Ribs and Cabbage

The ribs and cabbage casserole is made with pork spare ribs and tomatoes, and it's baked in the oven. It's perfect for a cozy family meal.

Pork ribs and cabbage are baked in the oven until the cabbage is soft and tender and the meat falls off the bones; this is pure comfort food, perfect for cold fall and winter days. Check out this other comfort beef recipe and learn How to Cook Beef Ribs in the Oven. Or make Country-Style Pork Ribs in the Oven.

Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. I have always loved cabbage; even as a child, one of my favorite meals was a simple stewed cabbage recipe with or without meat in it.

Recipe Ingredients

Most of the ingredients needed are common ingredients like white or green cabbage, onions, red bell pepper, tomato passata, and tomatoes.

The only thing that might need a bit of planning ahead is the pork ribs. Regular pork spare ribs or small back ribs are pretty common, and just in case you cannot get hold of any smoked ribs; you could use them as well. The dish will still be delicious, but it will miss that wonderful smoky flavor.

Here in Germany, I usually have to drive a bit longer to get the smoked ribs in the Russian store or order the smoked ribs at the butcher's in advance. In this case, they will smoke the ribs extra for me, and I definitely have to order that about 4-5 days in advance.

I don't know how available smoked pork ribs are where you live, but just in case they are not as common, make a note that you might have to order them in advance.

I use dried summer savory to spice the pork rib casserole, but you can use dried thyme instead.

Summer savory definitely belongs in any Romanian cabbage dish I can think of. You put in the sarmale – the Romanian cabbage rolls and in any kind of stewed cabbage recipe. It is also important for a genuine flavor when making Romanian meatballs; you can put summer savory in Romanian bean stew or bone broth, vegetable and bean soup, and so on.

I always rub the dried summer savory between my fingers before adding it to a dish; my grandmother once told me this would help the herb release its flavor better.

I use passata di Pomodoro to make the sauce. Passata is uncooked and strained tomato puree. A substitute would be plain tomato puree (not the paste), or you can puree the same amount of canned tomatoes.

How to make cabbage with ribs?

• Slice the cabbage very finely, as finely as you can; you can even use a mandoline if you have one. Mix it with salt and let it stand for about half an hour; this will help it get softer.
• Use either a Dutch oven or another heavy-bottomed pan and oven-safe pot with a lid, or sautee the vegetables in a regular pan and place them in an oven-proof dish after that.
• Saute the onion and red bell pepper in a little oil. I say a little; my grandma would have used at least ¼ cup, but I think the 2 tablespoons I use are quite fine. Add the cabbage and stew it, often stirring, for 10-15 minutes or until softer. Add some pepper and salt to taste.
• In the meantime, prepare the pork ribs by cutting them apart into single pieces. To do this, you will cut between the bones using a large sharp knife.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Place half of the cabbage into an ovenproof dish; a Dutch oven is perfect. If you used a Dutch oven or oven-proof pot from the very beginning, remove half of the vegetables from it, arrange the ribs on top of the remaining veggies, and cover with the cabbage you've just removed. Otherwise, layer everything in another oven-safe dish, like a casserole dish.
• Mix the tomato passata, a little hot water, chopped tomatoes, sugar, and dried herbs.
• Pour this mixture over the dish, and move the cabbage a little with the handle of a wooden spoon, making some kind of holes here and there so that the liquid can leak through.
• Cover and bake for about 1 ½ – 2 hours. It depends on how thinly the cabbage was cut; take your time and let the dish in the oven until everything is really nice and soft. Remove the lid during the last 15 minutes or so.

How to serve?

You can serve the pork rib casserole immediately or reheat it. To do that, place it in the hot oven and leave it there until heated through. If you have leftovers, you can also reheat them by placing them in a pot and reheating them on the stove. You should add a very small amount of water to keep them from catching at the bottom of the pot and stir often.

Serve the ribs and cabbage with a dollop of sour cream/smetana/Greek yogurt and white bread. Boiled potatoes would be fine as well.

More hearty cabbage and pork recipes

Recipe

Ribs and Cabbage

Comforting ribs and cabbage casserole with smoked pork spare ribs and tomatoes.

4.80 from 5 votes

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Course: Meat Recipes

Cuisine: Romanian

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 hours hours 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 484kcal

Author: Adina

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Ingredients 

• ▢ 2 lbs white or green cabbage 1 kg
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ 1 medium onion
• ▢ 1 red bell pepper
• ▢ 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ▢ 2-3 bay leaves
• ▢ 12.5 oz smoked pork spare ribs 350 g, Note 1
• ▢ 1 ½ cups passata di Pomodoro/ tomato puree/ strained tomatoes 350 ml, Note 2
• ▢ ½ cup hot water 125 ml
• ▢ 5 medium tomatoes
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried summer savory or dried thyme
• ▢ 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ▢ fine salt and pepper to taste
• ▢ sour cream/smetana/Greek yogurt white bread or boiled potatoes to serve

Instructions

• Slice the white cabbage very finely; you can use a mandoline if you like. Mix the cabbage very well with the salt and let stand for half an hour, it will soften.
• In the meantime, chop the onion finely and cut the red bell pepper into small thin slices. Prepare the smoked pork spare ribs by cutting them apart into single pieces, cutting in between the bones with a large sharp knife.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C.
• Cook vegetables: Heat the oil in a wide Dutch oven or another heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pan with a lid. Saute the onion and the pepper for about 2-3 minutes. Add the cabbage and bay leaves and saute, stirring often, for 10-15 minutes or until a little softer. Add some salt and pepper to taste.
• Assemble pot: Remove half of the cabbage from the pot. Arrange the spare ribs on top of the remaining cabbage and cover them with the cabbage you removed previously.
• Mix the passata, 125 ml/ ¼ cup hot water, finely chopped tomatoes, summer savory, and sugar. Pour this mixture over the cabbage, and move the cabbage a little with the handle of a wooden spoon, making some kind of holes here and there, allowing some of the liquid to leak through the cabbage.
• Bake: Cover the pot and bake the cabbage casserole for 1 ½ to 2 hours until the cabbage is really soft and the meat of the ribs falls off the bones.
• Serve as suggested above, either immediately or reheated, with a dollop of sour cream/smetana/Greek yogurt on top and white bread or boiled potatoes.

Notes

1. Smoked pork spare ribs have to be ordered in advance at the butchers in this area. If that is the case where you live as well, make a note to order them in time. Unsmoked pork ribs can also be used.
2. Passata di Pomodoro is uncooked and strained tomato puree. A substitute would be plain tomato puree (not the paste), or you can puree the same amount of canned tomatoes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 484kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 883mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 26g

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