Valle d’Aosta cabbage soup
A soul-warming dish from the Italian mountains, this chunky baked cabbage soup is an indulgent affair with crunchy bacon and velvety cheese in each spoonful. Use a homemade or good-quality shop-bought stock to take it to the next level.
Ingredients
- 300g/10½oz Gruyère, emmental or gouda, grated or thinly sliced
- 60²µ/2¼´Ç³ú Parmesan, grated
- 1.5 litres/2¾ pints good-quality chicken, beef or vegetable stock
- 500g/1lb 2oz Savoy cabbage, chopped
- 70ml/2½fl oz olive oil
- 6 rashers streaky smoked bacon, chopped
- 30g/1oz butter
- 1 large garlic clove, cut in half
- 5–6 thick slices (about 250–280g/9oz–10oz) stale, dry sourdough bread
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Mix the cheeses together in a bowl.
In a large saucepan, bring the stock to the boil, add the cabbage and cook for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and set aside.
Heat a little oil to a large frying pan over high heat and fry the bacon pieces until golden-brown and starting to crisp. Remove them from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, add the butter, a little more oil and the garlic. Once hot, fry the pieces of bread until golden-brown and crisp on all sides. Do this in batches, setting each batch aside once browned and adding more oil as needed.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
In a large flameproof casserole, use a slotted spoon to put half the cabbage in the bottom of the dish and season with plenty of pepper and a little salt. Add half the bread, half the bacon and half the cheese mixture.
Add the remaining cabbage, then bread and bacon. Ladle over the hot stock and top with the remaining cheese.
Place over a medium heat and bring to a simmer, then put the dish in the oven and bake, uncovered, for 30–40 minutes until hot, bubbling and all the cheese has melted. Serve in warm bowls.
