Oven-baked spare ribs with cucumber and quark dip

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 ½ kg spare ribs, pork
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables
• 3 onions
• 1 garlic clove(s)
• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
• ½ tsp caraway seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick(s)
• ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• 3 juniper berries
• Salt and pepper from the mill
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cucumber(s)
• 1 garlic clove(s)
• Salt and pepper from the mill
• 250 g quark, 20% fat
• 2 romaine lettuce hearts
• 2 tbsp raspberry vinegar or balsamic vinegar, light
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tsp mustard
• Salt and pepper from the mill
• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 35 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes

Pat the spare ribs dry and trim if desired. Clean and rinse the soup vegetables, and roughly chop them. Peel the onions and garlic and also roughly chop them. Heat the rapeseed oil in a saucepan. Roast the soup vegetables, onions, and garlic. Add the spare ribs and roast briefly. Then add enough water to cover the spare ribs and bring to a boil. Add the caraway seeds, cinnamon stick, cumin, fennel seeds, and juniper berries. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer gently for about 90 minutes, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. Meanwhile, for the dip, wash the cucumber, peel it if desired, halve it, and remove the seeds. Finely grate the cucumber halves, sprinkle with a little salt, and let it stand briefly. Peel the garlic. Mix the garlic and a little salt into a paste and mix with the quark. Squeeze the cucumber dry if necessary and mix it with the quark as well. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove the cooked spare ribs from the pot, place them in a roasting pan, and let them cool slightly. Strain the stock through a sieve and measure out about 200 ml. (Tip: The remaining stock can be frozen and used, for example, as a base for hearty stews.) Caramelize the sugar in a pan. Gradually add the strained stock and simmer until it reaches a slightly creamy, syrupy consistency, adding more seasoning if desired. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (top and bottom heat). Brush the spare ribs with the reduced stock and spread them out on a baking sheet. Roast on the middle rack for about 10 minutes (you can also place the prepared spare ribs on a grill tray and grill them). Remove the spare ribs. Set the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (top heat). Brush the spare ribs again with the reduced broth and briefly roast in the oven until crispy. Trim the romaine lettuce, rinse, shake dry, and chop finely. Combine vinegar, honey, mustard, salt, pepper, and oil to make a dressing and toss with the salad. Divide the spare ribs into portions. Serve with quark and salad. Approx. 1180 kcal per portion.