Chicken Soup with Tomatoes and Nappa Cabbage

Now that it’s officially autumn, it’s soup season. Actually, as soon as we get our first cold front in the South, it’s soup season because we’ve been craving it since they put out the Halloween candy in August. But I digress.

Admittedly, this chicken soup is one I literally emptied my fridge of must-goes to make, but there’s a lesson in that. Soup is one of those foods where you can use up leftover veggies, meats, etc and it makes it both economical and efficient since you did half the work earlier in the week for another meal. Hooray for zero complaints about leftovers!

must-goes (n.): the leftovers and/or odds and ends in your fridge that you should probably use up before you forget about them.

For this recipe, you can use the roasted tomatoes method found here or here to create more of a jammy tomato flavor, but it’s not entirely necessary. If you just can’t be bothered, that’s totally okay. I’m here to feed you; not judge you. I will also add parentheses for any substitutions that could work in place of what I used so you can make it as is, or sub out something you have handy instead. Like Kale for nappa cabbage.

Why nappa cabbage over the big round head of cabbage? I find that the flavor is more mild and less sulphuric. Always good for polite company, if you get my drift.

I hate long intros, so let’s get cooking!

Ingredients:

1 sweet Vidalia onion, diced

3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

4 celery ribs, diced

2 tbsp all-purpose flour (cornstarch or masa for GF)

2 quarts chicken stock

4 medium gold Yukon potatoes, diced (russet, red)

12-16 campari tomatoes, quartered (roma, grape tomatoes)

1 small head nappa cabbage, chopped (kale or spinach)

1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed and shredded

Herb bundle (rosemary, thyme, Italian parsley)

5 garlic cloves, minced

Olive oil

Butter

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

Spring onion for garnish

Preparation:

In a large stock pot over medium low heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter begins bubbling, add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add carrots and celery and cook until softened. Sprinkle flour over cooking veggies and stir until coated. 

Pour chicken stock into pot and stir to distribute flour and break up veggies. Add diced potatoes and tomatoes. 

Gather 1 sprig of rosemary, 12 sprigs of thyme, and 2 sprigs of Italian parsley and tie together with twine. Be sure to leave a long string to tie to one of your pot handles to make it easier to remove later. 

Add herb bundle to pot. Add garlic. Cover pot, bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer for 45 minutes. While soup is simmering, shred rotisserie chicken and chop cabbage (kale, spinach, etc). 

Once soup has simmered, add chicken and cabbage and simmer until cabbage has softened. If using kale or spinach, add to each bowl and pour soup over. These tend to be better if they’re just barely cooked and bright green. They tend to gray if they’re cooked too long.

Pour soup into bowls and serve, garnishing with sliced spring onions.