Ribs in oranges with chiles sauce (costillas de cerdo a la naranja)
Some time ago I had become obsessed with cooking ribs so I could decide which ones I would like best. Many mexican style rib recipes are shown on this site as a result of this and the basic and simple conclusions from all this trial and error are these: I prefer boiling the ribs to tenderize them for 45 minutes if I am to cook them on the grill or less time if they will be finished in the oven; also do I need to remind the reader to check the date the ribs were packaged at the store... The freshest will help give you the best tasting ribs while avoiding unpleasant surprises...
The final mexican ribs, served with a mexican cesar salad...
Mexican recipe for Ribs in Oranges with chiles sauce
Ingredients for 4 guests:
* 1 onion
* 5 cloves of garlic
* 3 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1/2 cup orange marmalade
* 5 ancho chiles
* 1 and 1/2 cups of white vinegar
* 1 and 1/2 cups orange juice
* 1/3 cup lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons chopped rosemary
* a bunch of fresh cilantro
* 2 teaspoons minced orange zest
* 2 tablespoons salt
* 1 tablespoon ground pepper
* 6 lb. of small pork ribs from the back, cut individually.
Preparation:
1) First, cut the rack of pork ribs into individual ribs and boil them for 35-40 minutes.
2) Soak the chiles in warm water for 10 minutes; devein and discard the seeds. Use a blender to liquefy the onion with the following ingredients: the chiles, the cilantro, the garlic, the tomato paste and marmalade. Pulse until you get a uniform paste. In another bowl mix the vinegar, lemon juice, orange juice, rosemary, salt, orange zest and pepper. I know this marinade looks strange with these ingredients but I assure you it is delicious! Now mix well these two sauces together. Put your pork ribs in a large bowl and pour the sauce over; and leave them to marinate in the refrigerator for about 6 hours or overnight, preferably
3) The next day, preheat the oven to 300 °F; arrange nicely the ribs on a shallow roasting pan so that they do not overlap each other. Bake them in the oven, 15 minutes each side, or until they are golden crisp. When they are done put back all the orange and chile marinade over them and cook 15 more minutes only on one side this time.
Serve the ribs while hot, nicely covering them with some sauce; with some nice mexican-style rice on the side.
