Cabbage with potatoes, bread and cheese

Looking out into the misty London morning, makes me think of and long for the Mountains near our home in the Pyrenees. There is something magnetic, I find, about proximity to those majestic peaks, peaceful, ethereal and magnificent…

Some time ago, I was watching Antonio Carluccio cooking up a soup, whilst on a misty mountain, it looked fabulous, in the tradition of the best peasant dishes and on this day, it was the only thing that would would do.

I pondered for a while, trying to recall the finer points of the recipe from this great chef, and whilst I was doing that, I assembled a few ingredients before popping out to fetch some more. I had in my mind that there had been potatoes in the dish, but I was confusing that with soups local to us in the Pyrenees…so my offer below is a lot of Carluccio, with a little ‘Poppy’ thrown in for a variation.

This is cabbage layered with stale bread and some melting cheese, slaked with hot stock, the cheese becomes stringy the bread sops up the stock, it really is a thang of beauty…I bought some cheese from a Swiss cheese supplier called Jumi cheese. We went for an ‘Apres Soleil’ https://jumilondon.wordpress.com/2016/03/22/who-are-we/

What to say about the restaurant in our small village in France? I could tell some tales of rustic gastronomy land luckily we know it’s not just our rose tinted specs that cause us to rave about it…as over the years our friends and family have visited this little piece of culinary heaven many times.

The decor is uninspiring, just a long the road in Pau you may be enjoying similar fare in front of an attractive stone wall with an open fire spitting and cracking the grate, not so much here….but the food is soooo good and the welcome so warm, that it doesn’t matter one little bit, with the soup, being the ever present prelude to this hearty feast.

Carluccio’s recipe can be found here, I used the same method wiht the addition of white onion and potatoes, and Carluccio calls for chicken stock, but veg stock works very well indeed.http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/antonio-carluccios-zuppa-di-cavolo-valpellinese/

So just before the decadence of the festive season, a little comfort dish to warm the cockles of our hearts.