Cabbage Soup!

Cabbage Soup!, originally uploaded by chloe & mark nightingale.

If you hear me talk about food enough, you will know I am a big fan of cooked cabbage. I love cabbage in soups, like borscht (although not all variations have cabbage!), but if you look up 'cabbage soup' on the internet, you will be bombarded with links relating to the cabbage soup diet and not so many links to cabbage soup recipes. Don't panic -- here is my cabbage soup recipe:


In a pot, fry half of a chopped onion in oil (I use grapeseed). If you're feeling daring, toss in a pinch or two of caraway seeds. Stir in 2 shredded carrots and fry a little more.

Add water, 2 stalks of finely chopped celery, a head of shredded cabbage (savoy is nice, but any will do) -- I even chop up the stem and add that (it gets nice and soft), a tbsp of an herb blend (such as herbs de province or an Italian herb blend) or some [thyme, oregano, basil, and maybe marjoram], a bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring that pot to a boil! And then let it simmer on low while you chill out in your kitchen.

After your pot's been simmering for a bit, add the juice of half a lemon (or a tbsp of cider vinegar -- or both, if you like it really sour!) and a heaping tsp of dill (dill weed, not seeds).

Simmer a bit more -- the broth should have a nice golden colour. Taste it. Does it taste good? If so, you're done. Otherwise, let it simmer a little longer.

Serve with quinoa, rice, bowtie pasta, or rye bread. Mmmmmm.

Variations: add red chili pepper flakes when you are frying the onions in oil; add stewed tomatoes to make it heartier -- just dump in a tin, if you don't fancy doing the stewing yourself!