It’s gotten chilly here and my eldest was feeling poorly. She was staying here earlier this week while some work was done at her apartment and asked if I’d make some vegetable soup one evening. I made a version of chicken soup with rice, skipping the chicken and adding some sliced zucchini because I have lots still coming from the garden. It hit the spot for her and she took the rest for lunch the next day.
After working on a large wood turning project yesterday, I showered to get the sawdust off and it was just chilly enough in the house to make me want more soup! I rooted around in the freezer and came up with a lone Italian sausage. I had half a cabbage left in the vegetable drawer and some potatoes in the pantry. I found this recipe by Jacques Pepin in Essential Pepin, a cookbook I need to spend more time with.
This was so simple and so good. I was surprised at how flavorful the broth was at the end since you start with just water. I cut the recipe in half roughly but you can freeze leftovers if you want to make a larger batch.
Easy Sausage, Potato and Cabbage Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Italian sausage about 4 ounces, cut into thick slices
- 1 small white or yellow onion, cut in 1″ thick slices about 1 cup
- 3 green onions, cut into 1/2″ pieces
- 3 cups water
- 1 potato, peeled and cut into 1/2″ slices about half a pound
- 2 cups savoy cabbage, cut into 1″ pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
Instructions
- Cook the sausage over medium high heat until browned, stirring frequently to keep the meat from sticking.
- Add both kinds of onions and cook about 1 minute, stirring once. (Let them brown a bit.)
- Add the water, potatoes, cabbage and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook, covered, about 45 minutes, stirring now and then and watching the heat so that the soup just simmers and doesn’t boil.
Pepin says to serve this with crusty French bread, which I think would be fantastic. But I also had a yen for some macaroni and cheese so that’s what I served mine with. I used up some bits of cheese I had, including blue cheese, cheddar cheese and jack cheese.
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