Cabbage and caraway soup with pickle juice and sour cream

By: Claire Thomson
From: The Art Of The Larder
Photographer: Mike Lusmore

This is the sort of soup that will take you by surprise. It may not look at all lovely, but one spoonful and I’m fairly sure it is all you will want to eat all winter long. Use the sour brine from shop-bought sour pickled gherkins or cucumbers as the magic ingredient here, giving this hearty soup a beautiful, beguiling taste.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
150g	streaky bacon, cut into 1.5cm strips
1 1/2 tablespoons	butter
1	large onion, finely diced
2	bay leaves
2	garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon	caraway seeds
300g	white cabbage, cored and finely sliced
300g	potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
1 litre	chicken or vegetable stock
	salt
	freshly ground black pepper
80-100ml	pickle juice, or to taste

To serve

Quantity	Ingredient
	sour cream or creme fraiche
a generous pinch	paprika, sweet or hot
a small bunch	fresh dill, leaves roughly chopped

Method

Fry the bacon in the butter until beginning to crisp, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, add the onion and bay leaves, and cook for 8–10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onion is soft and translucent.
Add the garlic and caraway, and cook for 1 minute. Add the cabbage and potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the stock, season with a bit of salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Blend about 2 cupfuls of the soup in a blender and return the blended soup to the pan of unblended soup. Check the seasoning and add the pickle juice, adding still more if you like.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream, a pinch of paprika and some chopped dill.

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Cabbage and caraway soup with pickle juice and sour cream

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