Spring Cabbage and Pea Soup

This is really just ‘fridge soup’ masquerading as a healthy broth.  It IS healthy, and I found it oddly comforting.   I honestly expected it to be bland cabbage soup, the kind the crazy yo-yo dieters insist is the miracle weight stripper.  But it was delicious.  Light and quite sweet from the peas, so the sharp grilled cheddar toasts were a savory delight.  Also – crunchy bread with soft hot soup?  Win.

 

 

Of course you can make this soup more delicious – add BACON.  Yep.  I said it.  Bacon.  Quite possibly the most delicious, deeply savory soup meat.
If you were to buy a piece of bacon – not the ready sliced rashers which curl up at the thought of being immersed in hot water, leaving their white wobbly fat floating around the pan. A lump/piece of bacon. Normally quite cheap in supermarkets over here in the UK.
So, if you were to buy a piece of bacon to make this soup more delicious – and not vegetarian – you should chop it into chunks and add it to the pan when the onions, bay, celery and garlic have had a few moments to themselves. Do not add stock cubes when you add the water! Bacon is salty.
Let all of this bubble around for quite a while if you want tender bacon which falls into strips. Or even in the slow cooker overnight. Then, when the bacon is done, continue on with the cabbage and peas. It will be tremendous.
Alternatively, brown some cubed pancetta with the onions and carry on regardless.

 

 

 

 

 

two tablespoons of olive oil

one chopped onion

two ribs of celery, chopped

two cloves of garlic, finely chopped

one bay leaf

a half head of savoy cabbage

two stock cubes – vegetable or chicken

two mugs of frozen peas

Into a large saucepan put the oil, onion, celery, bay leaf and garlic. Let this sit on low while you clean and finely slice the cabbage.

Cut out the tough stem of the cabbage, which will leave you two ‘ears’. Stack the ear leaves on top of each other and finely slice across the length.

Add the cabbage ribbons to the pot and coat with the oil.

Add the stock cubes and cover with hot water.

Let this bubble to take the raw edge off the cabbage, about five minutes will do.

I used this five minutes to grate some sharp cheddar onto a slice of olive bread (all I had in the cupboard) and shoved it under a high grill to bubble and crisp.

Toss in the peas for about three minutes.

Check the seasoning and serve.

Beware, it’s very steamy – thoroughly fogged my camera lens.

 

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