Caramelized Shallot, Potato and Cabbage Soup

A covid-stricken journey for my ideal hearty soup

Imagine this. It’s nearing the end of December and you’re on day 5 of isolation with a (thankfully very mild) case of COVID. You’re doing everything you can to not lose your mind…. There’s only so much Fargo you can handle.

You’ve been tired and lazy so Grubhub has become you’re most frequented app…. but this morning you head to your kitchen and stare blankly at the decrepit image of your stocked fridge on it’s later half of life. You muster all the energy you have and decide to do something about it. Pulling out all the produce you have, a vision slowly forms…..

I love a fridge clean-out meal. Inspiration hits the hardest for me when there are constraints. Since I’ve started composting my idea of “waste” has changed. I used to stuff my freezer with biodegradable bags of produce gone bad, veg trim, and leftovers until it was overflowing. I’d then have to trek it to the market or nearest public composter to dispose. Luckily I now have a Mill which has been such a treat and given me back my freezer. But the amount of vegetable trim I saw myself compost got to be overwhelming. So I’ve begun making very simple veggie stocks to use for beans, soups, sauces, and grains. It’s an easy way to generate a new product from something that was on its way out the door.

Although a labor of love and a bit more time intensive than most recipes I share, this soup is simple at heart. I approached it as a practice in reducing my waste footprint and experimenting with an idea that’s been in my head for awhile. It’s all about slowly building flavor with each ingredient.

This is the classic story of something that’s greater than the sum of its parts. The payoff is high and this hearty soup can feed you for a week. If you really wanna be cost effective, swap the shallots for onions and this soup will cost you less than $10 to make.