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Hearty Czech Style Sausage and Cabbage Soup
Cabbage soup with sausage makes a great winter warmer, both for your kitchen and for your body. It is quite adaptable and you can vary the soup however you like. Maybe leave out the sausages and use brown rice instead of white. Shred some Fontina cheese over this Czech cabbage soup if you like and then broil it so the cheese melts rather than stirring it in. The choice is yours. Use an ovenproof pot if you are going to broil it. A terracotta pot will give an especially pretty presentation.
Do not use a strong-flavored broth in this cabbage soup recipe. You just need a liquid with a mild taste so avoid anything salty or too strong tasting. The flavor in this recipe comes from the cabbage, sausage, wine and other ingredients rather than the broth. Use Savoy cabbage or any other kind you like.
If you want to use Kielbasa for this cabbage soup recipe, go ahead. You can use any kind of sausage you like. Some types need to be cooked in boiling water for half an hour and then skinned and mashed so cook the sausages until they are done the way you like and then add them to the soup.
Cabbage Soup with Sausage and Rice
Ingredients -
1 lb sausage (Kielbasa or your favorite kind)
1 ¼ lbs shredded cabbage
1 minced white onion
1 ¼ quarts light broth
1 cup wine (any kind)
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup medium-grain rice
⅓ lb shredded Fontina cheese (optional)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano (optional)
Salt and black pepper
Preparation:
Sauté the onion in the oil over a medium heat until it is golden, and then add the cabbage and 3 tablespoons of the broth.
Keep cooking the mixture until the cabbage is soft.
Chop the sausage and stir it into the cabbage mixture.
Stir the cabbage mixture into the boiling broth and add the rice.
Simmer the soup until the rice is tender, and then add salt and pepper to season.
Stir in the Fontina and serve, with the Parmigiano sprinkled over the top if you like.
(Serves 4 to 6)
Wine Suggestion:
Which Wine to Serve with Sausage and Cabbage Soup
The soup allows you to be creative. Not only can you choose which type of cabbage and sausage (the main ingredients) to use but you can also choose the wine. Add a dry white wine like Sauvignon Blanc to the soup if you like, and serve it on the side. Alternatively, why not go for a zesty, light red? A Cabernet would be a great choice. Using red wine in the soup gives it plenty of body and the flavor goes nicely with the sausage.
Photo Description:
You can serve this cabbage soup in bowls or mugs, like in the photo, with or without a slice or two of whole wheat bread. This is a healthy soup recipe and you can give it any flavor you like. Perhaps you want to liven up the flavor by using a spicy sausage or maybe you want to use Savoy cabbage for a different look and flavor. Adding wine to this cabbage soup recipe jazzes up the flavor and makes it an extra special lunch treat or a heartwarming supper.
Other Types of Czech Food
As well as sausage and cabbage soup, there are plenty of delicacies from the Czech Republic that you might want to make. This cuisine has been influenced by the neighboring countries. Pork is very common, as are chicken and beef. Wild game, rabbit, duck, and goose are more options. Fish is not eaten much in the Czech Republic, with the exception of fresh carp or trout - these would be served at Christmas. A lot of the fine pastries and cakes found in Eastern European countries originated in the Czech Republic.
Sliced, boiled dumplings are frequently served with meals. These might be potato or wheat based and they are sometimes made with stale bread and wheat flour. Roast pork with sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and dumplings is a famous Czech dish. Marinated beef sirloin is another one and the meat is larded and then served with a parsley, celery, cream and carrot sauce, as well as a slice of lemon and some cranberry compote. A lot of Czech cheeses and recipes are eaten in pubs because beer is a big part of life in the Czech Republic. Fried pancakes, which are made with grated potato, milk, and flour, are popular. They are seasoned with salt, garlic, pepper, and marjoram and sometimes sliced sausages are added. Leave out some of the milk and fat and add an onion and you have another version of these pancakes. You can bake them on a tin instead of frying them if you want.
Cheese, Soup and Desserts
Czech people love cheese. One nice dish is made by coating a half inch thick slice of Hermelin or Edam in breadcrumbs, frying it and serving it with tartar sauce and a potato side dish. Hermelin is a soft cheese like Camerbert. Beer cheese is soft. You combine it with mustard and raw onions and serve it on bread. If you like old, smelly cheese, you might like tvaruzky, which has been around for five centuries. You can fry this cheese or marinate it.
As well as cheese, soup is important in Czech cuisine. The first course of a meal is usually soup and this might be chicken or beef broth with noodles, cabbage sausage soup, or garlic soup served with fried croutons. Potato soup, fish soup, broccoli soup, pea soup and bean soup are also enjoyed. Desserts in the Czech Republic include fried fruit dumplings, whole fruit coated with dough and then boiled and served with sugar and butter, and yeast pastries containing fruit, poppy seeds, or cheese.
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