Winter Cabbage & Potato Soup

Someone has to prepare for winter. It might as well be me. It's okay, I live in Alaska so I am allowed to discuss winter in October. It snowed a week ago, okay? But I love winter. Positively adore the icy air, the clean landscapes, and the lacy snowflakes, but more on that later.

This soup might be regarded as bit bizarre due to steaming the onion, celery, and garlic but I encourage you to think of the process like making a stock. It will be well worth the risk. While this soup is proletarian and simple, the ingredients boldly shine without being cluttered.  

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ”

— Margaret Mead

A luscious, blended vegetable soup with hearty chunks of potatoes and cabbage. Kissed with dill and coriander, and ready in a flash.

Almost all the produce I used came from my CSA box! Even these taters. I think they were labeled as Purple Viking. With a name like that, naturally, one would expect them to be purple throughout. You can imagine my chagrin when I cut them open. It's okay though, they were still delicious. 

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Winter Cabbage & Potato Soup

by Katie @ Produce On Parade October-10-2014

A luscious, blended vegetable soup with hearty chunks of potatoes and cabbage. Kissed with dill and coriander, and ready in a flash.

Ingredients

• 3 (about 1 lb. total) medium potatoes, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, rough chopped
• 3 celery stalks, rough chopped
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and whole
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. vegan sugar
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. dried dill weed
• ½ tsp. kosher salt
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp. ground coriander
• ¼ cup water
• ½ tsp. mustard powder
• 4 cups (about ½ small head) red cabbage, chopped

Instructions

Dice the potatoes and place in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water, a dash of salt, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain and set aside until ready to use. Steam the onion, celery, and garlic in an electric steamer or on the stove, for about 15 minutes or until fork tender. Place the steamed vegetables in a blender. Add in the broth through and including the coriander. When the potatoes are done boiling, add about 1/3 to the blender as well. Blend on high, allowing steam to escape the top, for a few minutes until smooth and creamy. In a large soup pot, add the water, mustard powder, and cabbage. Wilt over medium-high heat, until the water has evaporated and the cabbage is tender. Pour in the blender contents and the remaining 2/3 of cooked potatoes. Stir well to combine. Serve hot.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 4

Dutch Word of The Day

Cabbage --> Kool (coal)

Good Deed of The Day

Educate yourself on the debate on "ethically-raised" meat in this intriguing article from Time. 

Italian Potato Salad

Sweet baby jesus you guys. I finally, finally got DISQUS (the comment platform) to work on my new site. I seriously teared up with joy when I saw it was finally working. This has been a giant source of frustration over the last week and I am so, so, so incredibly elated it's finally working. Now I can share posts! Gah! Why did I switch hosts again?? 

Now to the good stuff. If there's one thing that sings "Summer!" for me, it might just have to be...potato salad. Is that weird? My dad had the rare ability to make the most rockin' potato salad around (for some reason I only recall it's existence around warmer temperatures) and I feel like I might have (fingers crossed) inherited said gift from him.

Some people might be all like, "It's potato salad, big whoop. Anyone can whip up a potato salad!" I beg to differ. And in a few short words, I'll tell you why. Most potato salad is either soaking in way too much liquid or is as dry as a bone. Sometimes it's completely lacking in flavor. More often than not, it's mostly just a whole lotta mayonnaise with some mushy potatoes and a little veggies thrown in just so you know you're not just consuming a potato and mayonnaise smoothie...yep, in my experience most potato salad straight-up sucks. 

I won't even discuss store-bought potato salad. I just won't. 

Stop eating potato and mayonnaise smoothies. I've come to save you from the potato salads that haunt your dreams. I'd like to start off by noting that  this salad is completely mayo-free. Instead, it's dressed in a beautiful herbed olive oil and fresh lemon juice dressing. Tender baby red potatoes, crunchy celery, tart capers, salty Kalamata olives, and juicy cherry tomatoes mingle with fresh basil and parsley to make the truly simplest and most lovely potato salad you've ever had. 

Italian Potato Salad

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• Salad:
• 3 lbs. baby red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered or halved
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 6 celery stalks, sliced
• 3 Tbsp. capers, drained
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 16 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chiffonade
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chiffonade
• Dressing:
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp. dried Italian herb seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Instructions:

Start by bringing a very large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Meanwhile wash and scrub the potatoes of any dirt. If the potatoes are on the larger side, cut or quarter them. Once the water reaches a rapid boil, add the potatoes. Boil for about 20 minutes, until tender when pierced with a fork. Strain and set aside.

While the potatoes boil, prep the remaining salad ingredients. Add them all to a very large serving bowl and combine.

To make the dressing, simply combine all the ingredients in small bowl or measuring cup and whisk well. 

Add the boiled potatoes to the large serving bowl and combine with the tomato/celery/olive mixture. Pour the dressing over it all and mix again, until well coated. 

Serve warm or cold!

It seems I've been caught picking out of the bowl!

Someone was all ready for the big cabin trip last week!

We saw MGMT in concert yesterday. Can you believe they came all the way up to Alaska?! I'll share a video on Instagram! I am not a concert person and never, ever will be. It's just not my bag. I like my personal space...and not being smoked on. Someone threw up right next to me and if I want to go to a bathroom so disgusting I have to hover-pee, I'll go to the state fair. *shudder* I just chanted, "Go to your happy place...go to your happy place..." all night. Why am I such an old, grumpy lady?!

German Word of The Day:

Potato --> Kartoffel (pronounced: car-toffel) I know I've shared this one before but for some strange reason, it's one of my favorite German words!

Good Deed of The Day:

Simply wish everyone you come in contact to happiness (in your head, don't want people thinking you're crazy). Smile, and be happy! 

Red Potato and Beet Bourguignon

For the last week, I've been going to bed at about 8:30 pm and am still waking up completely and utterly exhausted and depleted. I think our galeforce winds are sucking the life from me...like a Dilbert cartoon or something. Mother Nature is being a real monster.

I can see it, my soul being ripped from me and carried on the winds to god knows where. I need snow and I need to be outside. Neither of which I've been fortunate enough to enjoy for the last week or so. It's no way to live, people. It's no way to live.

My restlessness has been burgeoning, but now it seems to have imploded. I'm like a caged animal! 

Anyways, irritability has seeped into even my grocery shopping! Normally, a bourguignon has pearl onions in it. If you're a skrillionmillionaire, then go ahead and saute them with the mushrooms. I decided not to drain my 401k, and so I left the tiny $6 pack of pearl onions at the store. Annoyed, as I stood there staring at the expensive little cuties, I concluded that my bourguignon would be fine without them. 

Despite the absence of pearl onions, this bourguignon is rich with flavor. Hearty chunks of beets and red potatoes mingle with thick slices of portobello mushrooms and meaty lentils for a filling meal.

Isn't it odd what we decide to spend our money on? $16 vegan Omega-3 supplements, yes. $9 vegan and cruelty-free deodorant, yes. $6 pack of pearl onions...over my dead body!! It's intriguing, because usually with fruits and vegetables I'm pretty liberal with my spending. Except for grapes. What, did I recently win the lottery recently or something?!

Red Potato and Beet Bourguignon 

Serves 6

Notes: If you'd like this more stew like, just double the wine and vegetable stock.

• Lentils:
• 2 cups green or brown lentils, dry
• 4 cups water
• Sustenance: 
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 medium beets, peeled and chopped
• 4 medium red potatoes, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• Flavoring:
• 8 oz. red wine
• 16 oz. vegetable stock
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste 
• Mushrooms:
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 10 crimini mushrooms, quartered
• Thickening:
• 2 tsp. arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
• 1 Tbsp. vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

In a medium saucepan, combine the lentils and water. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until almost tender. Drain and set aside. 

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium. Add the onion and garlic. Saute a few minutes, until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add in the remaining sustenance ingredients and cook for 5 additional minutes. Add in the flavoring ingredients and continue to cook, covered, for 20 more minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add in the mushrooms. Saute for about 5 minutes over medium-low, until shrunken and dark and all the water has evaporated.

In a small bowl, mix together the thickening ingredients then pour into the soup pot and stir to combine.

Add the cooked lentils and mushrooms to the soup pot and stir.

Remove bay leaves and serve hot!  Top with nutritional yeast if you like. 

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