Cabbage Soup
Pity the poor cabbage. It gets a bad rap.
Too many people are scarred by bad cabbage experiences: boiled beyond recognition….or the cabbage soup diet.
Lacking illustrative photos of overboiled cabbage or the soup diet, I give you San Francisco’s Union Square. More accurately, a street near Union Square.
Handled with care, cabbage need not be the food of nightmares.
I write between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Many of us have bird carcasses to hand. The weather, should you inhabit the northern hemisphere, is chilly. You may also be resolving to diet (hopefully not with cabbage soup).
In short, this is perfect soup-making weather.
I’m a little short on cabbage pix. Can you tell?
This recipe doesn’t count calories–a road to disaster, in my personal experience with weight loss (a story for another day) but given an entire cabbage clocks in at 80 calories, I think we’re okay here.
Like all my recipes, this soup is forgiving and flexible, accepting whatever root vegetables you have to hand: rutabaga, turnip, carrots, potatoes, radishes. I bought some purple carrots, then worried they’d color the broth blue, but all was well.
Said broth may be from a bird. Lacking a bird, water is just fine.
Feel free to toss in some sort of protein–any type of cured pork or a bit of chicken. Or go vegetarian with firm tofu–the softer kind will disintegrate–or simply leave it vegetarian.
Cabbage Soup
Yield: six servings (easily scaled up-just use a larger cabbage and more broth)
Cooking time: the soup takes about 30 minutes to cook. You can leave it simmering gently for several hours if you wish.
2 tablespoons butter (salted or sweet)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 yellow onion or shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced (optional)
1 stick celery, thinly sliced (optional)
1 shot brandy (optional)
salt and pepper
1 medium head green cabbage, cored and shredded
1-2 cups chopped ham, ham hock, chicken, pancetta, smoked tofu, firm tofu, etc. (optional, see notes)
6 cups/1.5 liters chicken broth, vegetable broth, water, or other broth (see notes)
a bay leaf (optional)
Peeled, sliced root vegetables: potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, radishes (optional)
Melt the butter and olive oil in a large soup or pasta pot. Mine is 8 quarts/liters.
Put the carrot, onion, garlic, and celery in the pot and cook over medium low heat, allowing the vegetables to soften without browning. Stir so they don’t stick. This should take 5-10 minutes. If the vegetables begin browning, turn the heat down.
(add any other peeled, sliced root vegetables to the pot now.)
Add the brandy.
Season with salt and pepper. Tip in the cabbage. Stir to blend.
Add the ham or tofu. Stir.
Pour in the broth, taking care not to splash yourself.
Add the bay leaf, if using. Stir to blend.
Bring soup to gentle boil, then reduce to simmer. Simmer soup for 30 minutes, testing to ensure vegetables are cooked through. If yes, you may serve the soup now. If not, allow to cook a bit longer. Or you may leave the soup on a low simmer for a few hours. Taste for salt before serving.
Serve soup with good bread, sharp cheese, and apples.
Cabbage soup will keep, refrigerated, up to three days if using poultry-based broth. If broth is water-based, soup will keep five days refrigerated.
Soup may be frozen up to two months with some loss of texture and flavor.
Notes:
Use any leftover meat that’s a good match, or leave the soup vegetarian. I had about a quarter pound of home-made bacon, and used that.
I used goose broth for this, as we had goose for Christmas. Normally I’d use chicken broth. Any good tasting broth will work here; if you use commercial broth, just make sure it tastes good on its own.
