When it comes to choosing what food to eat, I think it is very important to listen to what your body is telling you. Not the part that says eat pizza for every meal – the part that says “I want mushrooms right now,” or “roasted broccoli sounds really good.” Usually, our bodies are very good at telling us what we need, if we know how to listen. Last weekend, I was craving cabbage. This is NOT usually a craving I have, but I must have been particularly deficient in vitamin C (or something) because cabbage just sounded like something I really wanted to be part of dinner. Well, perfect time for me to do some google-research of several dozen different cabbage soup recipes. This one caught my eye looking particularly delicious and I was pretty tickled to find that it had all of the ingredients from Skyrim’s cabbage, potato, and leek soup. Joe and I had this for dinner with some garlic bread and I absolutely cleaned my bowl of every last drop.
Rustic Cabbage, Potato, and White Bean Soup – adapted from The Simple Veganista
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 leeks (white and pale green parts), sliced and cleaned. ((or sub in 1 medium onion, diced))
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery (some leaves ok), diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon herbs de Provence*
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
5 – 6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 medium (1 lb.) gold potatoes, diced
1/2 head large cabbage, sliced (savoy or green)
2 cans (15 oz) white beans, drained and rinsed (cannellini, great northern, or navy)
salt and black pepper, to taste
fresh chopped parsley, for serving
Preparing leeks: Rinse the leek and slice off the root and dark green parts of the leek. Slice the leek in half lengthwise, and run the slices under cold water. Then cut the leek into thin slices horizontally. Place the slices in a bowl of ice water and swirl them around. Then let the bowl of ice water and leeks sit so the dirt collects at the bottom. Remove the leeks from the water with a slotted spoon
Making soup: In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat oil over medium to medium-high heat, add leeks, carrots and celery, saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic and spices, saute for 1 minute more or until fragrant. Add tomatoes, broth, potatoes, cabbage and beans, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, until potatoes and cabbage are tender. Taste for seasoning adding salt & pepper as needed.
Serve topped with parsley and a slice of good crusty bread.
* You can change the herbs to whatever you have on hand. You could also use an Italian seasoning blend; or a teaspoon each of thyme, rosemary, and oregano. Add in a sprinkle of red pepper flakes if desired!
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