William Blake (poet and illustrator, click here to view some of illustrators and here to enter an archive of his work) lived in London from 1757 to 1827. London winters are no picnic but I’m sure if he experienced a Wisconsin winters he would have said “in winter – soup.”
For those of us in Wisconsin, I think Christmas and New Year’s are put after the Winter Solstice to distract us from the weather. By the time we look up from putting away our holiday decorations there are three more months of cold, snow and ice in our future. Luckily there are various soup and chili recipes floating around to fuel us until the snow melts in April.
Today I plan on reacquainting myself with Blake ("tyger tyger burning bright") and enjoying some soup with some great crusty bread.
This soup calls for leeks which are from the onion and garlic family and have a mild taste when boiled. I find they mostly act as filler in this soup and although I wouldn’t leave them out you can cut down to one instead of two. The leeks I bought were clean on the outside but I could see they had some dirt trapped between the internal layers once they were sliced. To get rid of this quickly I soaked the cut sections in a bowl of ice water and used my fingers to separate and clean each section.
We have been buying dried beans which as a whole are easy to prepare. There are different philosophies on preparing beans and I have had the most success cooking them in a pressure cooker. If you decide to use this method here is a brief summary. Keep in mind this process takes a couple of hours depending on how long you soak the beans.
- Measure beans and add water covering beans by at least 3 inches.
- Soak beans in water for 1 to 2 hours.
- Drain and rinse soaked beans.
- In pressure cooker add water to cover beans by about 2 inches.
- Cook on medium heat until you hear the pressure cooker whistle.
- Unless I am in a hurry I usually let the cooker sit and release the pressure gradually so I don’t have to manually release the steam and water discharge which can be messy
Simple Cabbage and Bean Soup
Thanks to Sara for passing this recipe on and suggesting adding white beans for some extra protein. I have to admit I didn't have any thyme so I omitted that both times and was still pleased with the flavor although I did salt it more liberally.
When dicing the onion, carrot, celery and potato keep in mind the size of chunks you want in a soup. Taking the time to dice them smaller will give of a variety in each spoonful.
Some great uses for the leftover cabbage would making a homemade slaw, adding it to pasta or just doubling this recipe and freezing some for another time.
Nods to Everyday Cooking for the original recipe.
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced small
2 medium carrots, diced small
2 ribs of celery, diced small
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 garlic cloves, minced (yields about 1 tsp minced garlic)
1 medium potato, peeled and diced small
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (I prefer Imagine’s “No Chicken” broth)
2 bay leaves
1/2 head green cabbage cored and thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1 can (15 oz) cannellini or great northern beans (or about 2 cups dried beans soaked and prepared)
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or substitute 1 tsp dried thyme)
1. In a stockpot or heat olive oil over medium-high (about 2 to 3 minutes).
2. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook until softened stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes).
3. Add leeks and garlic and cook until leeks start to soften (about 2 minutes).
4. Add potato, broth and bay leaves and bring to a boil.
5. Stir in cabbage, beans and season with salt and pepper. Return soup to a boil for 5 minutes.
6. Reduce to a rapid simmer. Cover and cook until vegetables are tender (about 15 to 20 minutes).
7. Remove from heat; stir in thyme and serve.
This will make 6-8 servings of soup and it freezes beautifully for later enjoyment.
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