Cabbage soup – but not the farty stalwart of 1980s fad diets. Instead, this is cosy, creamy and thick with cannellini beans, brightened with a whack of lemon and glammed up with a generous fancy drizzle of basil oil.
Keep the basil oil for a few days to liven up salads, cheeses, meats and vegetables.
Serves 2.
For the basil oil, which will keep to drizzle over other things for about 3 days
Small handful of basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 100ml olive oil
Blitz everything together in a blender.
Add more salt, pepper or oil to taste.
Soup
1 tin of cannellini beans in their liquid
¼ January King cabbage, shredded into thin strips
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small shallot or ½ onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
250ml chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to season
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and sauté the shallot over a low heat. After about 5 minutes, add the garlic and fry for a further minute.
Tip in the beans, lemon juice and stock and season. Simmer for ten minutes.
Remove about a third of the bean mixture.
Blitz the contents of the pan, then add the unblitzed third back in.
Add the January King strips and cook the soup, with a lid on, for a further five minutes.
Stir in half the lemon zest, add the rest on top of the soup and drizzle with the basil oil.