Tenement Stew
(cabbage alphabet soup)

Tenement housing is a big building with little cramped apartments that rent for cheap to people with poverty level incomes. (In San Francisco these were known as "The Projects", which is an interesting name for them since the only projects going on in them was an ever increasing collection of bullet casings.) Think of thin walls, no heating, no laundry facilities, and kids trudging off to work with their parents to local factories.

One of the things that distinguishes the middle class and poor people of the present from those of the past is that even when we have very little money we are always running to the store for packages of whatever we decide is necessary for our recipe today. In the past you relied a lot more on what was in your root cellar, or what you had in your pantry. Not a lot was available at the grocers in terms of vegetables. Bananas? Forget it! Did my grandmother even taste them as a child? If she was alive I would run to the phone and ask her. My Grandfather grew up in Michigan. It's cold there in the winter. If they didn't have anything stored from their own garden what do you suppose was available to them to eat in the winter?

Cabbage. Carrots (maybe). Potatoes. Onions.

I took this opportunity to make a soup that required no extra purchases and made use of at least three things from my pantry/freezer. Those three things are: home made stock, home grown and dried thyme, and 1 quart jar of diced tomatoes. I froze the stock months ago. I don't plan ahead well so taking things out to "thaw" in the fridge never happens. If I remember to thaw something ahead of time then I inevitably change my mind about what I was going to make and the thawed thing develops interesting molds.

It worked out just fine to put my solid block of stock in the pot and let it melt there. With the heat on pretty high it didn't take long. Can this stew be made more cheaply than going out to eat a fast food meal? It turns out that the reason why poor people eat so much soup is because it's a damn cheap and nutritious way to feed your family. I priced out my ingredients (bearing in mind that my stock was free since I made it from my own vegetable scraps, and my thyme was almost free because I grew it and dried it myself) this soup cost .53 per serving.

That's for a cup and a half of nutritious and very tasty soup. Can you get a nutritious meal at McDonald's for .53 cents? That's a trick question. You can't actually get a nutritious meal there. This is why it pisses me off when people say they don't cook for themselves much because it's cheaper to just eat out. * Try my tenement stew. It won't break your pocketbook. It will hardly make a dent in it.

One last note before I present you with the recipe- I have always wondered if it really makes a difference to use stock instead of water. The last time I made this soup I used water and this time I used stock. I made absolutely no other changes to it but Philip says this version was better. So I'm feeling more inspired to get in the stock making habit.


Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3 large carrots, chopped
1 large russet potato, cut into 1/2" cubes
1.5 pounds of chopped cabbage
3 cloves garlic, minced fine or pressed
1 quart diced tomatoes (with its juice)
1 quart of stock (or water)
1/4 cup alphabet pasta (or orzo, or rice)
1 tbsp dried thyme
2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
a shake of cayenne pepper for heat


Method:

Heat oil in a soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and potatoes and stir frequently until the onions turn transparent. Add the stock and tomatoes. If the stock is still frozen just dump it in there and close the lid for a while, checking to keep vegetables from sticking. Now turn the heat down to medium and add the cabbage, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick, add some water to it. When all the vegetables are cooked through, add the pasta and a shake of cayenne pepper. Cook for an additional ten minutes. When the pasta is done the soup is done.

This soup serves 6-8

Whether or not you need to economize right now, this is an excellent stew to eat when the wind outside is cutting through your wool coat and the rain is sheeting against your face. Eat it with a decent sized hunk of wheat bread with butter if you need to be out in that weather for long. The cayenne will help warm your blood, the garlic will help fend off the plague.

*Although I think my cooking is generally better than I can get at any restaurant, I very much enjoy the experience of letting someone else serve me booze and unhealthy food. So it's not like I'm saying I never eat out. We are still eating out once a week and keep putting it on the credit card because we can't afford it. It is a bad habit. But I really made this footnote to point out how costly it is to eat out. If I didn't like people-watching so much I probably would be a complete hermit. Anyway, probably time to end this lengthy footnote.

Chickpea Rosemary Soup

Serves 6-8
Calories per 1.5 cup serving: 189

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped medium
3 carrots, chopped in 1/4" thick rounds
1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes (or 1 quart of home canned)
1 (4 oz) can of tomato paste
1 quart water
15 oz chick peas (pre-cooked)
3 cloves garlic, minced small or pressed
2 medium potatoes (any kind) diced to 1/2" cubes
2-3 fresh stems of rosemary, minced very small
1 small head cauliflower, cut into med- sm flowerets
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne


Method:

Snip the rosemary from your garden making sure to stop and take a deep breath of the pungent piney scent before returning to your kitchen. Note how nice it is to have gone to your own plant to get the freshest rosemary on earth.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over a medium high heat and throw the diced onion in. Let the onions cook (stirring frequently) until they are starting to sweat, then throw in the chopped carrots. Continue sauteing for a couple of minutes. Pour in your diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and water and stir well until the tomato paste is dissolved.

Wait until the soup comes to a simmer on medium heat, then add the chick peas, potatoes, garlic, minced rosemary, salt, and pepper. I usually put about a teaspoon of salt in but you can adjust it to your own tastes. I usually put in about ten grinds of fresh pepper.

When the potatoes are tender, add the cauliflower. Now cook until the cauliflower is tender. At the end add the dash of cayenne and stir well.

Please note: you may need to add more water as the vegetables cook depending on how thick you want the soup. If it cooks down and you want it brothier, add more water. If it's too brothy for you, let it cook down with the lid off for a while. I never measure how much water goes into the pot. I can only say that at least 1 quart goes in in the beginning.


Soup is one of the most flexible and forgiving foods. It is warming, nourishing, and easy to make. While soup certainly takes time (this one takes between 45 minutes to an hour) once everything is in the pot it's just a matter of stirring it.

You can use more rosemary than I do here if you like, or less. I always use at least two 3"-4" stems of it chopped fine. I don't like the rosemary to overwhelm the wonderful cauliflower flavor (the most delicately flavored of the cruciferous vegetables). If you don't like chick peas, use white beans. If you have celery, add a couple of chopped stems of it.

The worst mistakes to make with soup:

• burning it

• not adding any herbs (dried or fresh)

• not cooking your legumes enough

• over-salting (yes there is such a thing)

• burning your tongue with it

• not making any

• over-seasoning it

• not inviting me over for some

Next up: a rosemary marinade for roasting vegetables with.