Spicy Cabbage Soup

 

When I was in college I remember there was this Cabbage Soup Diet that was all the rage.  Everyone was doing this extreme diet where you lost some absurd amount of weight in a week.  I tried it for two days but the extreme of only fruit one day and only vegetables another day didn't work out for me.  I think I only lasted about a day and a half.

Then about ten years later, after I had my second child, I was in a grocery store waiting in the checkout line.  Good Housekeeping had a Cabbage Soup diet that I started reading in line and ending up buying the issue.  This was different.  This was a more balanced realistic diet.  This had tuna sandwiches, eggs for breakfast, oatmeal with four dried apricots and roast chicken for dinner.  Then in addition to the All-You-Can-Eat Basic Soup it had add-ins to the soup for each day.  Ground Beef on one day.  Lentils on another.  Rice and Chicken on another day.  This was a realistic diet that I really enjoyed and that helped me lose all my baby weight.

In January, after the months of rich holiday eating, it feels so good to eat this warm nutritious soup whether you are on a diet or not.

I love Cabbage.  I love cabbage salad, sautéed cabbage, cabbage rolls, cabbage soup.  It's a favorite of mine.  I make a Cabbage Roll Soup that lots of friends have copied and loved.  This recipe is very similar but just a little bit spicier and not served over rice.  

 

SPICY CABBAGE SOUP

Old Bay Seasoning is a blend of celery salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper and paprika.  I love Old Bay I think because of the celery salt.  If you want to just use those ingredients without buying the mixture that works too.  I always have it on hand for my Vegan Artichoke Palm Cakes that everyone, including meat eaters love, so it was easy to just throw it in here.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow or sweet onion, diced

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

3 carrots, peeled and diced

4 celery stalks, diced

1 head green cabbage, roughly chopped in 1-inch pieces

3  28-ounce cans whole tomatoes, chop before adding (diced tomatoes can be substituted

2 quarts chicken broth

1 teaspoon Red Pepper flakes

1 teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning for soup plus additional 2 teaspoons for seasoning ground beef

1 teaspoon Freshly ground Black Pepper

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt to taste 

2 pounds ground beef

Garnish with Sour Cream

In a large soup pot over medium high heat, sauté the diced onion in the olive oil for two minutes.  Sprinkle with Kosher Salt while it cooks.

Add the carrots and celery and sauté for another two minutes.  Add the chopped cabbage and cook stirring slightly and add more olive oil if necessarily.

Chop the canned whole tomatoes into chunks and add the tomatoes with their juice to the soup.  Add 2 quarts of chicken broth.  

Add red pepper flakes and one teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning (or substitute celery salt if you don't have it, or skip if you wish.  If you like it even more spicy you can add more red pepper flakes but the heat develops as the soup cooks so start with the lower amount and either add individually to each bowl or if you know the whole group likes super spicy soup then add more to the whole pot.

Heat a separate skillet over medium heat.  Season the ground beef with 2 teaspoons of the Old Bay Seasoning and a freshly ground pepper and Kosher salt.  Use more than you think you need.

Cooke the hamburger in the skillet and then drain any fat with a paper towel and add it to the soup.

Serve hot with sour cream as a garnish.

For vegetarians you can substitute mushrooms for the ground beef or just omit the meat.  

Maili