Garbure
A cabbage soup from the Middle Ages, famed for its healing virtues.
Since the Middle Ages we have known the virtues - both medicinal and culinary - of cabbage, which is the king vegetable of all self-respecting peasant soups. In the Auvergne, where "a chou is still a chou," as an old saying goes, it is claimed that the best soups are made from cabbages that have been through a frost.
Ingredients:
500g Toulouse sausage
3L of water
1 large head savoy cabbage
3 carrots
2 turnips
2 leeks
3 medium potatoes
1 large onion
1 tbsp suet
Maldon salt
Cracked black peppercorns
6 thick slices sourdough
Place the Toulouse sausages in a large pot with 3 litres of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface.
Remove and discard the outer leaves of the savoy cabbage. Rinse well, cut into quarters, and slice.
Peel the carrots, turnips, and potatoes. Trim and thoroughly rinse the leeks. Cut the carrots, turnips, leeks, and potatoes into large chunks. Peel the onion.
Add the cabbage, carrots, turnips, leeks, onion, and suet to the pot with the sausage. Season generously with Maldon salt and cracked black peppercorns.
Bring the mixture back to a boil, then cover and simmer gently for 25 minutes.
Add the potatoes and continue simmering, covered, for another 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender and the sausage is cooked through.
Place a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread into each of six shallow soup bowls. Ladle the hot broth, vegetables, and sausage over the bread and serve immediately.
