Cabbage Soup: Your Recipe, My Kitchen

This came about because of leftover vegetables.  I had half a head of cabbage and a bag of matchstick carrots languishing because I made a dish that will post later in the week.  What better way to use them than in a soup?  I thought I'd use a smoked sausage that was in my freezer, too.  When you google cabbage sausage soup you don't get many hits.  Is cabbage soup not popular?

I finally found something that I could use at eatathomecooks.com. But I had to change it up because that soup was a Smoked Sausage, Cabbage and Oat soup.  She used steel cut oats which when cooked act like barley.  I had no steel cut oats, so that was already one change to the recipe and I was just on the title!!

I gathered all of my ingredients and then a little thought came into my head to read the ingredient list on the smoked sausage.  Double Drat It All!!  There's liquid smoke in smoked sausage!  Did you know that it has gluten in it?  Yep, there are a few weird things that are considered "hidden gluten."  Liquid smoke, most soy sauce, canned beef broth...anything containing caramel color or malt (including normal Rice Crispies) are on the list of no-no's.  So my original soup plan became plan B.  I made the soup without any meat.  I put the leftover Italian sausage from the Italian nachos in my bowl and the sliced smoked sausage in the kids' bowls.

Cabbage Soup: (adapted from this recipe)
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cups carrots, chopped (mine were matchsticks, but that was a fluke)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 head cabbage, in 1/4 inch slices
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
6 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth is making this completely vegetarian)
1 14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
4 potatoes, peeled and chunked
1 pound smoked sausage, sliced (optional) (other options are Italian, Andouille, or Chorizo)
In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium and cook celery, carrots and onion until the onion is soft.  Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaf and cook another minute.  Throw in the cabbage, cover, reduce the heat and cook 5 minutes or until cabbage is wilted.  Uncover, return heat to medium and add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat again so it does not boil over and cook 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

*Note, I have since found out that caramel coloring in North America is considered gluten free.  That opens up a whole group of foods that I thought were off limits.  YEAH!!

 

Your turn!  What did you cook this week in your kitchen?

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