Zac doing stuff

I’ve wanted to make a soup for a while. Last week I got it in my head to make squash soup but as it turns out, it is not squash season which means squash is ridiculously expensive. Since squash turned out a failure, I went for something less seasonal and more gaseous. Hunting around on http://epicurious.com, I found two recipes I liked. One was for Ethiopian Lamb & Cabbage soup and the other was for Irish Cabbage soup. Since lamb shoulder was $28 at the store, I went for the Canadian Bacon listed in the Irish Cabbage soup.

Ingredients
1/2 to 3/4 lb Canadian Bacon (you want this in a slab form, not slices for pizza)
1 large Russet potato OR 2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, diced into smallish pieces
1 small to medium head of cabbage (savoy or green or even red), chopped
1 medium Yellow or Sweet onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley (Italian or otherwise)
3 to 4 tbsp salted butter
2 cups navy beans (this is optional, I wanted the protein)
2.5 qt water or chicken stock (depends on the flavor you want)
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1 tsp (large) cumin
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried mint
season salt or kosher salt to taste (vague, I know)
ground black pepper to taste (vague, I know)

Preparations
Soak the navy beans for about 8 hours. Just fill a bowl with water and the beans so that about an inch of water is covering the top of the beans. There are ways to speed up this process if you’re unwilling to wait, I won’t cover that here.

In a sauce pan (or a deep frying pan), put the Canadian bacon and enough water to cover the bacon to about an inch. Put on medium heat and allow to reach a low boil. Skim off any foam/fat that is on the surface of the water. Cool and drain the bacon. Slice these into about 1/2 inch chunks.
NOTE: I tend to cut the bacon into a few chunks from the start. My package of Canadian bacon was 1.25 lbs so I cut it in half and cut that half into a few smaller chunks before boiling. Less water needed to boil basically.

Chop the veggies above in the fashion mentioned. Take a large soup pot and melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted throw in the Canadian bacon and brown (about 3 minutes). Once the bacon is browned, throw in the onion and cook till soft (about 3 minutes). Throw in potatoes, parsley and garlic next and cook till potatoes are soft (3-4 minutes depending). Add the 2.5 quarts of water, navy beans, cumin, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Simmer for about 40 minutes.

Add the chopped cabbage and mint to the soup and cook for another 40 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

This can be cooked a day or two in advance. Most recipes say “blah blah 1 day in advanced” but I’ve taken to freezing soups I make. I wouldn’t leave it out on the cook top (burner OFF!) for more than a day though. It should be refrigerated.