Chicken And Cabbage Chowder

A month ago, Alanna at A Veggie Venture announced a great event. She decided to make February the month of Soup, Glorious Soup!  I thought it was a great idea and made a mental note to cook up a recipe for this event. But one thing led to another, and I dilly dallied and spent far too much time pondering soup recipes. Finally, I looked at the calendar and saw that February is almost over!

The weather here has been cold, wet, and windy and I wanted a hearty, filling soup.  A nice  chowder seemed perfect for the job, and I imagined something thick and creamy-- a potato-cheese or corn chowder. Then I remembered a recipe in Jasper White's cookbook, 50 Chowders for a Pheasant and Cabbage Chowder.  It reminded me of a soup my mom made when I was a kid, full of cabbage, caraway seeds, and thyme.  She used beef rather than pheasant, and it was called Hunter's Soup, as I recall.  Remembering how good the caraway seeds and cabbage were in the rich broth of my mom's soup, I decided to give Jasper's recipe a try, but I substituted chicken thighs for the pheasant.  And I wound up with a delicious soup that was perfect for this dreary, wet weather. It's humble looking, but wonderfully rich and satisfying.  If you eat it, you will gain strength to shovel snow from your driveway or sandbag your house from flood waters.  Or...vacuum the house.

Chicken And Cabbage Chowder

(Jasper White, 50 Chowders)

3 pound chicken thighs

About 4 quarts water

4 sprigs of thyme

2 large onions, 1 unpeeled and coarsely chopped and the other peeled and
chopped into 3/4 inch pieces

2 carrots (about 3 ounces each, use additional carrots if yours are small). 1 coarsely chopped and the other peeled and sliced into 1/3 inch thick rounds. (Split the thick end pieces in half and cut into half moons.)

1 large stalk celery, coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 dried bay leaves

1 heaping teaspoon black peppercorns

2 whole cloves

4 ounces bacon, chopped into 3/4 inch slices

salt

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, roughly chopped

1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled, halved and cut into 3/4 inch pieces

About 8 ounces of savoy or regular cabbage (about 1/2 of a small head of cabbage), cut into 3/4 inch pieces

Garnish of chopped Italian parsley

Instructions

1.  Place the chicken in a large pot and cover with the water.  Bring to a boil and skim any foam floating on top. Set heat for a slow simmer.

2.  Remove the leaves from 3 of the sprigs of thyme (should be about a teaspoon), set aside.  Add the thyme sprigs and the 4th sprig to the broth, along with the bay leaves, cloves, coarsely chopped onion and carrot, celery, garlic clove, and peppercorns.  Cover partially and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes or until the the chicken thighs are cooked and the meat comes from the bone easily.

3.  Remove broth from heat and pull the thighs out of the broth and set them aside to cool enough to handle, then pull the meat from the bones, and tear it into bite sized pieces or cut into strips.    Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. You should have about 8 cups.  If you don't have enough, add some stock.  You can do the broth in advance and store it in the fridge. 

4.  Heat a 4-6 quart heavy pot over low heat and add the bacon.  Once it has rendered it's fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until it's crispy.  Pour off all the fat except about 1 Tablespoon, leaving the bacon in the pan. 

5.  Add the butter and melt it and add the onions, carrots, thyme leaves, and caraway seeds. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions have wilted.

6.  Add the potatoes and the reserved broth, then simmer for 8 minutes.  Add the cabbages and cook for an additional 5 minutes more. The cabbage will begin to soften, and will continue to cook even after the heat has been turned off.

7.  Remove the soup from the heat and add the chicken meat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Th soup will taste better if you let it set at room temperature for about an hour, to meld the flavors. Or you can refrigerate it until you're ready to serve it.

8,  When ready to serve, reheat over low heat--do not boil.   Serve garnished with the parsley.

Comments

[gattina]

I love caraway seeds which go so well with games or dark meat. Now just sitting here and looking your great pic, aleady feel like having an energy boost!

[Lydia]

Caraway and cabbage is a great combination. I have all of the ingredients for this soup, including some homemade stock, so I'll be making this soup tonight! Thanks for the recipe.

[Glenna]

You know, I seem to look at your blog every morning for breakfast...which would explain all these weird morning cravings...looks delicious!

[Melly53]

I made soup yesterday with cabbage in it..and a host of other veggies. Hear hear for soup month!

I also combed my cats and put the leftover hair onto my bushes..for the birds. I had never thought of doing that before. :)

[sandeepa]

The soup seems to be tasty as well as healthy Sher, should try this

When you get time could you please post a pic of Caraway seeds . We do use Caraway seeds in Indian Cooking but you say you chopped it, that leaves me wondering because the ones I use are tiny seeds and can no way be chopped

[Freya]

That looks so nourishing and tasty!

[Susan from Food "Blogga"]

Thank you Sher! I bought a gargantuan head of cabbage last week. Seriously. I've used 3 times and still have more. Now, you've given me the perfect way to use it up. Hope you don't mind if I make it vegetarian for me. ;) I can't resist the flavors of cloves and caraway! What a delicious, savory soup.

[e]

Sounds warm and tasty. Today is the first day in weeks I haven't felt like I needed soup because the temperature is actually above 30 degrees. But I'm saving this recipe for sure.

[kalyn]

It does sound wonderful. I was always curious about that cookbook.

[Anh]

This combo sounds so good. Now, I am saving it to make when winter comes here! :D

[Callipygia]

Wow pheasant- now that is probably the one ingredient I can find here. You know the wild turkeys congregate under people's bird feeders! Anyways I like the combo of the thyme, cloves and caraway. V interesting!

[sher]

Gattina,

I love caraway seeds too. They're supposed to be good for settling a person's upset stomach too. All I know is that they taste so good.

Lydia,

Oh, I hope you enjoy it! You've got everything there to make it!

Glenna,

Weird cravings?? Expand on this please. And don't reply with "W e i r d C r a v i n g s."

Melly53,

Hey, the birds will be so happy with their soft, fluffy lining to their nest! :):) Cabbage tastes so good in soup, doesn't it?

Sandeepa,

I used the last of the caraway seeds, but have ordered more from Penzeys. I think they are regular caraways seeds--and they aren't big. For the recipe they are just kind of broken a little by my chef's knife. I put them onto a cutting board that has an indention in it and I hack at the seeds. Some of them fly onto the floor, but I manage to cut (break really) some of them. It makes the flavor of the seeds come out. Sometimes, I just slam a mortar on them. :):)

Freya,

Thank you--it was!

Susan,

Well, that huge head of cabbage means that you were destined to make this soup! :):) And vegetarian would be great too!

E,

I hope the weather stays nice for you. It feels cold to me here, but I used to live in Illinois, where it was much colder than here. I guess I've lost my ability to tolerate any cold weather!

Kalyn,

It's a pretty good cookbook. It has some unusual chowders in it, that I want to try sometime.

Anh,

Ahh, you are enjoying a wonderful summer! Your recipes make me long for warm weather here.

Callipygia,

We have lots of wild turkeys here too. They are so much better looking than the big bloated commercial birds. And they can actually fly!

[aria]

mmm yum, that looks like just about what i need. it has been so dreary lately, harumph. its supposed to hit 76 here today, hopefully u guys will get some of that!

[Alanna]

Hi Sher, thanks so much for the Soup's On entry! I love how so many of our soups are bits of this and drabs of that ... and always delicious. This one sounds great, the sweetness of the cabbage would really come out.

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