Tea Room Recipe #51 - Judith's Tearooms and Rose Café (Poulsbo, Washington)

One thing I have learned by cooking from tea room cookbooks this year is that a tremendous variety of foods is offered in tea rooms! From dainty sandwiches and salads to hearty comfort foods, there is truly something for everyone to be found within the pages of a tea room cookbook. This week, I decided to make a nice, hearty soup.

This soup is inspired by the Black Forest Cabbage Soup in the 1996 cookbook "Favorite Recipes from Judith's Tearooms and Rose Café." I say "inspired" because this Poulsbo, Washington tea room obviously made everything from scratch, and I just didn't have time for that this week. So I cheated. Don't judge me. It was still just delicious! Basically, the "authentic" version calls for homemade meatballs and homemade chicken broth, but I used store-bought versions of both. The result was still just amazing, which is a good thing because I have been eating from this huge pot of soup all week long!

Black Forest Cabbage Soup

1 head of cabbage, chopped into 1-inch-wide strips
1 large onion, chopped and sautéed
2 cups mushrooms, sliced and sautéed
4 cups red potatoes, quartered and precooked
1 cup German sausage, sliced and precooked (I opted for regular pork sausage)
1 cup cooked turkey, chopped
1 cup cooked meatballs (homemade for the overachievers)
2 tablespoons each of garlic, basil and parsley
1/2 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 quarts chicken or turkey broth

Toss chopped cabbage in bottom of a large stockpot. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Terrific served with sourdough bread. Makes about 16-20 large servings, I'd say!