Greek vegetable soup

 

No, I have no idea if this is authentically Greek, but the author of the cookbook is, so it's possible. If you're in the market for a substantial soup without resorting to meat, this might work for you.

Greek Vegetable Soup

From “Eating the Greek Way” by Dr. Fedon Alexander Lindberg

Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 cups shredded green cabbage
3 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
6 cups broth
1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes
¼ cup fresh parsley
¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add onions and garlic, cover, and let cook until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Add the cabbage, recover and cook for another 5 minutes. Add carrots, celery and chickpeas and cook for another 5 minutes or until vegetables are starting to soften.

Add broth, increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and a bit of salt and pepper. Simmer for another 20 minutes.

(If you’re making this ahead, go ahead and store it at this point before reheating later.)

Right before serving, stir in parsley. Top bowls of soup with feta. Serves 10.

Rating: Perfectly fine, and filling, which is handy for days like today when you decide that really, the logical solution is to don the third hoodie. It didn't blow me away, flavor-wise, so on reheating it over a period of days, I tried doctoring it a bit. Red wine vinegar didn't really move the needle. Dried marjoram helped a bit. The thing that finally made it really tasty is when I added a bit of bacon fat, which really defeats the recipe author's point. But when it's just so cold, you need a nice warm bowl of really tasty soup for lunch. And a third hoodie.