Friday, September 7, 2012

It's almost Fall, but not without soup!

We get one cold morning here in Minnesota and I'm running around like a crazy woman opening the windows, grabbing blankets, and making soup.  Tunisian soup (and practically every other Tunisian dish) is tomato based so when I want to make soup just for me, I try to stay away from tomatoes.  Yesterday, I was looking for something to make with a napa cabbage that my husband had brought home.  I knew I didn't want a salad or slaw and found this soup.  It sounded too good to be true because it has so few ingredients, but I am learning that sometimes simplicity really is the key to cooking.  I found the recipe for this Rustic Cabbage Soup on 101 Cookbooks

Rustic Cabbage Soup
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
a big pinch of salt
1/2 pound potatoes, skin on, cut 1/4-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
5 cups stock (see head notes)
1 1/2 cups white beans, precooked or canned (drained & rinsed well)
1/2 medium cabbage, cored and sliced into 1/4-inch ribbons
more good-quality extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Warm the olive oil in a large thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the salt and potatoes. Cover and cook until they are a bit tender and starting to brown a bit, about 5 minutes - it's o.k. to uncover to stir a couple times. Stir in the garlic and onion and cook for another minute or two. Add the stock and the beans and bring the pot to a simmer. Stir in the cabbage and cook for a couple more minutes, until the cabbage softens up a bit. Now adjust the seasoning - getting the seasoning right is important or your soup will taste flat and uninteresting. Taste and add more salt if needed, the amount of salt you will need to add will depend on how salty your stock is (varying widely between brands, homemade, etc)...
Serve drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a generous dusting of cheese.
Serves 4.

Notes for next time:
*I would saute the onion and garlic together, then add the broth and potatoes.  I found that the potatoes just stuck to the bottom of my pan.  I used homemade broth because I had made a quick one for another recipe and had leftovers. 

*I added two small parmesan rinds when simmering which gives the soup this heady richness.  Yum.
*I also simmered it for about 20 minutes to soften the cabbage.
*I used napa cabbage because that is what I had.

5 comments:

  1. It's cool this morning! I immediately was looking at my dutch oven and thinking soup. This one looks good!

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  2. I will be making this soup again and again. It's super easy and really delicious!

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  3. Looks yummy. But don't stop making ribolitta, ok?

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  4. Ok, I've now made this multiple times, for my family and my grandparents. Love it all around! We've been serving it ladled over a piece of homemade bread!

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  5. Toni! I think I found you! I've been missing you, and would love to stay in touch! I'll subscribe to this post by email and see if we can connect!

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