Peanut Soup

 from Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 C minced onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1 T flour

1 C peanut butter (ideally natural, not sweetened)

1 qt. chicken stock

1 C heavy whipping cream

Salt and pepper

Hot pepper sauce (optional)

Crushed roasted peanuts, for garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. In a med saucepan heat the butter over med heat until it is sizzling. Add onion and garlic and saute about 3 minutes until translucent but not browned. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and use a whisk to stir it together, about 30 seconds. Whisk in the peanut butter until softened and smooth.

2. Gradually whisk in the chicken stock and bring it to a very gentle simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook it very gently for 20 min to thicken and marry the flavors, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. 

3. Stir in the cream and let it gently heat up to your desired service temperature. Do not overheat. Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Serve w/peanuts if desired. 

Zuppa di Farro con Zucca Farro Soup with Squash

Sounds healthy, no? From ArdiBarrCrocetti.com. Serves 6.

Ingredients

1 C Rustichella d'Abruzzo whole farro
1 1/2 - 2 lbs butternut squash, cut in 1 inch chunks
2 ribs celery, cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 large carrots, cut into 1/4 inch dice
2-3 shallots, very thinly sliced (approx 3/4 C)
1 28 oz can of tomatoes, chopped or crushed
1/4 C Italian parsley, roughly chopped
1 sprig of rosemary
3-4 C unsalted chicken broth
1/2 C dried cannellini beans or 1 15 oz can, rinsed and drained
1 bay leaf
Peperocino flakes
Fine sea salt
Black pepper
EVOO
Rinds of Parmigiano-Reggiano
Grated parmigiano-reggiano

Directions (for canned beans):

1. Transfer farro to a medium bowl and cover with 2 inches of cold water. Soak for 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a 4 quart saucepan, adding 6 C of cold water. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. Remove the lid, add 1/4 tsp of sea salt. Stir, reduce to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, until farro is barely tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, pour 3 T. of EVOO into a low, 6 quart heavy bottom Dutch oven and heat over a medium flame. Add squash, celery, carrot, shallots, and 1/2 tsp of salt, tossing to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften and take on a translucent, shiny appearance about 12 min. Do not brown the shallots.

3. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the peperocino, parsley, rosemary and 3 C of chicken broth. Simmer until the vegetables are soft, another 10-15 min. Remove the rosemary sprig and use an immersion blender to puree half the mixture.

4. Add the beans, farro and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Salt/pepper to taste. If desired, add additional C of chicken broth.

5. Serve with grated parmigiano on top.

Creamy Potato Soup

So I actually "blogged" this recipe before-- but was corrected in the actual soup made by a comment from my sister R. (I had not made the soup, just eaten it at a family dinner). Now a few months later the Robber has purchased a big bag of red potatoes, languishing on the counter. Having time off, I took it upon myself to turn some of the potatoes into soup, with excellent results and minimal effort. We ate this soup with half whole-wheat biscuits and the Robber declared it a success, which for soup, is saying something.

Adapted from Potage Parmentier, a recipe in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

Ingredients:

1 lbs peeled potatoes, sliced or drained (I used six smallish red potatoes)

1 lbs thinly sliced leeks including the tender green (I used two leeks, some of the green)

5 C. water

1 T. salt

2/3 C. light whipping cream

Pepper to taste

Additional salt to taste

Directions:

1) Place chopped potatoes and leeks in large pot. Add in water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered 40-50 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

2) Remove 1 C. (or more, as desired for texture) of water/broth.

3) Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until it has the desired consistency (I like to leave a few chunks of potato hanging around in my soup rather than make it uniformly blended.)

4) Remove from heat. Add in whipping cream and stir thoroughly. Add in additional salt and pepper to your taste. Serve warm.

African Peanut Stew

What Sister F. served us for Sunday dinner over rice and with some form of deliciously grilled strips of chicken. She served this with whole unsalted peanuts on the side and with herbed flatbread. What a hearty, delicious Sunday meal! I ate some leftovers the next morning for breakfast.

From Sister F., original source unknown.

Ingredients:

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 C. finely chopped red onion (about 2 medium)

1 1/4 C. finely chopped green bell pepper (1 large)

1/2 C. chopped carrot (1 medium)

1/2 C. chopped celery (2 stalks)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 T. minced, peeled fresh ginger

1 T. curry powder

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

1 bay leaf

4 C. reduced sodium vegetable broth

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 C. shelled edamame

1/4 C. creamy or crunchy peanut or almond butter

1/4 - 3/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1 6 oz. bag baby spinach, torn

1/2 tsp. salt

Blank pepper and additional salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 4 qt. saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and peppers, carrot and celery. Saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minute (do not brown garlic.)

3. Add tomatoes and bay leaf and cook, uncovered, until tomatoes are slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.

4. Add broth and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 8 minutes.

5. Add edamame and peanut butter, stir to combine. Add cilantro and spinach, cook until thoroughly heated and spinach wilts, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and desired.

Moroccan Style Tomato Soup With Chickpeas

Here's another recipe that I've had in my to-make pile but haven't done because the Robber doesn't like soup. Which is really a shame because now that I have made this recipe I think he would really like it over some rice. I like it just plain without rice. In fact, I think I really like. The spices are just spicy enough for me, it just hits the spot in cold gray New York, and it is super easy to make. This one might be something I return to again and again.... pending the Robber's approval.

From Mark Bittman: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/07/magazine/mag-07eat-recipes.html?ref=magazine#Moroccan_Style_Tomato_Soup_With_Chickpeas

(He has another recipe very close to this one, only with bread instead of chickpeas: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/07/magazine/mag-07eat-recipes.html?ref=magazine#Garlicky_Pappa_al_Pomodoro)

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
1 T. minced garlic
1 T. ginger
2 T. olive oil
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. coriander
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 pounds tomatoes, chopped
2 C. vegetable or chicken stock
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (I just used a 15 0z. can)
Parsley or cilantro for garnish

Directions:

1. Cook onion and garlic and ginger in olive oil for 5 minutes.

2. Add 2 teaspoons each cumin, coriander and cinnamon; cook for 1 minute.

3. Add tomatoes, stock and cooked chickpeas.

4. Simmer until saucy. Garnish with parsley or cilantro.

Vichyssoise

Or Cold Leek and Potato Soup, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. R. made this for our family's Christmas dinner and claims she didn't follow the instructions well and of course served it hot rather than cold but it was so delicious that my non-soup-enthusiast husband demanded that we blog and save this recipe. So here goes:

Ingredients:

3 C. peeled, sliced potatoes
3 C. sliced white of leek
1 1/2 quarts of white stock, chicken stock, or canned chicken broth
Salt to taste

1/2 to 1 C. whipping cream
Salt and white pepper

2 to 3 T. minced chives

Directions:

1. Simmer the vegetables in stock or broth instead of water as described in the master recipe. Puree the soup either in the electric blender, or through a food mill and then through a fine sieve.

2. Stir in the cream. Season to taste, oversalting very slightly as salt loses savor in a cold dish. Chill.

3. Serve in chilled soup cups and decorate with minced chives.

Serves 6-8.


Other Variations from Mrs. Child:

"Using the master recipe for leek and potato soup [above], a cup or two of one or a combination of the following vegetables may be added as indicated. Proportionas are not important here, and you can use your imagination to the full. Many of the delicious soups you eat in French homes and little restaurants are made just this way, with a leek-and-potato base to which left-over vegetables or sauces and a few fresh items are added. You can also experiment on your own combinations for cold soups, by stirring a cup or more of heavy cream into the cooked soup, chilling it, then sprinkling on fresh herbs just before serving. You may find you have invented a marvelous concoction which you can keep as a secret of the house."

To be simmered or cooked in a pressure cooker with the potatoes and leeks or onions at the start:
-- Sliced or diced carrots or turnips
-- Peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
-- Half-cooked dried beans, peas, or lentils including their cooking liquid

To be simmered for 10-15 minutes with the soup after it has been pureed:
-- Fresh or frozen diced cauliflower, cucumbers, or broccoli, lima beans, peas, string beans, okra, or zucchini
-- Shredded lettuce, spinach, sorrel, or cabbage

To be heated in the soup just before serving:
-- Diced, cooked leftovers of any of the above vegetables
-- Tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced

White Bean Chicken Chili

This recipe I did not make, but rather enjoyed at the home of our friends H&J D. I asked H for the recipe because it was so delicious, but also rather different than the chili I make and I like having two or three versions of a dish in my box o' dishes, just because. I loved the white beans and the lighter feel of this chili, and the Robber ate two big bowls (I think mostly to get away with eating four more pieces of cornbread, bless his cornbread loving heart.)

From All Recipes:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili/detail.aspx

Ingredients:

4 T. olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 14.5 oz cans chicken broth

3 tomatillos, chopped

2 16 oz. cans seasoned diced tomatoes

1 jar salsa verde

2 7 oz. cans diced green chiles

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. ground coriander seed

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

4 ears fresh corn or one bag frozen corn

2 lbs diced, cooked chicken meat

2 15 oz. cans white beans, drained and rinsed

Chili powder, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Lime slices for garnish

Directions:

1. In large pot, heat oil and saute onion and garlic until soft.

2. Stir in broth, tomatillos, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Add corn, salsa, chicken, and beans: simmer for 45 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Creamy Tomato Soup

>This recipe comes to me via RebEatWorld, who says of it:

"I do not like tomato soup. I love grilled cheese, but even grilled cheese cannot redeem tomato soup. And yet tomato soup was the second soup I decided to hazard in my vegetable soup-making quest. For one thing, the picture of "Italian Tomato Soup" in Ms. Forster's Soups book didn't look like Campbell's. It looked redder, and chunkier. And spicy! So I made the soup-- and it didn't look red, or chunky, or spicy. It looked like Campbell's. But it actually tasted heavenly! Especially when I added bottled artichokes the next day."

I made this recipe at great risk: Robber states all the time that he DOES NOT LIKE soup. But I thought, "It's going to rain! And tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on a rainy day sound fantastic! I care not what the Robber says, it is time learned!"

Then Robber came, and I mentioned the soup in a long line of things to eat, and lo and behold he chose it all by himself.

It turns out he likes creamy tomato soup. And creamy mushroom soup.

I said, "Robber, you will not be getting creamy mushroom soup from me."

But we ate of this soup with fresh drop biscuits and were pleased.

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
6 tomatoes (2 lbs?), coarsely chopped
3 C chicken stock
1/2 C nonalcoholic white cooking wine (I used 1/4 C. white vinegar, 1/4 C. water)
2 T tomato paste
1 T shredded fresh basil
1 C heavy cream
salt
pepper

Directions:

Heat oil and butter in pan until foaming. Add onion and saute 5 minutes, until softened but not brown. Stir in tomatoes and garlic, then add the stock, cooking wine, and tomato paste. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat, half-cover pan, and simmer gently for 20 minutes, stirring now and then so that the tomatoes won't stick. Use an immersion blender to blend the soup somewhat. Add the heavy cream and heat through, stirring. Do not allow the soup to near a boil ever again. Adjust the seasoning and the consistency with stock, if desired.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

There are reasons why kiddoes don't like cream of vegetable soups.

The other day I was flipping through the Moosewood cookbook trying to choose the next recipe to try and happened upon Cream of Broccoli Soup. It looked delicious! The pictures of the broccoli was so appetizing!

I said to R., said I, "I think I will cook the Cream of Broccoli Soup!"

She turned to me and said, "You are engaged."

Says I, "I know! Aren't you glad I'm learning to cook?"

She looks at me like I am crazy. "Do you really expect your husband to eat cream of broccoli soup?"

"Well yes," says I, but I know she's got a point.

"Maybe you should start cooking towards your fiance instead of away from him," she tells me.

I decide to make the Cream of Broccoli soup after all. From the Moosewood, I present:

Ingredients:

4 T. butter
1 1/2 C chopped oniom
1 medium green pepper, chopped
4 C chopped broccoli
1 C broccoli flowerets, thinly-sliced
1 tsp. salt (more, to taste)
2 1/2 C water or stock
2 C milk
1/2 C heavy or sour cream
1 bay leaf
pinch of allspice
black and/or white pepper to taste
dash of tamari
dash of thyme or basil (optional to taste)
optional: 1/2 C buttermilk, whisked in right before serving

Note: I used water, sour cream, and basil, black pepper, and omitted the tamari. I added dried mustard and paprika in its place, and added allspice generously.

Directions:

1. Chop up broccoli, flowerets, onion, pepper. You can chop the scallions while the broccoli cooks.

2. Saute the onions in butter with bay leaf (don't forget to remove the bay leaf before pureeing!) until the onions are translucent.

3. Add the chopped green pepper, chopped broccoli, water or stock, and salt. Cook about 10 minutes, covered (until broccoli in tender, but still bright green.)

4. Puree little by little with milk, in the blender. Make sure its pureed until absolutely smooth. (The texture is very important to the success of this soup.)

5. Whisk in the sour cream or heavy cream and the seasonings. Adjust the salt and pepper, if necessary. Steam the broccoli flowerets (do this while sauteeing everything else, duh!) until just done (again, tender, but full of color.)

6. Combine flowerets with soup in a large double boiler or kettle. Heat gently and serve right away. Whisk in the optional buttermilk as you serve. Top it with minced scallions.

Notes:

1. After I blended everything, I poured it all back into the ginormous skillet to season/whisk/warm. It makes so much more sense to do that in the pan than in the blender, don't you think?

2. I found this soup to be way, way, way too thin. Do people really want to drink broccoli-flavored water? So I boiled it for another 20 minutes or so after blending and seasoning, and would have been happy having thickened it another 10 minutes maybe.

3. In the future, I will boil it to thicken it and then add the buttermilk and scallions AFTER the thickening, to avoid funny boiled buttermilkness.

4. This soup is tasty if you are a rabbit. No really, the sour cream and milk and spices and broccoli taste really are quite satisfying! Especially if eaten with fresh chunks of Mom's cornbread dunked in the soup, which is how I ate my first bowl.

5. This will probably not feed the fiance, who (unlike me) is not a rabbit.

End-Of-The-Year Faux-Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

Four days to the end of the year and counting! Wahoo! In between me and those four days are two big finals, and then I leave to go on my DC/NC trip the day right after. So I needed an easy fast way to dispose of all my left over perishable foods in an easy-to-eat way this week that would be gone when I'm gone. This soup was the answer. This concoction is roughly based of the famous chicken noodle soup pioneered by G., the mother of my friend KT.

Ingredients:

Pot full of water
Salt
Four boneless chicken breasts, thawed
1/2 package whole wheat egg noodles
1 1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup lime juice (or juice from one lime)
1 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. chicken bullion

Directions:

1) Put the chicken breasts in a deep pot and cover with water. Lightly salt. Bring to a boil and leave at boil until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove chicken from water and cut into bite sized pieces.

2) Increase volume of water to 2/3rds of total volume of pot. Add noodles.

3) While noodles are cooking, combine peanuts, coconut, lime juice, and whipping cream in a blender. Blend on high chop/puree until a rough solution is formed. Peanuts and coconut do not need to be thoroughly blended, but smaller bits of peanut and coconut should be emulsified in the lime juice and cream.

4) Chop the cilantro and parsley. When noodles are not quite all the way done cooking, turn the temperature down to simmer and add in the cilantro and parsley. Allow to simmer for five minutes.

5) Add in the bullion and the peanut/coconut mixture. Stir thoroughly. Put the cooled cut chicken back into the pot and stir. Adjust the water level accordingly. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for ten more minutes and serve hot.

Excellent! I am quite proud of my little left-over soup. It was genuinely tasty, filling, and the perfect balance of cream and peanut and cilantro and lime and flavor. A left over home run.

Also, can I say how proud I am that these are the ingredients I had left over? Fresh cilantro? Fresh whipping cream? A lime? Booyah. Big leaps from my college years, when being down to the wire meant a box of saltines.

Mediterranean Squash Stew

The thing that is different from medical school and high school is that in medical school you NEVER get to choose your lab partner. NEVER. EVER. But fortunately I landed some pretty hip kids for "Fun With Food" (organized by the ever-so-enthusiastic M.J.) anyway.

Too much studying this week to cook vegetables on my own, so fortunately this cooking lab came up to fill my vegetable requirement for the week. This recipe from Cooking Together Family Meals, a publication of the Finger Lakes Region and Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University.

The idea is that this can be modified to fit any dietary restrictions imaginable. Vegan. Diabetic. High Cholesterol. Maybe even phenylketonuria. Here's the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

3 cups diced butternut squash
2 cups chopped kale
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
2 tsp fat
2 cups canned diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
2 cups grain

Directions:

1. Wash and peel squash; cut in half, spoon out seeds, cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Wash kale and remove tough stems; roll and slice into shreds or chop finely. Chop onions. Mince garlic.

2. Heat oil in frying pan on mediu. Add onion and garlic; saute 2 to 3 minutes, or until the onion is soft.

3. Stir in squash, tomatoes, lemon juice, brown sugar, mustard, oregano, and salt. Cover pan and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until squash is tender. Add water, as needed.

4. Add rice/grain and kale. Cover and cook another 5 minutes.


We modified as follows:

-- Tripled the garlic
-- Used olive oil for fat (lots of mono unsaturated fats like omega threes, lowers your LDL (bad cholesterol) maybe raises your HDL (good cholesterol))
-- Doubled the mustard
-- Doubled the oregano
-- Doubled the salt
-- Added some pepper
-- Used 1 C. lentils and 1 C. couscous
-- Added finely chopped sweet potatoes
-- Stole Mrs. Dash (2 packets) and hot sauce (2 packets) from cafeteria, added cayenne pepper stolen from Mexican-patient table, and stirred. Soup so much more delicious. Yum yum. Oops, cheated on the assignment, but what good soup!

Seriously, this soup was surprisingly healthy and delicious. Our soup got all eaten up fast. If I ever had... kale? and squash? at the same time?.... I would totally make this soup again. (But with some cumin. Definite lack of cumin. And maybe minus the hot sauce.)

Russian Beet Borscht

Another loose adaptation of a recipe from a book, my borscht is hopelessly bright pink and perhaps not like Sokolov's at all. How will we ever know if Sokolov is worth his ego is I never make his recipes straight? Perhaps we will never know. First the borscht recipe from Sokolov, then how I adapted it to suit my moment at hand. Unlike Sokolov, I ate my borscht warm (cold beets = gross), used the beets stalks but not the leaves, and added the flavoring directly.

I served this borscht at Mormon Med Student Dinner, and no one really ate it except T., who lived for a summer in Russia and knows her borscht. I'm stuck with the leftovers, but I'm loving it. Nothing is cheerier for the soul than inhaling bright red beets during Valentine's week in the middle of winter.

SOKOLOV

Ingredients:

2 dozen medium beets with their greens
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Sour Cream
Snipped dill leaves

Directions:

1. Cut off the beet greens and wash thoroughly. Chop into 2-inch lengths. Peel and slice the beets.

2. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add the beets and greens. Stir in the lemon juice, salt to taste, add the sugar. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy.

3. Remove the greens and reserve for use as a vegetable. Let the soup cool completely, and then chill.

4. Serve well chilled. Pass the sour cream and dill separately.

Serves 10


ME

Ingredients:

4 large beets with their beet stalks and greens
1 onion, diced
4 green onion stems, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Nutmeg
Mace
Cinnamon
1/2 cup half and half
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. Cut off the beet greens and discard. Cut off the beet stalks at the base and cut into 2-inch pieces lengthwise. Peel and slice the beets.

2. Add 8 cups of water to a large pot and boil. While waiting to boil, saute 1 diced onion and beet stalks in olive oil.

3. When water is at a boil, add beets, beet stalks, and onions. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy. Add the green onions and stir in.

4. Pour contents of pot into a blender and blend on high long enough to produce a mostly (but not entirely) pureed soup.

5. Pour blended soup back into pot, add lemon juice, sugar, salt, and generous dashes of the remaining spices. Go easy on the pepper. Add the half and half and immediately stir in to avoid curdling. Stir in sour cream.

6. Serve warm.

Should serve 8-10.

(Like all my vegetables, my borscht has some flavor from the spicing. Sokolov seems to favor a less interesting palette with his vegetables, so if you don't like spices you may want to try Sokolov's version, or mine minus the mace, nutmeg, etc. The cream gives the borscht a feeling of comfort and luxury most likely absent from the traditional Russian borscht, which is a peasant staple.)

Pumpkin Re-visited

In the past week I have re-made both the pumpkin pie and the pumpkin and leek soup. Here's the updates on both recipes:

Pumpkin and Leek Soup

I re-made this recipe with the addition of half a red bell pepper added in at the beginning with the leek and pumpkin and pureed as part of the whole soup. I added a little less spice and used whole fat sour cream and the result was a mellower, slightly creamier soup. I also simmered the soup with the lid off this time and found the consistency to be just right after only minor simmering post-puree. I fed this to the missionaries and the Stockman-Broadbents and S. who received it with great enthusiasm (that is all except the youngest missionary from Utah, who I think continued to be skeptical. It's ok. He's only a college sophomore age.)

Pumpkin Pie

I froze 2/3rds of the original dough, and for the second pie I thawed the pie dough overnight in the refrigerator and then warmed it to room temperature on the counter for about 20 minutes. Rolling 1/3 of this thawed dough out was the easiest thing imaginable. It didn't stick and rolled out into a perfect circle. This was a much easier experience than I had with the unfrozen dough, so perhaps in the future I'll plan ahead and only make this pie when I can freeze and unfreeze the dough overnight-ish.

I made the filling the same way but baked it for a little bit longer and chilled it overnight before serving. The end result was a much firmer pie with a better texture that I loved.

I bought whipped cream so I could make a third pie soon. I might be slightly obsessed.

Weekday Vegetable Soup

Hoping to use the rest of my monster cabbage, I found this recipe for a cabbage soup on Epicurious. The soup was delicious, but I still have about a fourth of the cabbage left, and that was after packing the maximum amount of cabbage possible into that soup. I made the recipe almost exactly as described, only I omitted the rosemary, added a minced clove of garlic, and replaced the rosemary with 1/4 C. chopped parsley and 1/2 tsp. of oregano and thyme. Very easy to make, but took me a while because of chopping all those vegetables. I would make this as a mom if I could chop vegetables around 4 pm and then let it simmer until it would be served.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 large carrots, peeled, chopped
1/2 large head green cabbage, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried
6 cups canned chicken broth
1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped, juices reserved
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Additional grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, cabbage, onion, celery and rosemary and sauté until tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Add broth and tomatoes with their juices and simmer 45 minutes. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in 1/3 cup Parmesan. Ladle soup into bowls. Serve, passing additional cheese separately.

p.s. Loved this soup. Also should note: used neighbor's soup pot. Thanks Castleman boys.