill. Filets of tilapia, a mild white fish, went onto an oiled baking sheet to be topped with the salsa, then slices of Monterey jack cheese.

When dinnertime came, Mike finished the soup and as we enjoyed it, slipped the fish into a preheated 350F oven to bake for about 15 minutes. Dessert was a beautiful bowl of cut up watermelon, blueberries, strawberries and the first of this season’s blackberries. What a perfect meal for a hot summer night!

The melons for this soup must be ripe, sweet and juicy. When shopping for yours, pick ones that give a little when you press them with your thumb near the stem end. Give ‘em a sniff; they should smell like cantaloupes on the outside.

You can make your own salsa for the fish, or pick up a fresh salsa at most supermarkets. This doesn’t work nearly as well with a jarred salsa. A hint if you make your own: a good salsa needs a bit of jalapeno. If your tolerance for hot food is low, remove the seeds and you will get a much more temperate salsa.

Although both the soup and the salsa can be made ahead and refrigerated, this meal take so little time that it’s perfect for last-minute entertaining as well. Call a few friends and give it a try!

CANTALOUPE MIST SOUP

3 medium very ripe cantaloupes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup champagne or other sparkling white wine
Salt to taste
Fresh basil or mint springs for garnish

Peel and seed the cantaloupes and cut into chunks. Puree in a blender or food processor. Cover and refrigerate until quite cold, up to 24 hour. At serving time, whisk in the cream. Take a little sip and add salt to taste. At the last minute gently stir in the champagne. Serves 6 to 8. 

Simple Summer Pasta

In years past, I traveled quite a bit. I had several weeks of vacation each year, and usually spent a couple of weeks of it in Europe, generally alternating between Italy and France. Alas, now my schedule doesn’t often allow for that sort of travel.

I do get lots of pleasure, however, from trips that friends make, and love seeing their photos and hearing about the sites they visited. But as you may imagine, mostly I like to see the menus they bring back, and hear about the great meals they had.

My friends Reed and Diane recently returned from a trip that truly had me turning green with envy. A few days after their return, they invited me for dinner, and to hear all about it. One week was spent staying with friends in the south of France, enjoying the local atmosphere, weather and food. Another week was spent motoring around Corsica, an island off the coast of France. I had never been there, and was fascinated by the shots of the rugged coast lines, the ancients citadels, and scenery.

Travelers after my own heart, many of their meals in both places were well documented with pictures of the exterior and interior of the various restaurants they found, and with great shots of the food.

After sharing their photos with me, Reed prepared our dinner. A simple pasta dish, it was so colorful and delicious that I whipped out my camera so I could share it with you. It was perfect for a warm summer evening, since it was quickly made and had such fresh ingredients. And it reminded me of the sort of dish one might get in a small Provençal restaurant…I could use my imagination, if not my frequent flyer miles!

REED’S SIMPLE SUMMER PASTA

1 lb fettuccine
1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, dusted with salt and pepper
1/2 cup very good extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1/2 tsp crushed hot red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
2 small zucchini, in 1/2” dice
1 each red and yellow bell pepper, in 1/2” dice
1 carton grape tomatoes
1 bag mesclun greens (See note)
Zest of one lemon, finely grated
1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
Salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until just al dente.

In a large skillet or wok over medium high heat, sauté the shrimp in 1/4 cup olive oil until just barely pink through. Remove and set aside. Add a bit more olive oil, the garlic and the crushed red pepper to the pan and stir a couple of times. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring, until lightly browned. Add the red and yellow bell peppers and continue to sauté, stirring frequently, 3-4 minutes. Add the grape tomatoes and the greens, and stir about 2 minutes. Put the shrimp in, add the lemon zest and toss. Drain the pasta and add the remaining olive oil. Toss the shrimp mixture with the pasta, top with the pine nuts. Serve immediately.

If you have all your ingredients minced, diced and ready, the shrimp mixture can be made in just about the time it takes the fettuccine to cook.

NOTE: Reed used a mixture of radicchio, arugula and frisée, available in bags in most supermarkets. Most any baby green mixture could be used, as long as there is no iceberg or romaine lettuce in it.

Volare Ristorante-Louisville, KY

Just a quick take on my dinner with my sister, Cindy, in Louisville, Sunday evening. Louisville is a fabulous restaurant town. When the Louisville magazine does its survey, the top restaurants are always local. The only chain that shows up is usually Ruth’s Chris for steaks—and it comes in as #3!

We always try to go out to eat when we are there. It gives us a chance to visit, and gives our parents a little break from us—in other words, they have time to take a little nap!

The only time we could make it was Sunday, when many of the good places are closed. Not having done any research this time, we got into the car and cruised the “restaurant row” closest to home, Frankfort Avenue. If nothing turned up, we could always go further afield to Bardstown Road, where we knew we would find something interesting.

We cruised past one with a great looking outdoor seating area, Volare, but Cindy said she thought it was closed. Not so, I said, since the outside tables had tablecloths on them. We went in to have a glass of wine at the bar and check out the menu.

Our bartender, Deborah, was cute and charming. The bar wasn’t crowded, so after looking over the menu, we decided to eat there, sharing two appetizers and a main course.

Antipasto de Capesante

Our first appetizer was grilled scallops, on a bed of sweet pea puree, with crispy prosciutto and little sprouts on top, drizzled with truffle oil. The scallops were huge and perfectly cooked. The flavor combination could not have been better.

By the time we had had our second appetizer, gnocchi with a creamy tomato-mascarpone vodka sauce, we knew a full main course was out of the question.

Italian cheese flight

Deborah suggested the cheese flight of the day, paired with wines chosen to match each one. Afraid we would fight over the good stuff, instead of sharing a flight we each had one. What a treat! Pecarino toscano paired with Chianti jelly, a soft creamy sheep’s milk cheese from Abruzzo, blended with a little espresso and lemon zest, and a soft cow’s milk cheese from Norcia with sliced pears drizzled with truffle oil. The wines were a perfect match.


The last week of every month they do a regional Italian dinner. We’re already planning on going back in October for the Umbrian one!

Mark's Feed Store, Louisville, KY

On her blog, Whining and Dining (see the link on the right), Leslie Kelley alerted us to the fact that cheaptickets.com had listed their top destinations for barbecue over the Fourth of July weekend--and Memphis was not among them!

One of the places listed was Mark's Feed Store in Louisville, KY, my home town. Today I am there, visiting my parents, so I convinced them they should join my sister, our niece and me there for lunch.

I hadn't been before, since my mom cooks so well that we don't usually eat out when I'm there. And when my sister is also in town, and we go out for dinner together, we are NOT looking for barbecue! There are too many great restaurants in Louisville to do that.

We got there just ahead of the crowd, which was a good thing, since by the time we left, there were no parking places in the lot, and the only empty tables were a few two-tops.

Pork Sandwich with Burgoo

It isn't far from my niece's home, so she had been there several times before. She didn't even look at the menu, and ordered the pork sandwich with burgoo. My mom always eats chicken and asked for no sauce on her chicken. My dad, as always ordered the ribs, my sister got the pork plate, substituting potato salad for the spicy fries, and I got the pork sandwich, substituting the deep-fried corn for the fries. The waitress was very obliging as we each made our own variations to the menu combos.

Pork Sandwich with Deep-Fried Corn

It came out promptly and the waitress did not have to ask "Who got the chicken?" but quite professionally delivered the right plates to the right people.

The chicken, served on the bone, came without sauce, as requested, but seemed to me to be a bit dry and overcooked. I didn't taste the ribs, but my dad said they were good, but without a deep-smoked flavor. The pulled pork was very tender and juicy, but again, lacked the definite smoky flavor that we get here in Memphis at the local joints. The interesting thing was the house sauce, which was a definite mustardy yellow. I had tasted it alone (bottles were on the table) and hadn't particularly liked it, but it also came on the sandwiches, and was much better on the pork.

Burgoo is a soup with its roots in Western Kentucky. Long cooked, with a variety of meats and vegetables, it should be dark and rich and only mildly spicy. This was sort of "gluey," as if it had been thickened with flour, and the dominant flavor was hot pepper. If you'd never had it at the source (Owensboro, KY, where I was born), you wouldn't go out of your way for it after tasting this version.

SO: How did it measure up to our Memphis BBQ? Not even close, if you like the good smoky flavor you get from most of our locally owned spots. The pork itself was tasty, as were the ribs. I loved the deep-fried corn on the cob. Two thumbs down for both the chicken and the burgoo. Thumbs up on the cheerful and efficient service. The mustardy house sauce is a matter of taste; everyone else liked it better than I did.

Will I go back there again? With all the great restaurants in Louisville? No way!

Easy but Good Tuna Salad

In the heat of summer, it’s hard to get excited about turning on the stove or the oven. A salad hits the spot, and with a little enhancement, a salad of canned tuna can become dinner. I like to use tuna packed in olive oil; I think it has a lot more flavor than the water packed type. You, however, must make your own decision about that.

If you are feeling a little more ambitious, you could replace the canned tuna with 12 ounces of fresh tuna, brushed with a little soy sauce and olive oil and grilled to medium-rare. Sliced thin and fanned out over the top, it makes a lovely plate. You could also toss the tuna, avocado and tomato with the greens and dressing, but I find the good stuff always goes to the bottom of the salad bowl when I do that.

I love the bags of pre-washed salad mixes from the produce section of the supermarket. You may use whatever blend you like best. Or you could wash and crisp your own lettuce…but I almost never do anymore. I like to serve this with packaged lime-flavored tortilla chips but crusty bread or even crisp crackers would be good as well.

I hope your friends and family enjoy this as much as mine did!

TUNA RANCHERO SALAD

2 7-ounce cans tuna
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes
2 avocados
1 bag (8 to 10 ounces) salad mix
4 ounces shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
1 4-ounce can chopped green chiles, well drained
Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Dressing:
1 cup bottled ranch dressing
2 tbsp minced cilantro leaves
2 green onions, with some of the green top, finely sliced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
The juice and finely grated zest of one lime
1 tsp sugar

Mix all the dressing ingredients and chill at least an hour, or, better, overnight, to mellow.

Drain the tuna and flake into large chunks. Core the tomatoes and cut into thin wedges. Peel the avocados and cut into 1/2” dice.

Put the salad greens on a large platter, or divide among four serving plates. Mound the tuna in the center and arrange the avocado and tomato around it. Drizzle with half the dressing. Scatter the cheese, chiles and cilantro sprigs over the top. Pass the additional dressing at the table. Serves 4 generously.

NOTE: If my guests are folks that I know will appreciate it, I might add half of a jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined, and very finely minced, to the dressing. Or even a whole one.

Ice cream memories

Both my mother and father were from a rural part of Western Kentucky. They, as did some of their brothers and sisters, went off to the big city to make their fortunes, but some of my fondest memories are the times we would load up our car and head "down in the country" for the weekends. With wax-paper wrapped fried egg sandwiches for when we got hungry, we would make the three hour trip, singing all the songs we knew and asking "when are we going to get there?"

One thing we knew would happen at some point any summer weekend: one of the daddies would get in the car and go the few miles down the road to the ice-house, and pick up a couple of big blocks of ice (one grandmother still had a true "ice box"). While one of the aunts would whip up the ice cream mixture, the men would take an ice pick and chip those blocks into a big washtub. The ice cream would go into the tank of a big crank-type freezer. Ice and rock salt would get packed around it. Then we would all take turns cranking, the youngest of us first, while it was still easy to turn. As it started to freeze, it took a bit more muscle, until the last few minutes had to be done by one of the daddies.

A towel would be draped across it while we consumed vast quantities of fried chicken, home-cured ham, homegrown veggies and salads.

Finally we would dip into the ice cream, and I’ll tell you, to this day I can’t think of anything better! Usually it would be vanilla, with berries, fruit, or homemade syrups to pour on top. If there were lots of us, there might be two freezers, and the second would be for the more adventurous: banana, peach, or pineapple.

I still have a freezer of the same size, although mine is electrically cranked. It makes a couple of gallons of ice cream, quite a lot for a dinner party at the house. And it’s still a lot of trouble. But if you love homemade ice cream, and haven’t discovered those you can find now with a cartridge that lives in your freezer until you need it, you have a treat in store! Available at most cookware and discount stores, it makes a quart, perfect for six to eight guests. I even ordered an extra cartridge, so I can offer two different flavors, if I want, since the freezing process takes only about a half-hour.

So pick up some fried chicken, make your favorite potato salad, and then treat your family and friends to homemade ice cream…and not just your normal vanilla! The black pepper ice cream will surprise you. A favorite dessert in Italy is strawberries with freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Here’s the ice cream ready for just the berries. And the brown sugar-ginger flavor will be good with any fresh fruit, or on its own with just a crisp cookie. Both need to be made in plenty of time to chill well before freezing, so take that into consideration. Both are just the right size for the cartridge type freezer. Your friends will feel so pampered—we won’t tell them how easy it was!

BLACK PEPPER ICE CREAM
2 cups heavy cream
8 whole allspice berries, coarsely crushed
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 egg yolks
1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
2 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
In a heavy saucepan, combine cream, allspice berries and 1/4 cup sugar and bring just to a simmer. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until the mixture is thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Pour in the cream mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it lightly coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT LET BOIL! Remove from the heat and let stand for about 20 minutes, then strain though a fine sieve into another bowl. Chill thoroughly. Stir in the black peppercorns and the balsamic vinegar and freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

BROWN SUGAR-GINGER ICE CREAM
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups half-and-half, warmed
1 tbsp ground ginger
Combine egg yolks, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk or beat until fluffy and light. Add the warm cream, whisking constantly. Whisk in the ground ginger. Transfer to a heavy pan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, and coats the back of a spoon. DO NOT LET BOIL! Pour into a bowl and chill thoroughly. Freeze in an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Super Southwest Shortribs

As I promised, I am attempting to address some of the e-mails sent to me with suggestions and requests for recipes.

One Loyal Reader asked about beef short ribs. They are quite the thing now, and you can get them in the very finest restaurants at a price that might belie their reasonable cost. What makes them more costly in a restaurant situation is the loving care that they need. The Loyal Reader had been to a small place in the southwest and gave me only a few hints about the dish he had enjoyed so much.

One of the things he said was that it had "mild heat" and a "sort of smoky flavor." That said "chipotle pepper" to me--that’s a jalapeño pepper, dried, then smoked. It is available either in bags, dried, or in cans with adobo, a sort of spicy tomato sauce. It gives food a nice zing, but is not tongue-burning, head-sweating hot.

And now to a confession: I had never cooked short ribs. So I took myself off to Charlie’s Meat Market and chatted with my butcher friend Chuck. He suggested that I use ribs cut across the bone, in 1" to 1-1/2" width. I took them home and proceeded to put together a spice mixture that I thought might go with the chipotle flavor. I rubbed it all over the ribs and put them in the fridge. At the grocery store, what did I find but Chipotle Tobasco Sauce. Well, I needed to try that, didn’t I?

I wasn’t happy with the first try. To begin with, I thought I wanted longer bones in the ribs, so they didn’t fall apart in the cooking process. And then, I thought the spice mixture was not as lively as I might have liked.

So back to Chuck I went, and had the ribs cut crosswise into wider 2" strips. I added layers of flavor to the spice rub, and picked up the taste a lot with lime juice and zest.

To go with the ribs and their savory juices, I cooked up some Delta Grind stoneground grits, adding shredded cheddar cheese and a small can of chopped green chiles. Then I poured them into a loaf pan and let them chill. Sliced, brushed with some of the fat from the ribs and run under a hot broiler, they made an excellent complement. For a green veggie, I sautéed a handful of minced onion in a film of the fat from the ribs, added a bit of chicken stock and steamed kale in it. I love kale.

I don’t know if this is exactly what my Loyal Reader had in mind, but I sure did like it! The one thing I would counsel: if you have time, rub down the ribs a day ahead of cooking, and cook a day ahead of eating. The ribs must be slow-braised for the best flavor and texture, but they give off a lot of fat. If you can chill them overnight after fully cooking them, you can scrape off almost all the fat.

Otherwise, before serving, pour off the cooking juices into a measuring cup and skim off as much fat as you can with a ladle. You can do what you want with the fat, but I can tell you that it makes a mean fried egg for breakfast the next morning as you are cleaning up the last of the dishes!

Any leftover beef can be taken off the ribs, mixed with the cooking juices and used as a pasta or rice sauce. I had some left, but not enough for another meal. I put them in the freezer and used them later to stuff wonton wrappers, ravioli style. Cooked and tossed with olive oil and grated Pecarino Romano cheese, they were quite tasty.

Because I thought they were so good, I made another batch for a different batch of friends. I had about one generous serving left over. I simmered it in more stock, added another can of tomatoes and made a good soup. I served it with a yellow rice pilaf timbale in the center of the bowl. Also YUMMY!

SOUTHWEST BEEF SHORT RIBS
The rub:
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper, preferably freshly ground
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp ground cardamom
? tsp ground ginger
The beef:
6 lbs beef short ribs
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
6 large cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
Juice and zest of two large limes
2 tbsp (or more to taste) Chipotle Tobasco Sauce
1 lime, cut into thin wedges, for garnish
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only, coarsely chopped, for garnish

Mix the rub ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle generously on all sides of the short ribs and massage it in gently. Set aside at room temperature for a couple of hours, or refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the rib strips into two long pieces. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ribs in batches, without crowding, and brown well on all sides. As they brown, transfer them, meaty side down, to a baking dish with a lid that will hold all the ribs in one layer.

Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the garlic and stir a couple of times. Add the onion, cover and cook until the onion is soft and golden, stirring occasionally. Add the broth and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the lime juice and zest and the Chipotle Tobasco Sauce. Bring to a boil and pour over the ribs. Cover and bake until the ribs are tender, about two hours.

Remove the lid of the baking dish and with tongs, turn the meaty side up. Continue to bake until the ribs are fork-tender, another half-hour or so. Remove the ribs to a serving platter and drizzle with some of the cooking juices. Arrange the lime wedges around the edge of the platter and sprinkle generously with chopped cilantro. Pass the remaining gravy at the table. Serves 6 to 8.