White Bean & Cabbage Soup

Pure winter comfort food. Nourishing, hearty and just delicious – nothing at all like the diet soup of yesteryear.  Guaranteed to be on weekly rotation during the colder months and yes, you will discover a lasting new friendship with green cabbage….

Recipe:

• 1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped

• 2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped (my carrots were yellow)

• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling

• Kosher salt

• 1/4 cup tomato paste

• 4-6 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

• 1 very small cabbage (about 1 pound), such as Savoy, cored and thinly shredded

• 1 piece Parmesan cheese rind (optional)

• 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained but not rinsed

• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

• Freshly ground black pepper

• Red pepper flakes

Steps:

1. Sauté the onion and carrots in olive oil until softened. Add the garlic , season with salt to taste and cook for one minute more.

2. Stir in the tomato paste and sauté until the vegetables are almost caramelized. Pour the broth into the vegetable mixture and blend with an immersion blender.

3. Stir in the chopped cabbage, drop in the Parmesan rind and simmer the soup until the cabbage is tender – about 25 minutes.

4. Remove the Parmesan rind, stir in the beans thyme and chopped basil. Season with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.

Adapted slightly from @thekitchn