Soup for Dinner
Steve and I were looking back at our recipes from last year and remembered how delicious the cabbage soup is. I’ll be making this for dinners this week. I am going to look for an extra lean kielbasa and red cabbage.
Sometimes, even small cabbages are too much for a soup, but they should not be frozen whole. Start by cleaning the cabbage and discarding the outer, damaged leaves. Cut into medium to shreds or thin wedges.
Cabbage can be frozen directly without being blanched, but for casseroles requiring cooked cabbage, water-blanch convenient sized wedges for 3 to 4 minutes or steam blanch them for 4 to 6 minutes. Shredded cabbage can be water-blanched for 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer to ice water right away to cool, and drain.
Once dried, lay in a single layer on cookie sheets and place them in the freezer. When fully frozen (12 to 24 hours), portion them into suitable containers and freeze. Leave 1/2 inch of headspace.
It can be stored frozen for up to a year. Defrost in the fridge, or add directly to your soup broth to capture any extra moisture.
