Not long ago, we got together with Chief Friends.  So much good comes from spending time with great friends who go way back.  We had time to catch up on our kids, our lives and our food.  Here’s a recipe from my Chief Friend who is an incredible cook.  She cooks healthy, flavorful and I would sum up her philosophy as ‘Just So.”  Just enough of the right ingredients without over doing anything.  This soup is delicious, healthy & filling.  Anyway, when I came home, I made her Cabbage Soup, remembering the details she told me and adding some Great Northern Beans I happened to have on hand.  Here we go…

I used a zoodler, purchased on sale at the Williams Sonoma outlet several years ago to make noodles out of the zucchini. You could cut in cubes.


Cabbage Soup from Chief Friend

Ingredients

-2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

-1/2 cup onion

-2 cloves minced garlic

-1/2 cabbage chopped coarse

-4 cups chicken stock/broth (I use Better Than Bouillon) 

-1 carrot peeled with a potato peeler in strips

-1 zucchini either diced or zoodled*

-1-28 can good plum tomatoes diced

-(optional) 1 can Great Northern Beans, drained

-1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves taken off

-freshly ground black pepper to taste

-freshly grated Parmesan cheese to taste to top before serving

Here soup is served with some grilled chicken from the previous night’s dinner. I have also served with some good bread, like Rustic Homemade Bread, here on the website.

Method

  1.  Prepare/measure all ingredients and have them handy and ready to go. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or stock pot.  Add onion and saute’ until translucent. Add garlic and cook and additional minute, do not let it burn.  Add tomatoes in a can and chicken stock/broth. Let mixture come to a. boil, then turn down.
  2. Add cabbage, zucchini, carrot, thyme & beans.  Let cook for about at least 10 minutes.
  3. Season with pepper.  Spoon into soup bowls and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Enjoy!
Author, Mary Yana Burau