Ok, I never thought that I would like cabbage soup. I grew up on Italian food, not Russian. To me, cabbage soup calls to mind boiled cabbage, which sounds bland and not so appetizing. However, I love cabbage on tacos. I even like to make a cabbage salsa, or Tortilla Slaw, as we call it. That’s a crunchy version of tomato salsa, perfect for those extra hot summer days.
That’s why I plant it. Throughout the fall and early spring I succession plant it while the weather is cooler, so there is usually some type of cabbage in the garden. Usually too much. Cabbage is a star performer for your winter garden. But there is only so much salsa I can eat. This stuff is filling.
Erwin Moosher
This year, after making all of the usual suspects like roasted cabbage, cole slaw, salsa, tacos and more, I was looking through some old recipes I had on hand. I came across a friend’s recipe for Russian cabbage soup. This was special to me, as I used to organize “Soup Swap” parties. This is kind of like a cookie swap, but I did soup parties instead.
It was my friend Nancy who brought the recipe. Nancy’s stepfather, Erwin Moosher used to be the head chef for a swanky Jewish resort hotel in Mahopac, New York called the Forest House. This sounds very much like the fictional Steiner Hotel where Midge Maisel and her family stayed in season two of the Amazon Prime production of The Fabulous Mrs. Maisel.
Well, I saved the recipe primarily because my grandmother lived in tiny Mahopac, New York, after they moved out of the “big” city of White Plains. I spent summers there with my grandmother and have fond memories. Nancy and I speculated whether Erwin and Jeannette would have known each other. They would have been about 12 years apart in age. Usually no one I know has heard of Mahopac.
But I never made the recipe after that. I loved it at the party, but after looking at the ingredients and the instructions, it seemed super time consuming and difficult to make. Plus, because it was from a commercial hotel kitchen, the recipe was for — literally — gallons of soup.
As held about 6 green cabbage heads in my hands from the garden this fall, which felt as overwhelming as if I had 60, I wondered what I would do with so much cabbage. Then I rediscovered this recipe for Russian Cabbage Soup. As I looked a bit closer, I realized that a significant portion of the ingredients and the time was around making the broth. Wait – I’ve made broth a hundred times. I can do that. The rest seemed pretty easy once the broth making part was excised.
So I went about adapting this recipe for a smaller audience without sacrificing the amazing flavor. Nancy used purple cabbage which gave the soup a deep rich color. In adapting this recipe, I made it a few times and tried it with both green and purple cabbage, and I like it both ways. I hope you like this recipe too.
Ingredients for Russian Cabbage Soup
- 1 lb beef short ribs
- 1 head Cabbage, chopped
- 2 medium sized onions, diced
- 4 1/2 cups beef broth (see instructions below, or use your own)
- 2-3 medium tomatoes, diced (or one small can of stewed tomatoes)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) honey
Ingredients for the Beef Broth (optional, if making the broth from scratch)
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1-2 stalks of celery
- 1-2 carrots
- 1 Beef bouillon cube
Instructions for Cabbage Soup
- Broil the short ribs and one of the onions, roughly chopped, for 15-20 minutes on a baking sheet until the meat is partly cooked and the onions are charred.
- Transfer the meat and charred onion to a large pot. Add water or broth to cover, along with the bay leaf, carrots, celery and bouillon cube.
- If using previously-made or canned broth, just add the broth. No need to add the water and bouillon
- Boil for 30 minutes. Strain the vegetables. Save the broth in the pot.
- Remove the beef from the broth and cut away from the bone. Chop the meat into chunks.
- In a separate pan, sauté the second onion and the head of cabbage in olive oil.
- Add the chopped meat back into the pot with the broth, making sure there is about 4 cups. Also add the onions and cabbage, tomatoes, lemon juice and honey.
- Cover and simmer one hour.
- Garnish with cotija cheese or some sliced green chilies.
Thank you, Erwin Moosher!
