Shed Kitchen: Winter Soup

Ohhh how I love soup! I haven’t made it in a while, so I was long overdue!

Sunday night I read most of The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. I can’t recommend this book enough! The opening sections on food, cooking techniques, kitchen ware, etc. is very useful and just plain informative. But really it was, for me, like reading a romance novel. She is all about local, organic food, simply prepared, at home. Every time I turned the page to a new recipe, I was amazed at how simple they were! I know that’s the point, but…wow. Really! No crazy ingredients here, but I could just imagine how amazing everything would taste.

So when deciding what to make for Julia, something from this book seemed like a good option! I went with her minestrone soup, but selected the winter vegetable variations. Then I bastardized it a bit– and I’m sharing the bastardized version — because I didn’t have time to soak the beans over night and with a dead Blackberry, I couldn’t be sure of everything I needed. It wasn’t a big deal! Her whole philosophy is that with great basic foods, you can make great meals. She. Is. Right.

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups chickpeas or white beans

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

2 tsp salt

6 cups water

2 small leeks, chopped

1/2 cabbage, chopped into bite size pieces

1 lb turnips (about three turnips), chopped

1/2 lb potatoes (about two small potatoes), chopped

My old roommate and I used to sometimes take trips to Whole Foods for lots of fresh fruits and veggies which we referred to as, “THE BOUNTY!” (Say it like it’s magical and full of wonder.) You know when you have The Bounty…it’s sticking out of your reusable bag, all fresh and leafy, and there’s a baguette involved. A shopping trip for this soup most definitely provides that!

This Is How We Do It

Start by putting the cabbage in a pot of boiling, salted water, and cook until it’s tender. The cabbage was really quite an exciting part of this dish. I’ve never really worked with it before and I am in love, mainly because it’s so beautiful!

It turns the water a deep, deep blue while it’s boiling…just gorgeous.

Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and add onions, celery, and carrots.

Cook for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Add the garlic, rosemary, bay leaf, and salt, and cook for five minutes longer.

Add three cups of water and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, add the leeks, turnips, and potatoes, plus three more cups of water.

Cook for 15 minutes; taste and salt if necessary. Add the beans and cabbage.

Cook for five minutes, the serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a hearty bread.

We didn’t know what to expect with this soup. When you think “minestrone,” you think pasta, tomato-base, limp green beans. I mean…turnips, really?! I was afraid it wouldn’t be filling…I was confused as to why there was no broth involved…I was just very apprehensive, I must say.

It. Was. FABULOUS!!!!!

This soup is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. First the cabbage puts these purple flecks in it that are just so fun and unexpected. But then there’s just all these big white chunks of God knows what, and they all taste so, so good in your mouth. The word that we both kept saying was “hearty.” It was filling, and with the bread, and the fact that Julia is currently reading Pillars of the Earth and feeling in touch with her medieval side, it just felt like this totally rustic meal you would want to have if you were a weary traveler on a cold winter’s night.

Foodgasm? I don’t wanna talk about it!

I also selected this for dinner because it seemed like a pretty inexpensive option, and it was. Considering you probably have a few ingredients in your pantry (I did), I’d say the whole thing, with a loaf of bread, is less than $15 to make…and it serves eight people!

I can’t overstate how much I liked this soup!! I mean, when I woke up today, I was seriously debating having it for breakfast. I’m definitely having it for dinner tonight. It just tastes so real and so satisfying.

Hooked on this cookbook. And this soup is going to be a winter staple recipe!