Creamed cabbage soup

Soups with cream are usually called “cream of” followed by the main ingredient. You have cream of mushroom soup, cream of asparagus soup, cream of chicken soup… Mushrooms don’t have cream; neither do asparagus nor chicken. You can squeeze them as long and as hard as you like and you won’t get any cream out of them. So, I figured I shouldn’t follow the old misleading pattern. It’s bad enough that I already did in the past when I cooked my real cream of mushroom soup. This time, the title is a more apt description — creamed cabbage soup.

creamed cabbage soup

What does “creamed cabbage soup” refer too? It’s cabbage soup to which cream has been added. Half-and-half, to be more precise. My family is sort of on a soup diet because my younger daughter had her dental braces attached last weekend and she’s having difficulty eating the usual fare at home. I refuse to let her eat instant noodle soups so I’m trying to be as creative as I can.

You can actually make two kinds of soup with this recipe. The cabbage soup is complete even before it goes into the blender so if you want to enjoy it that way, you can. But it doesn’t become creamed cabbage soup until after it has passed through the blender, reheated and the half-and-half is added.

But before I proceed to the recipe, I have to mention that good broth is essential for making this soup. I know it’s tempting to use broth cubes but I really wouldn’t recommend the locally available ones with the unmistakable smell and taste of MSG. It’s easy enough to make good-quality homemade broth. It doesn’t even entail a lot of work because you just leave everything to simmer in the pot.

That said, the recipe…

Ingredients :

8 to 10 cups of meat or chicken broth (fish broth will do just as well)
1 head of garlic, crushed and finely minced
4 white onions, finely chopped
8 tomatoes, diced
a handful of fresh basil leaves (or about a tbsp. of dried basil leaves)
a pinch of cumin
1 medium-sized cabbage (or half of a large one), finely shredded as though you were make cole slaw
4 tbsps. of butter
salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 c. of milk
1 c. of cream
chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

Cooking procedure :

Saute the garlic, onions and tomatoes in hot butter until they start to soften. Add the shredded cabbage and cook, stirring, until the cabbage starts to wilt. Pour in the broth. Add the basil and cumin. Season with salt (to taste) and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Simmer for one hour.

At this point, you have a completely cooked cabbage soup. It’s ready to serve and delicious the way it is. If you want to transform it into creamed cabbage soup, read on.

Cool the soup. Use a large strainer to separate the vegetables from the broth. In batches, puree the vegetables in the blender, adding a cup of broth to each batch. Use the pulse method if you prefer not to completely liquefy the vegetables.

pureeing cooked cabbage soup in a Tefal blender

Return the vegetables and all of the broth to the cooking pot and bring to a soft boil, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat.

In a bowl, stir the milk and cream together. While stirring the soup with one hand, pour the half-and-half slowly with the other. Taste and adjust the seasonings; the addition of the half-and-half will make the soup a bit bland.

To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and top liberally with freshly ground pepper. You may also add croutons and grated Parmesan cheese if you like.

July 6, 2007  Print This Post   
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Comments

10 Responses to “Creamed cabbage soup”
  1. beck says:
    July 10, 2007 at 10:11 am

    hi ms. connie!

    may i suggest lugaw for your daughter… i also experienced that when i was in highschool, at nabuhay po ako nun sa lugaw for more than a week! even sa school nagbabaon ako ng lugaw kasi di talaga kayang kumagat even ang pag-nguya ng kanin masakit… i know you’re VERY resourceful you can do may things with the plain lugaw… :-)

    God bless…

    Reply
  2. Connie says:
    July 10, 2007 at 11:32 am

    thanks, beck. lugaw was her dad’s first suggestion too. but i think she’s over the need for soft diet. katakawan has taken over and she’s actually eating pizza. hehehehe

    Reply
  3. joy says:
    July 10, 2007 at 4:38 pm

    Hi Connie. I come to your website often ever since I discovered it I think three months ago. I got to learn a lot of cooking tips from your articles. Now I have a question. When the recipe says half and half, do they always mean half of cream and half of evaporated milk or they may mean another thing? Thanks, Connie, I always enjoy reading your articles.

    Reply
  4. beck says:
    July 11, 2007 at 9:46 am

    you’re so lucky mukhang di pihikan mga kids mo… :-)
    not like my son, naku minsan kaka-frustrate kapag ayaw kumain…

    Reply
  5. Connie says:
    July 13, 2007 at 8:57 am

    Joy, half and half means half cream and half milk but I don’t recommend evaporated milk. I suggest fresh milk in cartons — the ready to drink kind.

    beck, trainable yan. :)

    Reply
  6. joy says:
    July 13, 2007 at 11:49 am

    thanks connie

    Reply
  7. OziChris says:
    July 14, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    G’day Connie

    Can you please clarify what is meant by “one head of garlic”? In Australia a head of garlic is the whole garlic that is made up of many “cloves”.

    I thought if I use a head of garlic it might be too much.

    Thanks

    Reply
  8. Connie says:
    July 14, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    OziChris, yes one whole head, the one with many cloves. :) It’s not too much for all that soup. :)

    Reply
  9. mae says:
    March 20, 2009 at 3:47 am

    thank god for this recipe. now i know what to do with the left over cabbage on the fridge. i thought i can only use it for nilagang baka or stir fry.

    thanks connie. i’ve been reading your blog for a while now and i’m already hooked!

    Reply
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