Savoy Cabbage Soup with Meatballs

Meatballs! I love them so much. I used to buy a bag of frozen meatballs at Ikea on every visit but then sometime in the last couple years they started to seem different, different texture or something. I stopped buying them but I never bothered to figure out a replacement to the handy little dinner-savers! Sunset saved me!

This soup was delicious, but I am super excited about the meatballs included in the soup!  They are pretty dang close to those Swedish meatballs I miss so much and I highly recommend doubling the meatball portion of this recipe and freezing them for later (you better believe that I did)!  Throw them into a soup or warm them up in the oven to have with roast veggies, or with mashed potatoes, gravy, and lingonberries!

Okay but back to the soup.  This was in the December issue of Sunset, in a feature that was singing the praises of the under appreciated Savoy Cabbage.  I fixated on the meatballs and decided to make this immediately.  Requiring few ingredients (even the meatballs are simple) and a super satisfying end result, I will be making this again for sure.

This recipe does make a lot of soup so you could freeze half (like I did) or just cut it in half. I made the full amount but doubled the meatballs.  Here is the original proportioned recipe.

Savoy Cabbage Soup with Meatballs
From December 2014 Sunset
Serves 8-10

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs 
1/4 cup milk (I used half and half)
3/4 teaspoon salt divided
3/4 teaspoon pepper divided
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
5 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley, divided
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground beef 
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 medium carrots, sliced into half-moons to make 1 cup
2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), trimmed, halved lengthwise, rinsed well, and sliced into half-moons
1 head savoy cabbage (about 1.5 - 2 lb), quartered, cored and thinly sliced
7 cups chicken broth (reduced-sodium if store-bought)
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

First things first, make the meatballs!! Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  In a medium bowl, stir together bread crumbs and milk. Add 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 Tbsp. parsley, the pork, and the beef. Mix gently but thoroughly with your hands. Scoop mixture by slightly rounded teaspoons and roll into small balls, plopping them onto a cookie sheet as you go, about an inch or so apart.  Cook in the oven for about 12-15 minutes until internal temp is 160. (Double this part if you want to stockpile them in your freezer!)

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and leeks and cook, stirring, until leeks are soft but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes.

Stir in cabbage and remaining 1/4 tsp. each salt and pepper and cook until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes.  (It looks like way too much cabbage, but it shrinks down I promise.)

Add broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and let simmer until cabbage is quite tender, about 20 minutes.

Gently stir browned meatballs into soup and cook, stirring occasionally, until meatballs are warmed up and flavors are blended, about 5 minutes. Stir in cream, 3 tbsp. parsley, and remaining 1/8 tsp. nutmeg (take a microplaner to a whole nutmeg if you want an extra flavor boost!) and ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp. parsley. 

Yum!!!

Pork Posole Verde

Posole is quickly becoming one of my favorite soups.  

Every time I have eaten any variation of this hearty, rich, and spicy soup I can't get over how extremely delicious and satisfying it is. I like to eat posole with a side of chips, guacamole and pico de gallo, but it is also superb scooped on top of cornbread for a sweet and spicy combo (Trader Joe's cornbread is my fave)!

This recipe is a mixture of a couple of recipes, and it turned out well. It made a ton and the only thing I would do differently is to use more hominy, or keep the full can of hominy and cut everything else in half. I started with this recipe but modified quite a bit using elements of another recipe that I got from V's mister, where you slow cook a hunk of pork separately in salsa verde and then add it into the soup pot with the sauteed, onions, roasted and peeled peppers, etc.  This method works great if you remember to start the pork in the morning!  To make a chicken version, refer to that recipe I linked to just above.  I do not think that zucchini is in any way traditional to posole but I like the extra texture it provides to the soup, and I always try to add extra vegetables wherever I can.

Here is the recipe as I made it:

Pork Posole Verde

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds pork sirloin, loin roast, or tenderloin, trimmed of any excess fat
• 16 oz jar of salsa verde (or make your own if you are extra ambitious)
• 4 oz can of diced green chiles 
• 1 T ground cumin
• 2 pounds green Poblano chili peppers
• 29 oz can of hominy, drained
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 bunch of fresh oregano (I had about 1/4 cup of oregano leaves)
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 large zucchini, diced
• 1/2 head of Napa cabbage, shredded
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• olive oil
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Start the pork in the slow cooker in the morning!  Put pork into crock pot.  Season all over with salt.  Pour in salsa verde, green chiles, and cumin.  Set slow cooker to low and let cook for 8 hours.
2. When your pork has about an hour and a half left, place the poblano peppers whole onto a rimmed cookie sheet and put them under the broiler. Let them get black and then flip them, letting all the sides get black.  This should take about a half hour or so.
3. After all the sides of the peppers are blackened, cover them in a bowl or place in a plastic bag or paper bag. Cool and the skins will slip off effortlessly. Remove the stem and the seeds. 
4. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and saute until the onions are soft.
5. Add to the pot the garlic, fresh oregano, the peppers, about 1/3 of the hominy, and 4 cups of the chicken stock. Using an immersion blender blend until smooth. 
6. Shred the finished pork, it should be falling apart. 
7. Add the shredded pork and all the liquid in the slow cooker to the soup pot along with the remaining hominy and the last 2 cups of stock. Simmer for about 45 minutes.
8. Add the diced zucchini and shredded cabbage to the pot. 
9. Let simmer for another 15 minutes or so until the zucchini are softened to your liking. Adjust salt and pepper, add extra cumin if you are so inclined, and if the soup seems too thick, add some more chicken stock or water. (I like it thick and stew-like!)
10. Serve with a wedge of fresh lime.

Watch!

Hot and Sour Mushroom, Cabbage and Rice Soup

This was seriously the most delicious thing that I have made in a while. The moment I saw this recipe in my email from The Kitchn I knew I had to make it as soon as humanly possible and I am so very glad I did.

I have always loved hot and sour soup at Chinese restaurants, though I have not had it in a very long time. This soup was not quite exactly the same as how I remember traditional hot and sour soup, but the flavors were very similar. This soup is much different than soups I typically make, flavorwise, but I loved it. I never thought I would create such a close replica of hot and sour soup at home as quickly and easily as it was with this recipe.

I modified the recipe a touch from the original, but only adding an onion and shredded chicken. I didn't have any home made stock to use, but store bought worked great for me. I could not stop oohing and aahing over how delicious it was! In fact I think as soon as I finish with this post I will go eat another bowl of it.

I highly recommend making this soup if you are in dire need of a winter blues remedy, as the original post suggested. It definitely made me happy.  This could very easily be made vegan by omitting the chicken and using veggie broth. I also think it would be great to add more vegetables like carrots or using brussels sprouts in place of cabbage or tossing some spinach in or any other veggie that needs to get used up. The broth is so flavorful!



Without further ado, here is the recipe as I made it.

Hot and Sour Mushroom, Cabbage and Rice Soup: (makes about 8 servings)

Ingredients:
-1 tablespoon canola oil
-1 small onion, julienned
-1/2 pound cremini or shiitake mushroom caps, thinly sliced
-1 to 3 jalapeno peppers, finely diced (I used 2 red peppers because the store didn't have jalapenos, and I wish I had used more, but topping the finished soup with Sriracha chili sauce did the trick!)
-6 cloves garlic, minced
-One 3-inch lump ginger, grated, or 1 tablespoon ginger puree
-3 limes, zested and juiced
- 8 cups broth — turkey, chicken, or vegetable
-2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
-1/2 cup jasmine rice
-1/2 small head green cabbage, cut in half and shaved thin 
-2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more to serve
-Chili garlic sauce or kimchi, to serve

 

Process:

-Heat the oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent.

-Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes without stirring. Toss the mushrooms after 5 minutes and cook for an additional 5 minutes, or until well-browned.

- Add the diced peppers, garlic, and ginger and cook for about five minutes or until fragrant and slightly softened. (This smelled incredible!)



-Add the lime zest, chicken, and broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

-Remove chicken from pot, add the rice, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the rice is just barely soft.

-While the rice is simmering, shred the chicken.

-Once the rice is barely soft, add the shredded chicken back to the pot along with the shaved cabbage, lime juice, and soy sauce.

-Simmer for another few minutes or until cabbage is hot.

-Serve with extra soy sauce, lime wedges, and kimchi or chili garlic sauce.

 Now I'm hungry. Enjoy!