Apple-Butter Dijon Ribs with Roasted Fennel & Parmesan Vegetables
Slow-roasted pastured pork ribs glazed with apple butter, Dijon, sage and thyme, served with roasted fennel, rainbow carrots and marble potatoes finished with Parmesan.
Yield: serves 4–6 · Active: 40 min · Total: 3 hr 45 min (plus optional overnight rub) · Season: apples are harvested August–November and apple butter keeps all year; fennel peaks fall through spring, and carrots and potatoes are sweetest after a cool fall · Cuisine: American heritage · Best eaten: early evening
Apple and pork is one of the great American autumn pairings, and this is my oven-ribs version. A warm spice rub goes on first. Then the ribs roast low and slow, get a glaze of apple butter, Dijon, sage and thyme, and finish under the broiler until bubbly and sticky at the edges. On the side, fennel, rainbow carrots and marble potatoes roast until caramelized and get a shower of Parmesan at the end.
Looking for more pork? Try my one-pot Paprika-Braised Pork Ribs, or the Apple Sage chops in Pork Chops: Four Seasonal Preparations.
Ingredients
Ribs
1 rack pasture-raised baby back ribs or spare ribs (2½–3 lb)
Dry rub
1½ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
Apple-butter Dijon glaze
¼ cup unsweetened apple butter (store-bought or homemade)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard (Delouis Fils or Maison Orphée)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Roasted fennel and Parmesan vegetables
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into ¾-inch wedges (keep the core so they hold together), fronds saved
1½ lb rainbow carrots, halved lengthwise (quartered if thick)
1½ lb marble potatoes (small heritage potatoes), halved
4 tbsp grass-fed ghee, melted, or extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Baja Gold sea salt and black pepper
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Optional: apple-butter caramelized onions. Slowly cook 2 sliced yellow onions in 3 tbsp butter with a pinch of salt over medium-low heat for 25–30 minutes, until deep golden. Stir in 2 tbsp apple butter at the end.
Method
Prep the ribs (the night before, or at least 30 minutes ahead)
Remove the membrane. Flip the rack bone-side up. Slide a butter knife under the thin membrane at one end, grab it with a paper towel and peel it off. This makes the ribs more tender.
Rub. Mix the rub spices and rub them generously over both sides. If you have time, refrigerate uncovered overnight. Otherwise, let the ribs sit at room temperature 30 minutes.
Make the glaze. Whisk the apple butter, olive oil, Dijon, garlic, sage and thyme. Set aside a third in a separate bowl for basting and the final glaze; it never touches the raw meat. Brush the rest over the ribs.
Slow-roast
4. Roast low. Heat the oven to 275°F. Set the ribs meat-side up on a rack over a parchment-lined sheet pan, cover loosely with foil and roast 2½–3 hours for baby backs (3–3½ hours for spare ribs). Baste once with some of the reserved glaze halfway through. They’re done when the bones wiggle easily and the meat is pulling back from the bone ends, about 195–203°F.
5. Rest. Take the ribs out, keep them covered in foil and set them aside. They’ll stay hot for 45 minutes.
Roast the vegetables (while the ribs rest)
6. Heat up. Turn the oven to 425°F.
7. Toss and roast. On one or two large sheet pans, toss the fennel, carrots and potatoes with the ghee, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Spread them in a single layer, since crowded vegetables steam instead of browning. Roast 30–35 minutes, flipping halfway, until tender and caramelized at the edges.
8. Parmesan. Scatter the Parmigiano over the vegetables and roast 3–4 minutes more, until melted and crisp.
Glaze and finish
9. Broil. Move the vegetables out and switch the oven to broil. Uncover the ribs, brush with the rest of the reserved glaze and broil 3–5 minutes, until bubbly and caramelized at the edges. Watch closely, since apple butter and Dijon burn fast.
10. Slice and serve. Rest the ribs 5 minutes, then slice between the bones. Finish the vegetables with parsley, fennel fronds and a squeeze of lemon. Serve the ribs alongside, with the caramelized onions if you made them.
Storage: Ribs keep 4 days refrigerated and are excellent cold or reheated (at 300°F, covered, 15–20 minutes). Vegetables keep 3–4 days. For 8–12 guests, roast two racks side by side and double the vegetables across two or three sheet pans.
Nourishment Notes
Pasture-raised pork from pigs that forage outdoors carries more vitamin D in its fat and a better omega-6 to omega-3 balance than confinement pork. It also brings B vitamins (especially thiamine), zinc and selenium. Rib meat is well-marbled, so the fat-soluble vitamins come along with it.
Slow roasting melts the ribs’ connective tissue into gelatin, so the meat turns tender without drying out. That gelatin brings glycine and proline, amino acids that matter for skin, joints and the gut lining.
Apple butter is apples cooked down slowly, concentrating their pectin and polyphenols. Dijon mustard comes from the same plant family as broccoli and brings its own sulfur compounds plus a sharp tang that cuts the richness of pork. Sage and thyme are the classic herbs for pork, with rosmarinic acid, carnosic acid and thymol, and they’ve long been paired with fatty meats to help with digestion.
Fennel brings fiber, potassium, vitamin C and anethole, the sweet anise compound that’s been used to ease digestion for centuries. It turns sweet and mellow when roasted. Rainbow carrots each bring something different: orange has beta-carotene, yellow has lutein, and purple has anthocyanins. Marble potatoes add potassium, vitamin B6 and vitamin C, plus resistant starch, especially in leftovers.
Parmigiano-Reggiano adds protein, calcium and vitamin K2, and its long aging makes it easier to digest. Ghee is a stable fat for high-heat roasting.
For your cycle: in the luteal phase, the roasted carrots and potatoes give you the slow carbs your body asks for before your period, while the pork’s B vitamins and zinc, plus the fennel’s soothing effect on bloating, round out the plate. During menstruation, pork brings iron and zinc to help replenish.
Sourcing
Pork ribs: pasture-raised, from Niman Ranch, US Wellness Meats, White Oak Pastures or a local farmer or butcher
Apple butter: unsweetened, like Eden Foods, or from a farmers’ market, or homemade (slow-cook apples with cinnamon until thick, no sugar added)
Dijon mustard: Delouis Fils or Maison Orphée
Smoked paprika: La Chinata (pimentón de la Vera)
Spices: organic whole spices, ground fresh when you can
Fennel, carrots and potatoes: a farmers’ market. Look for firm fennel bulbs with fresh green fronds, and potatoes with no green tinge.
Parmigiano-Reggiano: DOP-stamped, aged 24+ months
Ghee: grass-fed ghee
Sea salt: Baja Gold
— Anna aka Food Marshall