Recipes › Cabbage (Winter) › Winter Cabbage, Potato and Cheddar Soup
Winter Cabbage, Potato and Cheddar Soup
A thick, honest soup built around winter cabbage — not the kind where the cabbage is an afterthought, but where it brings real character and sweetness to every bowlful. Floury potatoes dissolve into the broth to give body, and a generous amount of mature Cheddar is stirred in at the end to make it properly rich. This is the soup you want on a January evening.
Cabbage (Winter) is usually ready November to March. More cabbage (winter) recipes, or see what to sow this month where you are.
Ingredients
- 600 winter cabbage, outer leaves removed, quartered, core discarded, roughly chopped
- 400 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubesMaris Piper or King Edward work well
- 120 g mature Cheddar, grateduse a strong, aged Cheddar for the best flavour
- 1200 ml vegetable stock
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 celery, sticks, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp dried thymeor 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauceomit to keep vegetarian — check label, most contain anchovies
- 50 ml double cream (optional)adds richness but is optional
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 4 crusty bread, thick slices, to serve (optional)
Contains: celery, cereals gluten, fish, milk, mustard.
Method
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, celery and a good pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes until softened and beginning to turn golden.About 8 min
- Add the garlic and dried thyme and cook for 1 minute, stirring, until fragrant.About 1 min
- Add the potato cubes to the pan and stir to combine. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the potatoes are just beginning to soften.About 12 min
- Add the chopped cabbage to the pan, pushing it down into the liquid. It will look like too much but will wilt down quickly. Simmer for a further 10 minutes until both the cabbage and potatoes are completely tender.About 10 min
- Use a potato masher or the back of a large spoon to roughly crush some of the potato pieces directly in the pot — you want about half the potatoes broken down to thicken the soup, leaving plenty of texture. Do not blend it smooth; this soup should be chunky and rustic.About 2 min
- Reduce the heat to its lowest setting. Stir in the Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Add the grated Cheddar in two additions, stirring after each until fully melted. If using double cream, stir it in now. Taste and adjust the seasoning generously — this soup can take a lot of salt and pepper.About 3 min
- Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately with crusty bread.
Tips
- Note on Worcestershire sauce: most brands contain anchovies, making the recipe non-vegetarian. Henderson's Relish is a widely available vegetarian alternative with a similar savoury depth — use the same quantity.
- Rough-crushing rather than blending is what makes this soup great. A blender would turn it grey and stodgy. You want visible flecks of green cabbage and chunks of potato throughout.
- Add the Cheddar off a rolling boil — if the soup is too hot when the cheese goes in, it can turn grainy. Lower the heat first and it will melt in smoothly.
Ring the changes
- For a more substantial meal, add 200g of cooked smoked haddock, flaked, at step 6. It pairs extraordinarily well with the cabbage and Cheddar and turns this into a proper centrepiece soup.
- Swap half the cabbage for 300g of kale (stalks removed) if you have both growing and want to use them up together.
Keeping it
Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat gently in a pan over a low heat, stirring frequently, as the cheese can catch. Add a splash of water if it has thickened too much. Not suitable for freezing due to the cheese and potato.
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