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Solyanka in pots in the oven with cabbage

Oven-Baked Solyanka with Cabbage in Clay Pots

Hearty, deeply fragrant, and absolutely delicious! Solyanka baked with cabbage in clay pots comes out wonderfully tasty. Thanks to a little flour, the broth turns velvety and rich — no exaggeration.

Pearl

Recipe author

Solyanka in pots in the oven with cabbage

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Sauerkraut

300

Sausages (smoked wieners, franks, or semi-smoked sausage)

Onion

Carrot

Potatoes

Pickled cucumbers (small, optional)

Tomato paste

Butter

Vegetable oil

Flour (level, optional)

Olives

Lemon

Fresh herbs

Ground black pepper

Salt (if needed)

Broth (to taste)

Bay leaf

Garlic (optional)

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 31 % 4 g

Fats 38 % 5 g

Carbohydrates 31 % 4 g

71 kcal

GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make solyanka with cabbage in clay pots in the oven? Gather all the ingredients. You can bump the amount of each up or down to taste. In place of the sausages, you can use smoked sausage or brisket, and swap the pickled cucumbers for brined ones.
Step 2:

Start with the cabbage. If the sauerkraut is very sour, rinse it in cold water and squeeze it out. Put the cabbage, butter, and tomato paste in a skillet. Stir everything and braise, covered, over medium heat until the cabbage is half-cooked (about 30 minutes). Lift the lid now and then to make sure it isn't scorching, adding a quarter cup of boiling water if needed.
Step 3:

Meanwhile, peel the potatoes, onion, and carrot. Rinse the vegetables. Chop the onion finely and grate the carrot on the coarse side of a box grater.
Step 4:

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet. Sauté the onion and carrot until golden. Sprinkle in the flour, stir, and cook for another minute. You can leave the flour out, but it's what gives the finished broth its velvety texture.
Step 5:

Peel the casings off the sausages. Cut the cucumbers and sausages into rounds. Cut the potatoes into small cubes or sticks.
Step 6:

Put the potatoes into the clay pots.
Step 7:

Then add the sausages and cucumbers.
Step 8:

Add the sautéed onion and carrot as the next layer. Finish by adding the cabbage and a bay leaf to the pots.
Step 9:

Pour in the broth — chicken or meat broth works great for solyanka. Don't fill to the very rim, since the liquid expands as it cooks and can spill over the edges of the pots.
Step 10:

Put the solyanka into a slightly preheated oven. At 400°F (200°C), wait for the broth to come to a boil, then lower the temperature to 325–340°F (160–170°C) and bake the pots until the potatoes are tender. Mine took about 1 hour 40 minutes to 2 hours. Add the chopped olives to the pots 10–15 minutes before the end.
Step 11:

Taste the finished solyanka and add salt if needed — I usually don't, since the cucumbers, sauerkraut, and olives bring plenty. When serving, offer everyone a lemon wedge, some fresh herbs, and minced garlic for their bowl. Add pepper to taste. It's wonderful with a dollop of sour cream.

From this amount of ingredients I got two large pots (about 1 quart each) of thick solyanka. If you'd like a thinner soup, cut back slightly on the potatoes, cabbage, and sausage, or add more liquid (broth). Enjoy!
A tip on liquid: whether or not the recipe gives an exact amount of water, go by your own preference (thick or thinner soup), the size of your pot, and the ingredients you're using. Keep in mind the author's idea of how much meat, potatoes, grains, and so on to use may not match yours. In practice, if you're making it for the first time, don't cook a whole pot right away — make a tasting batch for one or two people. Scale all the ingredients down to 1–2 servings and figure the water at roughly one cup per serving for a very thick soup, up to 1.5–2 cups for a thinner one. Remember some liquid boils off as it cooks. After tasting a small portion, you can adjust both the amount of liquid and the ratio of ingredients to your taste. Over time, like most experienced cooks, you'll be able to eyeball the water and the ingredients.
Because everyone's threshold for salt, sweetness, bitterness, heat, and acidity is different, always add spices and seasonings to your own taste. If you're using one for the first time, remember that some are especially easy to overdo (chili, for example).
Keep in mind that ovens vary. The temperature and time may differ from what's given here — it's worth knowing how your own oven behaves to get any baked dish right.