Shchi / Cabbage Soup
10 servings
2 lbs fresh cabbage
2 ea carrots
2 stalks celery
1 celery knob
1 large onion
3 tbsp butter or bacon fat
8 c white or yellow consomme (sub vegetable soup base for vegetarians)
1 tbsp flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tbsp minced dill
1 c sour cream
Cut a firm white cabbage in quarters, discarding the hard core and any hard ribs of the leaves. Pour boiling water over the cabbage to scald it; rinse off with cold water and set aside to drain well. Chop coarsely when drained. Cut the carrots and celery in 1 inch pieces; cube the celery knob. Add these vegetables (except for the onion and cabbage) to the consomme and boil up once, then simmer gently.
In another pot simmer sliced onion for 5 minutes in 2 tbsp butter or bacon fat. Add the cabbage; cover the pot and braise gently for 20 minutes. Add the consomme to this, a couple of spoonfuls at a time, and continue cooking for 30 minutes.
Brown the flour in the remaining butter or bacon fat, thicken the soup with this, then add the cabbage and salt. Boil up. Cook for 20 minutes.
If you are serving the S’chee in the Russian way, you must have a large tureen well heated. Slice the meat left from making the consomme. Put the meat in the tureen and sprinkle it with the minced parsley and dill. Pour in the soup and serve meat and soup together, scalding hot. The sour cream is passed at the table. When the meat is to be served as a separate course, it is heated in the soup for 20 minutes before serving, then cut up at table.
p.77, Best of Russian Cooking