Cabbage and Potato Soup

This has been one of my favorite soup recipes for most of my life, slightly modified to be gluten free since we recently found out my spouse has Celiac's. (I used to thicken it with a roux, instead of cooking down some of the potatoes first.) It is always one of the first things my mind goes to when the weather starts to cool in the fall.

If you aren't as fond of garlic as we are, you can reduce it as desired – I think the original recipe called for about ¼ as much.

Ingredients:

• 3-5 lb bag of red potatoes
• 2 heads (or 1 if very large) of Savoy cabbage (regular cabbage will work if you can't get Savoy)
• 3 Hillshire Farms beef smoked sausage (or equivalent, approx. 36 oz.)
• 3 pints chicken broth (I use my own home-made, or Swanson Organic if I don't have any on hand)
• 1-2 heads of garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Celery salt
• 1-2 Tbs Vegeta seasoning

Optional:

• 2 c mirepoix (finely diced onions, carrots and celery)
• corn starch

Directions:

1. Wash and peel 5-10 potatoes (depending on size) and chop very fine (also mirepoix if using)
2. Cook on high heat in ½ stock ½ water, enough to cover them, plus some salt and pepper
3. Wash and cut into roughly 1-1½ inch cubes remaining potatoes. Once the minced potatoes have begun breaking down well, add larger cubes to pot and cover with ¾ broth ¼ water, with more salt and pepper, and a tablespoon or two of vegeta. Reduce heat to med-high (6-7)
4. Cut cabbage into 1½-ish inch squares, removing core and some of the thickest spines
5. Mince 1 large or 1½ small heads of garlic.
6. Once potatoes have just barely cooked through, add cabbage and ¾ of the garlic. Adjust salt and pepper, and add a tiny bit of celery salt.  (It is very easy for the celery salt to be overwhelming, so be very sparing.  You can always add more, but you can't take it out.)
7. Cut sausages into quarters lengthwise, then into about ¼ inch pieces.
8. When cabbage has cooked, add sausage and remaining garlic. Adjust seasoning if necessary and bring back to a simmer. If broth is too thin, add cold water to some corn starch in a separate bowl to dissolve, then add to soup, stirring gently but constantly for about two minutes to keep it from clumping. If thickening is not needed, simmer only long enough to heat sausages well. Enjoy!

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