There have been three red cabbages lurking in my veg drawer since Christmas. Yes, I know - three seems rather excessive. It's what comes of not paying attention to what's about to come in your vegbox. There were four - but I did cook one of them for Christmas lunch. Just hadn't got round to using the rest - it's a good job they keep almost for ever. The trouble with red cabbage is that it's a bit like the Tardis - there's more on the inside. So once you've sliced it, the amount of cabbage you appear to have increases by a factor of about a thousand. Or at least three. So just one lasts a long time!
I've been meaning to try something healthy with these great purple orbs, but until this morning when, apart from onions, they were the only veg I had left, that intention had not got very far. However when there's nothing else left, and the house is freezing cold...
Soup sounded a good idea: warming, nourishing, healthy. I did a quick trawl of the internet and found a few recipes to give me some idea of how this is traditionally made. This is my version.
Red Cabbage Soup
Serves 4
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large white onion, finely chopped
2 apples, cored but skin left on, quartered, then finely sliced in a food processor
300 - 400g red cabbage, finely sliced in a food processor (about 1/3 of a large cabbage)
1.25 litres chicken or veg stock
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar
Small bunch of dill - how much you use depends how much you like it!
To serve: Pumpkin and sunflower seeds; sour cream, plain yoghurt or cream cheese.
In a large saucepan, sweat the onion in the oil until it's soft and translucent.
Turn up the ring a bit and add the cabbage and apples. Sweat them, stirring frequently, until the cabbage starts to soften and cook. I did this for about 5 minutes.
Add the stock, vinegars and sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about an hour. It might be ready sooner, but you do want the cabbage to be lovely and soft, not chewy.
Chop the dill and add most of it to the soup.
Serve with a dollop of cream cheese, soured cream, or yoghurt, and scatter the seeds and remaining chopped dill on top.
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And it was delicious. Quite Russian in looks and taste. I shall definitely be making some more of it - probably freezing batches and giving it away as well!
