Summery cabbage soup

 

Yayy!! Another childhood favorite! Don't expect anything fancy, but I loved this soup as it is meant to be eaten cold, ad it was soo light and refreshing after a day of work out with my grandma in the fields.

I spent all summers and grandma's, one of the most talented cooks and bakers I've know, and helped her with whatever chores were lined up, from hoe works, hemp soaking and combing, hay turning, canning, watering in the garden, prune picking.. So many memories to look back at..

This cabbage soup was rather typical for the days when we woke up early to go hay turning and she had no time to cook when we got home. The soup was prepared the day before, a refreshing and light ready lunch waiting for us in the cold cellar. What a treat it felt..

Ingredients (serves 6)

2 pounds of white cabbage

1 quart vegetable broth or water. I most of the time use water as I don't make vegetable broth only chicken stock, and all solid fat content should be avoided to be added in this soup in order to be enjoyable cold

salt, pepper, vinegar

1 cup sour cream (+ 1 cup milk if you like)

3 tbsp flour

1 small bunch fresh dill

2 small branches of summer savory

1 small onion, 1 pepper, 1 larger tomato

+ replace the pepper and tomato with 2 tbsp of salsa for convenience

Slice the cabbage into thin slices (1/5 to 2 inch long). Use a mandoline to speed thing up if you like.

In a larger pot add the broth, the sliced cabbages, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, the peeled onion, the tomato cut in half, the pepper cut in two, the dill and savory, and add enough water to cover well the cabbage.

Let it summer on low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until the cabbage reaches the desired tenderness.

Remove the dill, savory, tomato skin, cooked pepper parts.

Mix the sour cream with the 3 tbsp flour until smooth. Add milk or water if the mixture is too dry instead of a smooth consistency.

Pour some hot soup slowly over the sour cream mixture until a very runny consistency is achieved, and pour it back to the soup. Add extra water until the desired consistency is reached, as well as extra salt + pepper if needed. Let it simmer slowly for an additional 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar (add less first and taste, see how much vinegar you like). Vinegar is very easy to add at serving, don't overdo it. Again, I pour the vinegar in a small amount of soup first and only then add it back to the soup..

Serve with extra sour cream and vinegar, offer some fresh bread (country style, sourdough) on the side.

Today I had some ricotta cheese on the table from a separate dish, and added a tsp of ricotta into my cabbage soup... What can I say... I love the smoothness! Will definitely try to add ricotta to other creamy soups in the future for extra richness!

Bon appetit!