Cream of Sauerkraut Soup

A good healthy seasonal recipe from a personal chef colleague

I started my personal chef career with membership in, training and support from The Personal Chefs Network. Sadly, this wonderful organization is now defunct, which is a whole other story.  One of the great benefits was our online forum, part of which was a recipe exchange/posting site. You name it, you could find a recipe for it there. Fortunately, many of the recipes live on in online and paper files all over the world. Many of us are still in contact through other chef associations and on Facebook so there is still much sharing of those recipes. This is one of them, came from Gretchen Petery of Washington.

Cabbage  is a good winter food. I can buy it in the farmers’ markets here all winter. And sauerkraut is an excellent way to eat cabbage and I can also buy it at the market. This jar  came from a store but it is the same sauerkraut. Thank you Farmhouse Cultures of Santa Cruz. Indigenous cultures ( pun intended) all over the world know that fermenting a food increases its quality and nutritional value as well as the length of the food’s life for storage purposes. People all over the world drink fermented beverages. The Koreans are famous for fermenting cabbage and other vegetables ( traditionally underground) to become kimchi. This form of cabbage is European in origin, sauerkraut. Fermented foods are good for us as they can aid and improve digestion, and boost our immune systems in the process.

Cream of Sauerkraut Soup

serves 4-6

3 slices thick bacon ( please please use pasture raised, no additives)

1 medium onion

2 ( or more) stalks of celery with tops

16oz. jar of sauerkraut

32 oz. chicken broth or stock

1 bay leaf

32 oz half and half, or 16-24 oz full raw cream is my recommendation

sour cream

salt and pepper to taste

In stock pot, cook bacon over med/high heat until crispy. While Bacon is cooking, finely chop the onion and celery. ( you could use the food processor) When bacon is crisp, remove, drain, and crumble. Add onion and celery to the pot and saute in the bacon drippings until tender. Meanwhile, drain and rinse sauerkraut. ( I skipped this step, there wasn’t much liquid and I wanted to add it to the soup) Finely chop the sauerkraut ( again you could use the processor and again I did not. I wanted more texture) When the onion and celery are tender, add the sauerkraut, chicken broth, and bay leaf. Cook on a low heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add half and half, or cream, and bring back up to a serving temperature. To serve, ladle into individual bowls. Top with a dollop of sour cream and some crumbled bacon. Season as desired with salt and pepper.  ( I opted to not use bacon and made some meatballs out of a mix of equal amounts of ground pork and turkey thigh, mustard, pepper, 1 egg, 1/4c. brown rice crumbs. The sauerkraut I used had caraway seeds in it, so I added a tsp. of caraway seeds to the soup broth.

Creamy, decadent but earthy, comfort food for a chilly winter supper.

Miscellaneous musings

Here is a gallery of some of what  has been happening lately.

Winter is Meyer Lemon season in Santa Cruz and I am fortunate enough to have one in my front yard. What have I been doing with it ? Mostly drinking lots of lemon water, but here is a link to something I am wanting to make. How delicious will that be ?  I am staying away from sugar for the time being so will save that for another day. I hope I keep remembering to juice the lemons as they ripen and freeze them in ice cube containers for later use.

This lovely creature was born in my back yard in the last week. I had been watching it from caterpillar to pupa to cocoon to now. Sadly, I found it on the ground just a few days later, dead with most of one wing gone. I certainly hope it was not a certain cat who was responsible!

I had my second personal chef cookdate for a client this week and this was one of the things I made for her. Yes, peppers are out of season but doesn’t it look good?  Taco stuffed peppers, nice and spicy, and pretty healthy if you manage the cheese!

And, last weekend, I participated in a bakesale in support of aid to Haiti.  This was one of my offerings – Mom Mom Fritch’s Peanut Butter cookies found on Epicurious.com. The recipe is so simple.

1c peanut butter ( either crunch or smooth and of course organic, no sugar or oil added)

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking soda

Mix together. Roll into balls and place on greased baking sheet ( I think a silicone pad would be better). Press down with tines of a fork, making that classic peanut butter cookie thing. Bake for 8ish minutes at 350º. That is it!! flourless cookies.

So there is a peek into this last week. I will be back to more recipes next post.

Mission Accomplished!

Personal Chef Cook Whatcha Got Challenge

I am bowing gracefully out of the Challenge that many of my personal chef friends and I have been doing this last week. I used up a good percentage in items in my freezer. Unfortunately, I also needed to dump too many things. My pantry shelves are cleaned out with a bag for the food pantry and unfortunately a very full bag for the trash.

I appreciate how this made me conscious about my shopping and purchasing of unnecessary items. I need to be more careful about repackaging things, such as putting my grains in glass jars, vacuum sealing what goes in the freezer. I also need to check to see what I have more often. I am not the kind of person who could manage a running list. If I go through the cupboard and freezer occasionally, especially before I go shopping, I might not end up having 3 plastic bags with bits of polenta in them. Time will tell but at least now I have some awareness.

I went shopping yesterday for some produce, eggs, cat food, mineral water, and some chicken… nothing extra. Farmers’ market tomorrow. I still have a jar of the soup I made earlier this week and plans to use the lentils and bacon from the freezer in a meal next week, as well as trying to fit those darn peas in somewhere! 

I challenge you to take a look or even a photo of your freezer and do your shopping from your own house for a week. I would love to hear from you about it.