Purple Soup!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Disclaimer: no food coloring went into that soup!

It is still winter, still January, and I am still receiving cabbages in my CSA share. Along with cabbages come carrots, potatoes, turnips, garlic, onion, a variety of squash and, of course, apples (and the usual eggs, granola and cheese). What to do when the weather turns (too) cold and root veggies and cabbage abound? Make soup!

I love Alice Waters and regularly turn to her cookbook The Art of Simple Food. There is one recipe in particular that has become a standard: A soup of many vegetables, or seasonal variations of minestrone. The winter minestrone involves cabbage, potatoes and turnips. Perfect. Of course, my cabbage was red, and thus dyed my soup purple. Perhaps I am biased, but I think the purple broth looks beautiful with the orange carrots and white great northern beans! Regardless, it was delicious and fed me for many days. As the weather turns cold again this weekend, maybe you want to try adding cabbage to your hearty winter soup.

A Soup of Many Vegetables
adapted from Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced evenly
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp thyme
2 tsp salt
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 small turnips, cubed
Half of small head of cabbage (red or green), shredded
2 cups prepared white beans (I used great northern beans and cooked them in water—3 inches above beans—with a bay leaf and garlic clove, allowing them to simmer after five minutes of a hard boil for about an hour, reserving the cooking water)
Pepper to taste
Olive oil and Parmesan for garnish (optional)

In a soup pot over medium-high heat, sautee the onion and carrot until soft—about 10 minutes. Add garlic, bay leaf, salt and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Add in turnips and potatoes, allowing to simmer/boil gently. After 5 minutes add cabbage (you could cook cabbage ahead of time and add at the end with the beans, which would probably prevent the dying of soup, but I like the purple!). Cook another 10 minutes and add beans and reserved water. All the while stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste. Once everything is cooked (potatoes and turnips are tender) serve. If you wish, you can add 1 tbsp each of olive oil and Parmesan to the individual bowls. Enjoy!

And if you are looking for more tips on how to cook cabbage, why don’t you check out this video from 1941 about how to best cook a cabbage!