Barbecued Spareribs with Italian Style!

Italian Style Barbecue Spare Ribs!

Want the most awesome lip smacking, sticky finger licking amazingly meaty ribs ever? Then you have got to try Italian Barbecued Spareribs.

My plan - first make a great Italian BBQ sauce, then apply to ribs and bake. Easy peasy! When making your Italian spareribs, remember that a recipe is nothing but a template, a springboard for you to begin to create something just for you! So taste and change the sauce to suit you and your family. I modified the following recipe from a wonderful recipe by my Aunt-in-law, Mama D! 

Prep the Ribs! (preheat oven to 350)

3 lbs of nice lean spare ribs (whatever kind you like, I used the St. Louis Cut in the photo)
rub with 1/8 cup of pure olive oil.

Mix together 1/2 t fresh cracked black pepper, 1 t oregano, 2 cloves minced garlic or equivalent powdered, and 1 t of dried rosemary and rub all over the ribs.

Place the ribs in a great big economy sized baking pan (I used Pyrex for ease of cleaning later), brown a bit in the oven on both sides and then drain off the grease. I think it took me 20 minutes on one side and another 15 on the other. It will depend on how hot your oven runs.

Top with a few rings of onion slices if you like and then cover with every bit of the delicious Italian Barbecue sauce (below). Then bake in the oven for about another 2 hours or until the ribs are as tender as you like. Baste frequently. The amount of final baking time will depend on the weight of the slab of ribs. Make sure your side dishes are flexible timing-wise in the meal so if it takes a little longer there is no problem. I cooked mine about 45 minutes longer than the 2 hours, but then, it was nearly 4 pounds of glorious ribs!

Italian Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients and a few notes of stuff as I think about it:

1/4 cup pure olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic (all depends on the size and more would not hurt it at all), minced
1 onion, chopped (now Mama D specified two onions chopped, but I have a member of the household that is not the biggest fan of onions so I just used one)
1 29 oz can of tomato puree (or a #2 1/2 depending on where you live your cans are numbered instead of weighed in ounces!)
2 T wine vinegar - get a good one, I used Colavita
2 T packed brown sugar...packed firm and maybe even rounded a bit!
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
1 t oregano

Sauce Directions:

Heat the oil in a sauce pan, add onion and saute til starting to soften, add garlic and saute another couple minutes to release the glorious garlic aroma! Add the remaining ingredients and stir frequently while simmering for about 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings after about 20 minutes of simmering.

It is impossible to not be very mindful indeed when eating these ribs, so enjoy!