Cabbage Soup with Persimmon Herb "Pesto"
November 14th, 2008 Posted in Dishes
No more crunchy crispy anything for me for a few days: yesterday I had the dreaded root canal, made worse by a complication that required getting out of the chair, mid-procedure, and going to see a specialist (a very special endodontist with the best bedside manner I’ve ever witnessed). All I can say is: thank god for heavy-hitting pain medication! I’m ok, but I’ve promised her that I’ll only eat soft foods for a few days while it heals.
A mild, wintry soup seemed like the ticket, so I sauteed a large onion, and a cubed-up sweet potato in olive oil, along with a large pinch of toasted coriander seeds, lots of fresh thyme, some black pepper, and plenty of tangerine salt. Then a half-head of julienned green cabbage and some chicken stock.
The soup is very soothing and healing, but it needed some additional pizzazz. Herbs never fail me, so I turned to them. Hmm, there sat a plump, almost-ready-to-burst hachiya persimmon. I wonder what it would be like to finely chop some herbs (parsley, cilantro, and thyme) and just blend them together with the persimmon, which would then get spooned into the soup, ala pistou? That turned out to be exactly what the soup needed: a small blast of freshness/fruitiness/fabulousness. Victory is declared, and now I have something good to eat for the next two days!
This now has me thinking: I wonder what other fruits would blend well with large quantities of herbs? And then what?
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8 Responses to “Cabbage Soup with Persimmon Herb "Pesto"”
By
[eatingclub] vancouver || js on Nov 14, 2008
What an inspired concoction! Never in my wildest dreams would I have envisioned a persimmon pesto. So creative and glad to hear it’s comforting and soothing too.
By
Victor Ortiz on Nov 14, 2008
That is a great looking bowl of soup and I never had the idea of doing that with kakki. This is a must try.
I hope all works out with your mouth. What a place for things to go wrong, especially when your life centers around good eating.
It has heated up the 90s again here in LA, and winds are blowing dust about a bit. That soup will cut through the stuff packing my head right now.
Good luck with the procedures and healing.
By
lmc on Nov 15, 2008
sorry about the dental work but this soup looks great, and easy.
By
Eric on Nov 17, 2008
Thanks everyone — part II of the root canal is tomorrow, aiii!
By
Anne on Nov 18, 2008
Hey Eric!
I just finished exploring your page today! I’ve been faithfully at it for about 3 days now. I’m a young home chef and am so inspired by everything I saw here. Only problem is the crowd I cook for. One hates veggies, one has some serious textural issues with almost any cooked produce, and the other is like Emil from Ratatoullie. I feel like a caged animal most of the time. Any suggestions?!?!?!
By
Eric on Nov 19, 2008
Anne — what a nightmare! I have no idea how you juggle all those. Maybe the trick for the veggie hater is to make veggies that don’t remind him/her of her perception of “veggies,” i.e. get supercreative with them. For example, maybe grating sweet potatoes, adding some binder, and shaping them into little hockey pucks and frying them? A lot of it is about shape, I’m convinced. I like to cook beets (just boil them), but then proceed to finely minced them, and add yogurt and orange juice, and to cram into quarter-cup measuring cups. They then just plop out on to the plate. Or to finely mince cauliflower to that it resembles rice, and stir fry that with other veggies. Or definitely try the butternut squash pizzettas from the book, still haven’t met a kid who doesn’t devour them! Good luck.
By
Anne on Nov 19, 2008
Eric-
Thank you for the suggestions. I haven’t tried the cauliflower trick or the beet trick. Its funny you said you “haven’t met a kid who doesn’t devour them”….The kid is my little sous chef, she’ll eat anything I put infront of her, its the adults who turn their noses up!
THanks again, happy healing!
By
Eric on Nov 19, 2008
Oh, in that case, it’s easy: tell the adults they’ll eat what you make, and like it, or you’ll hold out a gigantic welcome mat and cordially invite them into the kitchen to fend for themselves!