Good soup quick is one of the finest arts of the kitchen, and it has taken me many years to get to the point where I think I make a decent soup. I can point to several landmarks along the way; my mother’s extraordinary stews which were fragrant and filling, my dear friend Caroline Blackwood’s finishing technique for any fish soup, and one very special afternoon spent with a little friend’s babysitter – Mi lai from Vietnam, in which we made a pot of Pho. (I don’t think I’ll ever recover from the amazing flavours of that one!)
I’d like to offer here a humble cabbage soup. Cabbage because it’s bountiful right now and cheap as dirt, even the yummy organic stuff. I can get a small organic head for a little more than a buck! Now this soup is made a little bit differently than you might expect – exquisitely chopped veggies are not added to a heady broth to cook, oh no! Quite the opposite. This is also not a carefully measured recipe for you to follow with perfect results. You’ve got to use your head and trust your instincts and get comfortable with the food.
First you need stock. The cheapest is of course the stock you make yourself from leftovers in the bone department. If you don’t have that habit, get into it. At the very least, take the roast chicken leftovers, including the brown bits from the pan, and boil it up with onion and carrot, strain it and throw it in the freezer. Another time we’ll talk about stock, but suffice it to say that I have some nice veal stock put aside made when our market suddenly decided to put out a batch of veal neck bones for 1.48 a pack.
You will need 4 cups of stock of your choice
Small head of cabbage
Carrot or two
Tomatos – that left over half a can sitting in the fridge
Rice – also left over because you never throw food away, right?
One large onion
Lentils – about a cup cooked
Cider vinegar, One bay leaf, salt & pepper and any other herbs you like
In a large pot, saute in olive oil or butter, the cabbage, onion, carrots, bay leaf, salt and pepper and herbs. Let these veggies get almost to the point of carmelization, when the aroma of the veggies and herbs reaches its peak intensity. Now add a tablespoon or so of cider vinegar. Zowie, the sound of the sizzle, and suddenly you have ramped up the intensity of the aroma to a heady level. When this calms down a bit, add the tomatoes, breaking them up a little in the pot. Now add your stock and stir. Let everything simmer nicely for about 5-10 minutes, then add lentils and rice (these are already cooked so they only require warming time. Simmer another 5-10 minutes. Serve with grated parmesan and bread and butter on the side.
I like this method because the veggies retain much of their character and flavour, rather than becoming a tasteless, amorphous mass. Try it. Substitute as you will. Enjoy.
