Cabbage Inspired

This week’s CSA share presented me with a beautiful little light green napa cabbage.  By Wednesday I had decided to make Rustic Cabbage Soup (courtesy of Heidi Swanson), but I wanted to get an ingredient she recommended for the vegetable stock.

Today my Rapunzel’s Herb Bouillon came via UPS (I love the 2-day delivery with free shipping through Amazon Prime).  So I got to work making stock and then soup.

I took every green thing in my produce drawer that wasn’t already spoken for and threw it in a pot.  That would be carrot greens, celery leaves, and parsley.  I added a large garlic clove cut into pieces, about 8 black peppercorns, and a cube of Rapunzel’s bouillon and let it cook for awhile.  At the same time I cooked up some white beans.  And while they both simmered on the stove, I did my workout in the basement.

Here’s the vegan soup recipe.  It’s a keeper!  (And I still have half a head of cabbage to do something else with.)

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
1 1/2 cups white beans, precooked or canned (drained & rinsed well)
1/2 medium cabbage, cored and sliced into 1/4-inch ribbons

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)...

Serves 4.