Rachel’s Scandinavian-adapted/Inspired Soup
Don’t worry, no boring backstory or long-winded post about my time spent in Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark or about my great great grandmother’s dog Helgi. Just a simple recipe!
Since it's well into the germ season at the moment, I've been boiling up a huge amount of my old Scandi recipes. They always help me ward off the germs that circulate, or fight them off if I'm unlucky enough to catch them.
This one's a real simple one and you can make it with meat, or as a vegetarian dish depending. You can also adapt it to your diets and tastes. Either way, it does you some good.
It's based on an old Scandinavian cabbage soup recipe I have in my passed down brain library. (Hoho.) But I adapt it personally to contain potatoes for a bit more bulk.
Ingredients
Measure everything by heart!
Cabbage (I use spring greens, but any deep green-mid green leaves will do well.)
Carrots
Potatoes (I like adding them to make it more filling.)
Salt
Pepper
Milk or light cream (I use lactose free milk since the Mister is not allowed lactose at the moment.)
Stock (Vegetable or chicken work best, but you can also use fish stock to make a salmon version!) Store bought is perfectly fine, but I have given a simple method of making a stock below.
This recipe usually contains onion as well, but the Mister isn't currently allowed it on his diet, so put it in if you want to. Just 1 whole white onion will do fine.
Chop everything up and place in a large pan or slow cooker.
To make your stock you can use a carrot cut in half, broccoli stems, thick cabbage stems and leaves that are unsuitable for use in the pot. (Wash them well first they can be muddy sometimes.) Just boil these in water.
If you are not vegetarian you can add the carcass of a roast chicken. The skin and bones will reduce nicely with the veg and make a vitamin and mineral rich broth ready to use as your base. (Usually 2 hours on a simmer will make a decent enough broth, but you can go longer. Just remember to top up the water now and then so it doesn't burn.)
Once you've got your broth, add it to your chopped veg in your main pot and put it on a simmer. If you are using a slow cooker, low should be fine. Just long enough for the potatoes to cook through and still be firm.
If you have leftover meat you can toss this in as well, or you can keep it meat free. You can also add chunks of salmon to turn it into a Lohikeitto inspired soup.
After you have finished cooking, you can serve in bowls. Add your milk/cream to the bowl and stir it a little. You can add while it’s cooking, but you will need to make sure the liquid doesn’t boil as it will curdle the milk. You don't need much in your bowl, just enough to make it pale and creamy. (It also helps to cool it down a little so you can eat it straight away. ;) ) I use lactose free milk in mine simply because of my husband’s diet.
[Pictured: Veg only version]
Velbekomme/Njóttu máltíðarinnar/Hyvää ruokahalua/Håper du nyter måltidet dit!
