Marcella Hazan's Rice & Smothered Cabbage Soup
Author Notes: A technique for bringing out the hidden beauty in cabbage—and a soupy, risotto-ish cure for the end-of-winter blues. Adapted very slightly from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Knopf, 1992). —Genius Recipes
Serves 4 to 6 people
Smothered Cabbage, Venetian Style
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2
pounds green, red, or Savoy cabbage
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1/2
cup chopped onion
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1/2
cup extra virgin olive oil
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1
tablespoon chopped garlic
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Salt
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Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
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1
tablespoon wine vinegar, white or red
- Detach and discard the first few outer leaves of the cabbage. The remaining head of leaves must be shredded very fine. If you are going to do it by hand, cut the leaves into fine shreds, slicing them off the whole head. Turn the head after you have sliced a section of it until gradually you expose the entire core, which must be discarded. If you want to use the food processor, cut the leaves off from the core in sections, discard the core and process the leaves through a shredding attachment.
- Put the onion and olive oil into a large sauté pan, and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes colored a deep gold, then add the garlic. When you have cooked the garlic until it becomes colored a very pale gold, add the shredded cabbage. Turn the cabbage over 2 or 3 times to coat it well, and cook it until it is wilted.
- Add salt, pepper, and the vinegar. Turn the cabbage over once completely, lower the heat to minimum, and cover the pan tightly. Cook for at least 1 1/2 hours, or until it is very tender, turning it from time to time. If while it is cooking, the liquid in the pan should become insufficient, add 2 tablespoons water as needed. When done, taste and correct for salt and pepper. Allow it to settle a few minutes off heat before serving. Note: The smothered cabbage can be prepared 2 or 3 days ahead of the soup, or served as a side dish from here. It also freezes well.
Rice and Smothered Cabbage Soup
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The Smothered Cabbage, from above
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3
cups homemade meat broth (we used beef here, but chicken is also good), or 1 cup canned beef broth, diluted with 2 cups water
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2/3
cup rice, preferably Italian Arborio rice
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2
tablespoons butter
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1/3
cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
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Salt
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Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
- Put the cabbage and broth into a soup pot, and turn on the heat to medium.
- When the broth comes to a boil, add the rice. Cook uncovered, adjusting the heat so that the soup bubbles at a slow, but steady boil, stirring from time to time until the rice is done. It must be tender, but firm to the bite, and should take around 20 minutes. If while the rice is cooking, you find the soup becoming too thick, add a ladelful of homemade broth. If you are not using homemade broth, just add water. Remember that when finished, the soup should be rather dense, but there should still be some liquid.
- When the rice is done, before turning off the heat, swirl in the butter and the grated Parmesan, stirring thoroughly. Taste and correct for salt, and add a few grindings of black pepper. Ladle the soup into individual bowls, and allow it to settle just a few minutes before serving. Serve with more grated Parmesan.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:
Grains|Vegetable|Entree|Soup|Stew|Gluten-Free|Make Ahead|Slow Cook|Fall|Winter
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17 days ago Pookie13815
This was an absolutely delicious "soup". My husband is not a great lover of cabbage but had 2 servings. This is definitely going to be a repeat dish!
28 days ago Michelle
Wow. Just the smothered cabbage as a side dish is far more delicious than it has any right to be. This is my new favorite vegetable dish. It reminds me of moo shu. I look forward to keeping a batch of this in the fridge to throw an egg or sausage on top for a quick meal.
about 1 month ago Lily
I made this exactly as written and it was delicious. The ingredients and method are super simple, but the flavor is out of this world.
about 2 months ago Laurabee
Love these simple recipes where technique really makes or breaks the results. I made this mostly as written, but probably shaved fifteen minutes off the preliminary cabbage braising time. I did add a half glass of white wine in addition to water during the braise when it looked like it needed a bit of liquid. This recipe yielded amazing depth and complexity of flavor. Smoky, almost. This is a keeper...love it. I didn’t have beef stock on hand, but I did have homemade turkey stock which worked beautifully.
2 months ago jacqueline prajza
I found this hugely disappointing. A lot of prep and cooking time resulted in ho-hum mono-flavour.
2 months ago Laura Borden Richter
My kids were suspicious of this but it is delicious. I will definitely make it again and again. Easy, cheap and so good.
2 months ago Fran McGinty
In the video it looks like 1/4 cup of white wine is added but it’s not listed in the ingredients. The ingredients has wine vinegar. Did anyone else notice that?
2 months ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Creative Director of Food52
Apparently not! The recipe here is correct. I'll let our video team know to update the video before they share it again—thank you.
20 days ago kahtemo
video stills says white wine...
17 days ago Kristen Miglore
Kristen is the Creative Director of Food52
Pesky bugger! The video is updated here now as well—thank you.
3 months ago GregoryBPortland
The onions will caramelize but I agree--ten to twelve minutes should do it. And then the garlic is added for a quick 30-45-second warming to just turn a pale gold and release their scent. Anytime you're changing ingredients into a another color, you are caramelizing it.
3 months ago Susanna
I’m making the cabbage right now but not sure what to make of the instructions to cook the onion. Cooking it until deep gold seems to imply caramelizing it (which I would probably do with less oil), cooking it for 30 to 40 minutes before adding the (garlic and) cabbage? Am I wrong?
3 months ago Nicole Kriedeman
Cook the onions until golden, not for 30-40 min, more like 10 min. I use the full amount of oil. I feel like that amount is necessary once you add the cabbage. Hope this helps!
3 months ago Nicole Kriedeman
Making this today and I have made it countless times. Great simple winter meal. I think that focusing on great quality ingredients is really what makes this a winner because the ingredients list is so short. Homemade broth is practically non negotiable here.
4 months ago Cathy W
I made this soup for the first time today, but it won't be my last. I "smothered" the green cabbage yesterday and finished the soup today....ingredients that pack a lot of flavor. Maybe a bit more onion next time, but it's delicious as is. The beauty of this recipe is the simplicity of these blended flavors. I see why this is a Community Pick. Highly recommend !
4 months ago MJ
My NY resolution is to try new recipes. I made this for the first time yesterday and loved it! The only thing I changed was I used veg broth. I used a regular cabbage because that is what I had and it carmelized beautifully. It reminded me of french onion soup.
5 months ago Bluerroses
The cabbage was luscious and meltingly tender. Realizing that we were too hungry to wait for soup, I browned italian sausages in a little oil and added them to the cabbage for the last ten minutes of cooking. It was a wonderful combination--can't wait to try again and have the full monte.
5 months ago Ann Hupe
After reading all these comments and seeing the polarity between those who thought it was richly flavored and those who though it was ho-hum bland, I wonder if it was due to (the lack) caramelization of the cabbage which appears to be crucial to this recipe. The sugar content of any ol' head of cabbage can be vastly different depending on the kind of cabbage, what time of year, how long the cabbage has been in storage, humidity content, soil content, etc. etc. I found it interesting that the savoy cabbage was most often attributed to better flavor and color of the dish, but then, the savoy cabbage is a sweeter cabbage rather than the green. I never saw anyone comment about red cabbage, but I suspect the addition of the vinegar will throw off the pH-sensitive pigments of the red cabbage, turning it into something less appealing to the eye. But it's definitely worth a try.
3 months ago J_Bean
The red cabbage will turn a dull bluish purple while it cooks and then the addition of vinegar will turn it bright magenta. It's vegetable litmus paper!
about 2 months ago Candice
Ann Hupe - I agree completely! I think a big part of it is the initial deep caramelization of the onion and cooking the garlic until golden. Without this I imagine it must taste like straight-up braised cabbage - definitely one note. It's about adding all these layers of ingredients and then coaxing them to slowly reveal their best depth of flavor that make the final result so complex and amazing!
6 months ago PatrickP
Pressure cooker update. I’d need to do a side by side comparison, but yes, it works. I added 150 ml of water and cooked for 25 mins (obviously with temp turned down to minimum but enough to maintain pressure), shaking the pan 2 or 3 times during and cooled it using the natural release method, Next time, I’ll try with 100ml as there was zero sign of burning.
6 months ago PatrickP
Has anyone tried cooking the cabbage in a pressure cooker and if so, did it work, how much liquid did you add to avoid it burning and how long did you cook it for?
7 months ago Emma Kelsey
Made this tonight and it was very good. Easy and ends up tasting very rich, even with such humble ingredients. Made the cabbage last night while prepping dinner, and finished tonight, so it was very little work. A great meal when you don't have a lot of ingredients on hand.
about 1 year ago Barbara Benedek
This is what I make when I DO feel like cooking.
over 1 year ago Kerry Grisley
Sorry, that's farro, not Fargo. Great movie, but....
over 1 year ago Kerry Grisley
This is a delicious and comforting dish. I stopped before the soup stage and simply had the cabbage (cooked almost 2 hrs) with Fargo that I had made separately. Used less oil, but will use some good quality finishing oil next me. Used sherry vinegar (because it's delicious) and grated aged cheddar (because that's what I had on hand). Also mixed in small amount of plain Greek yoghurt.
about 1 year ago Elizabeth
You just reviewed a completely different dish.
Showing 27 out of 94 comments