Baba’s Kapusta Soup      Serves 10-12

From the Kitchen of Anna Milchanosky as remembered by Mary Ann Godlewski

Ingredients-Soup

2 lb BAG of sauerkraut-rinsed once

2-4 cups shredded cabbage [Angel Cole Slaw]

2 lb fresh or frozen baby butter beans [CAFFM]

2 cup diced onions

4-5 cloves minced garlic or 1 T crystalized garlic

3-4 qt water or Vegetable Stock/Broth

4 T Oil [not Olive] or butter

1C dried mushrooms [hydrated,drained & chopped]

  {could use fresh mushrooms but not as flavorful}

Salt & Pepper fresh ground to taste

Zapraska [Roux] – may use less of below if volume less keep ratio same

10 T oil [or butter] Olive oil is too strong a taste

18 T flour

Directions:

1.    Place sauerkraut, BB beans, cabbage, stock, salt & pepper in a large stockpot. Simmer for 1 hour

2.    Saute onions, garlic, & hydrated mushrooms in 4 T oil [or butter] until light golden brown. Add to stockpot.  Cover & simmer x 30 minutes or until beans are as soft as desired.

3.    Make Zapraska-heat 10T oil [butter] at medium heat in frying pan. Sprinkle flour in gradually stirring constantly until brown & smooth.

4.    Add 1 cup of liquid to Zapraska stirring constantly to thinner & smooth.

5.    Return contents of frying pan to stockpot stirring constantly.

6.    Simmer on low for 10 minutes [or all day or place in crockpot on low for up to 8 hours].

7.    Serve with Rye Bread

Cook’s notes:

My Grandmother [Baba-Anna Milchanosky] was a first generation Ukrainian Polish immigrant. When my brothers & I were little & visited her, this soup was often on the menu, especially after we went sledding in her neighborhood. Her stove was woodfired in the 40’s & her furnace was coal-fired.  She was a great gardener & often our family benefitted from her skills.

This soup if meatless was a traditional dish for Lent & Christmas Eve Holy Supper. In Lent there was an abstention from dairy products, witness the oil vs butter.

I have tried making this soup using dried beans, but the Baby Butter Beans from the Coastal Alabama Farmers Market are much sweeter.  I have purchased from several of the farms, but it must be the Alabama in them that makes the current version wonderful.  -MA