Cabbage and Turnip Soup

 

One of the soups I’ve enjoyed returning to over the years is this Creamy Cabbage and Potato Soup, originally adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. I like the way I made it in the post, but I also varied it depending on what was on hand, especially when it came to the type of onion, the source of the creaminess, and the broth. What I put together recently was a decidedly different soup that still was extremely satisfying in an earthy kind of way.

It’s hard to characterize potatoes and cabbage as especially flavorful vegetables, but when I decided to add some turnips, it was more out of a need to use them than a way to enhance the flavor of the soup. For me, turnips don’t so much represent an absence of flavor as a flavor vacuum, one that can render other ingredients around it flavorless as well. That being said, it’s also hard to argue that turnips don’t mingle really well with other humble ingredients. Like cabbage and potatoes, for instance.

 

I really did enjoy the subtle bitterness of the added turnips here. They seemed to increase the cabbage flavor of the soup, lending a hand for once, rather than just sucking flavor away. It didn’t hurt that I based this version of the soup on beef broth, which brought more flavor of its own, and the garlic and caraway were great team players as well.

Rounding everything out with a generous swirl of sour cream, plenty of black pepper, and a good handful of nutty cheese (I used Comte, but Gruyere, a milder Swiss, or even cheddar cheese would be good) brought this possibly bordering on dull soup to delicious, creamy, sharp heights. The soup is pureed and the resulting thick and creamy bowlful is even better with an additional dollop of sour cream and more shredded cheese.

This version of a pureed cabbage and potato soup is still quite humble, but it’s totally delicious and hearty enough to be satisfying in the dead of winter, let alone these cool and dreary early spring days. I’m thinking that a brothy version with the veggies left whole, featuring young turnips and spring peas might be my next variation. It’s looking like the warm spring weather with its more delicate green ingredients may be a long time coming. Soup can warm us until then.

Cabbage and Turnip Soup with Beef Broth

This soup is great accompanied by Dark Rye Bread, Beer and Onion Rye Bread, or Rye Soda Bread

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups finely chopped onion

½ teaspoon coarse salt, plus more to taste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

4 cups chopped green cabbage

2 cups chopped peeled turnip

2 cups chopped peeled potato

4 cups beef broth

½ c sour cream, plus additional for serving

1 cup shredded Gruyere or Comte cheese, plus additional for serving

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and ¼ teaspoon salt. Saute briskly until the onions are tender, about 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and caraway seeds. Cook and stir about 1 minute.

2. Add the cabbage, turnip, potato, and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook and stir for about 10 minutes or until the cabbage has wilted.

3. Pour in the beef broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low to low so that the mixture is simmering gently. Cover and cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 30-45.  Stir occasionally and add some water if the mixture seems too dry.

4. Remove the pot from the heat and cool slightly. Puree the soup in a blender in batches until it is all very smooth. (You can use an immersion blender, but I find that the cabbage is still very fibrous if I do.) Add more water or broth if the soup is too thick.

5. Return the soup to low heat. Add the sour cream, cheese, and black pepper, stirring until the cheese melts. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper as needed. Serve with an additional dollop of sour cream and sprinkling of cheese if desired.

Makes about 8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Creamy Cabbage and Potato Soup, Celeriac, Potato and Wild Rice Soup, Curry Carrot Soup, Potato and Garlic Scape Soup with Chives

One year ago: Chocolate Cookie Butter 

Chocolate Porter Cake

As I mentioned on Facebook and on Twitter (@The_Messy_Apron), many of the recipes posted here in the month of March are characterized by the inclusion of dark beers and Irish cream liqueur. This easy chocolate cake carries on that tradition in especially delicious fashion.

This recipe is utterly simple and makes a single-layer 9-inch round cake, making it just the thing for curing a mid-week chocolate desire. It comes together quickly and is wonderfully chocolatey, with an additional bittersweet note from a dose of dark beer. I used a vanilla porter to make it, but you could use some of the Guinness you’re planning to serve at your St. Pat’s party, or an oatmeal stout.

For being so deep and rich with chocolate and a dark brew, this cake is surprisingly soft and fluffy in texture. At the same time, it holds up well to the ganache I poured over the top to serve as icing. I have to admit that I couldn’t taste the vanilla porter in the cake, perhaps because of all that chocolatey goodness, but I think it’s bubbly tendency may help the cake be as soft as it is.

If you didn’t want to use beer, I think you could make a nice cake with milk instead. I’m hoping to try coffee or espresso to see what happens. There are also many other ways you could top this cake, whether it be with a buttercream frosting, cream cheese frosting (like the one on this cake), a simple glaze, or a fudge, caramel, or fruit sauce poured over individual servings of naked cake.

Hmmm. All of these ideas seem worthy of experimentation. Maybe more chocolate cake should be in my future!

Chocolate Cake with Porter and Ganache Topping

Adapted from Food52

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine salt

1 large egg

½ cup sour cream

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

¾ cup dark beer, such as Guinness, oatmeal stout, or vanilla porter

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9-inch round cake with cooking spray and coat it evenly with flour. Cut a circle of parchment paper the size of the pan (trace the pan) and place it inside the prepared pan. Set aside.

2. Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a medium-size bowl.

3. In a large bowl, beat together the egg and sour cream. Beat in the melted butter, beer, and vanilla extract.

4. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until well combined.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing it out evenly. Bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out free of wet batter.

6. Cool the cake in the pan for 5-10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

7. When the cake is cool, heat the cream and chocolate chips together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Continue to cook and stir until the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Spoon or pour the ganache evenly over the cooled cake, allowing some of it to run over the sides. Refrigerate until the topping is set.

Makes about 8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Flourless Bitteresweet Chocolate Torte, Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Rye Soda Bread

I have come to the conclusion that I really need to make soda bread more often. Sure, I usually remember to make a loaf in March because of the whole “Irish Soda Bread” thing, but that’s not enough. A nice crunchy-crusted round loaf is such a big pay-off for the small investment of time and talent it requires. Perhaps it’s not a perfect sandwich bread, but there are more things to do with a nice loaf of bread than make sandwiches.

I recently made the Rye Soda Bread in Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson, one of my favorite blog and cookbook authors. I didn’t make mine quite as craggy and crunchy as the bread in the original recipe, but I did make a delightfully flavorful and extremely useful loaf. I ate it for breakfast alongside eggs, as a lovely accompaniment with this soup, and on its own, toasted and buttered with one of my many-cups-a-day of coffee.

This bread comes together like any soda bread recipe, more like a biscuit dough than a quick bread or yeast bread dough. It needs only a brief kneading, more to finish the mixing and to coax everything into place than to develop gluten. Slashing the loaf before baking not only gives it some room to expand as it bakes, but also creates some extra surface area for more crunchy crust.

I really like rye breads, so was excited to try this unyeasted loaf. I used a stone-ground rye flour, which is about all I can usually find. All this whole grain stuff does not make this bread crumbly, though. It’s soft, but firm enough to hold up as you slice through the crunchy crust. I added caraway seeds, which I also love, but they are not necessary if you do not like them. If you wanted to take this into a sweeter range, you may be able to add some currants or raisins, just like you might find in a white-flour version of soda bread.

 

I certainly hope to have more opportunity to make this delicious bread, especially since it’s getting difficult to fit as many yeasted loaves into my life as I would like. It’s so delicious with soups and even just all by itself. And I’m certain its whole grainy goodness is much healthier than the chocolate cake with ganache I hope to tell you about soon!

Caraway Rye Soda Bread

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

2 1/3 cups stone ground rye flour

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 ¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

2 cups buttermilk

Additional flour for your kneading surface

Additional buttermilk for brushing the dough

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.

2. Combine the rye flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, caraway seeds, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together to combine well.

3. Pour in the buttermilk and stir together just until the dough comes together in a shaggy, moist ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface.

4. Knead the dough gently just long enough to be able to form it into a smooth ball. Place the ball of dough on the prepared baking sheet.

5. With a sharp knife, slash several deep cuts in the top of the ball of dough. Brush the dough all over with buttermilk.

6. Bake at 400 F for 45-55 minutes or until the bread has a dark, crunchy crust and is baked through (the bread will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom). Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 big round loaf that will last a few days. Leftovers are good lightly toasted.

Other recipes like this one: Soda Bread with Wild Rice and Cranberries, Caraway Rye Sandwich Bread, Rosemary Raisin Rye Bread, Beer and Onion Rye Bread