This is a really simple winter dish. Start it off at 5.30p.m. and after that it cooks itself and by 7.30p.m.you have something fantastic for dinner. Sometimes if I have the end of a salami or some ham in the fridge, I will chop it up and add it to the onions, and I like to just take off the outer leaves from the cabbage, then slice the rest into quarters, so you have nice thick pieces. It will look like a lot of cabbage when it goes into the pan, but it cooks right down to nothing.
Serve it with polenta, mashed potato, or baked potatoes with a little knob of butter; delicious
Serves 4
whole pork ribs 2
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil
onions 4, sliced
bay leaves 3
Savoy cabbage 1 large (or 2 small ones), roughly sliced
white wine 50ml
white wine vinegar 100ml tomato purée 80g
good hot chicken stock 1 litre
1 Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas 6. 2 Put the ribs into a roasting pan, season them and put into the preheated oven for 40 minutes until they are dark brown. 3 After the ribs have been in the oven for 10 minutes, heat some olive oil in a large pan, put in the onions and the bay leaves and cook gently until soft and translucent. 4 Add the cabbage, put on the lid and cook gently for 30 minutes. 5 Pour in the white wine, bubble up to evaporate the alcohol, then add the white wine vinegar and finally stir in the tomato purée. Take off the heat. 6 Remove the roasting tin from the oven and turn it down to 170°C/ gas 3. 7 Add the contents of the pan of onions and cabbage to the roasting tin, together with the stock, and return to the oven to cook gently for 11⁄2–2 hours, until the meat falls away from the bones.
