No. 278: Comforting Cabbage Soup (+Four More Veggie Soups), Island Toasts, Thanksgiving Central
Plus: fromage frais, lemon pound cake, sweet potato and kale salad
🍲 Cabbage Patch Comfort
Many moons ago, a friend used to take me to “The Uke” (The Ukrainian National Home) in Fall River, Mass., where I ate pierogis and the most delicious cabbage soup I’d ever tasted. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for cabbage soup. So when the temperature dropped and the nervous energy went up this week, it occurred to me that a batch of cabbage soup might be in order. And wouldn’t you know it, I found a sweet head of the cone-shaped Caraflex cabbage at Beetlebung on my Sunday swirl around the Island. I used it as the starting point to make this Comforting Cabbage Soup with Linguiça, Yukon Gold Potatoes and Fall Herbs.
While kielbasa is traditional in Polish cabbage soup, my version uses linguiça, which takes it back in a Portuguese direction. I like a nice fresh linguiça which I find at Cronig’s. It’s milder than smoked linguiça. A close equivalent would be spicy Italian sausage. But you can also go with cured linguiça or chourico for a stronger flavor. No tomatoes in this simple soup – just plenty of onions, a judicious amount of potatoes, a smattering of carrots, and lots of hearty herbs for a boost of fall flavor. A dash of cider vinegar at the end picks up all the flavors.
We ate this over two nights with a variety of toast concoctions, due to my ongoing local bread obsession (see below). It really hit the spot.
🥣 Soup, There It Is
Hey, I understand if cabbage isn’t your thing. Never fear, we have four more comforting soups you can make this week or anytime with your farm stand (or grocery!) finds.
This “Creamy” Cauliflower and Leek Soup is one of my longtime favorites.
And though you might not be sitting around craving parsnips (!), I promise you, this Parsnip-Mushroom Soup will convert you to parsnip appreciation with a few sips.
Morning Glory has the most gorgeous Tuscan kale right now, which means I can make my Dad’s favorite soup: Tuscan Kale, Leek and White Bean Soup with Bacon, Parmigiano & Rustic Croutons. This one takes a cue from Italian soups that have less broth and more “stuff.” The croutons are essential.
Lastly, one of my favorite destinations for sweet potatoes is this super easy and fragrant Spiced Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Coconut Milk and Cilantro.
And before I leave sweet potatoes and kale behind, I wanted to give you a colorful fall salad recipe that you can serve with your soup - and get even more of those fabulous antioxidants in one meal: Kale Salad with Sweet Potato Fries and Blackberry-Lime Dressing.
You can make that salad with some of the beautiful purple mizuna, purple tat soi, Ruby Streaks mustard, and purple baby kale now in bins at Morning Glory.
🥖 About That Bread…
I continue to be in awe of the bread that is being made on this Island. I know I talk about this subject a lot, but having spent some time off-Island recently, I’ve got to bring it up again. We are so lucky to have what we have here in such a small community. I feel this way about the produce and the fish, too. Our farms and fishermen deliver us the freshest, most nutritiously dense, and highest quality raw ingredients (and baked goods) you could hope to have anywhere.
At my house, we freeze our bread, so I wasn’t shy about picking up four (actually five!) loaves this weekend: sesame olive levain and whole wheat boule from Grey Barn, farmer’s loaf from Beetlebung, and pain au Gruyere from Morning Glory. I also got a little cranberry half-baguette from Ghost Island, baked, of course by Maison Villatte.
I also picked up a jar of fromage frais at Grey Barn, which tastes like the best cream cheese you’ve ever had, only lighter. We had some of that on toasted slices of sesame olive levain (drizzled first with olive oil), topped with roasted cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of sea salt.
Believe it or not, I’m still harvesting Sungolds and Sweet 100s from the tomato plants in my hoophouse. But you could replace those tomatoes with sundried tomatoes, jarred roasted peppers, jarred artichoke hearts with a little lemon, caramelized onions or shallots, or even a few greens wilted with garlic. All would be good with the fromage frais.
The sesame olive levain would also be a good base for these Warm Toasts with Lemony Chickpea Hummus and Sautéed Veggies.
First thing yesterday morning after we returned from voting, I made hearty egg sandwich toasts with bacon and greens and cheddar on slices of the Beetlebung farmer’s loaf. You could use this recipe for Vineyard Open-Faced Egg Sandwich with Local Bacon, Cheddar & Asian Greens as a template.
🐟 First the loaves, then the fishes
The fishes are multiplying. My friend Julie Wells, farm explorer and cook extraordinaire, picked up my last fall CSF delivery at the last regular West Tisbury Farmers’ Market for me this past weekend. I was so thrilled to see we got both bay and sea scallops, in addition to more fish cakes, fluke, tautog and black sea bass. We really enjoyed the first batch of tautog we cooked, doing something similar to this Roast Fish Peperonata.
And I think we’ll do the Simple Sautéed Bay Scallops with the mushroom-shallot balsamic butter sauce variation this time.
And then I heard this great news: Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Preservation Trust is adding a winter CSF share this year, and you can sign up now. The winter membership runs November through December and includes two pickups at the special winter (indoor) West Tisbury Farmers’ Market.
🦃 Thanksgiving Recipe Collection & Thanksgiving Central
🥧 Find all of our Thanksgiving recipes in The Thanksgiving Recipe Collection.
🦃 Find sources for fresh turkeys, Thanksgiving prepared food items, sample menus, and a link to the recipe collection in Thanksgiving Central 2024.
👩🏻💻 For paid subscribers, we’ll be introducing a Thanksgiving chat as the holiday gets closer - a chance to ask Susie any burning (or not burning!) holiday cooking questions.
🍋 One Last Thing: Glazed Lemon Pound Cake
It wouldn’t be fair to leave you without something sweet. I think this would be a good weekend bake: Abby Dodge’s Glazed Lemon Pound Cake. Eat some and freeze some!
Hang in there and start your soup engines!
— Susie Middleton
🍽️ What’s Happening Around the Island
The regular West Tisbury Farmers’ Market is done for the season, but there will be three indoor markets at the Ag Hall on Sat., Nov. 23; Sat., Dec. 7; and Sat., Dec. 21. All will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Wharf Pub is closed through today, Wednesday, Nov. 6, and will reopen with a new menu on Thursday, Nov. 7.
Chef Charlie is teaching a wood-fired oven pizza class on Sat., Nov. 9 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Slough Farm.
You can learn to make traditional sauerkraut from Laurisa Rich and Jillayne Wheeler at the Chilmark Free Library on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Photos: Warm toasts, Randi Baird; egg sandwich, Alexandra Grablewski; turkeys, Jeanna Shepard; all others, Susie Middleton.
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