A soup fit for St. Patrick

By ROBIN MATHER JENKINS
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Cabbage and potatoes seem natural to give a nod to St. Pat. Here's a vegetable-packed soup that is hearty enough to hold you over, yet fast enough to fend off predinner yowling.
Its secret: Dicing the ingredients makes them cook faster.
You probably have most of this stuff on hand. It needs nothing but lightly buttered bread, preferably pumpernickel, to accompany it. Pick up dessert on the way home if your crowd wants a sweet. And cleanup is simple, too, because you'll have only one pot to wash.
MENU:
Cabbage soup with kielbasa
Bread and butter
Apple pie
TIPS:
Use any kind of leftover meat -- chicken, pork, beef -- instead of the sausage if you wish.
Don't have cabbage on hand? Keep a can of sauerkraut in the pantry. Drained and well rinsed, it can substitute for cabbage in this soup.
BEVERAGE PAIRING:
If it's tippin' your hat to the Irish you're doing, well, then, better have Guinness stout.
CABBAGE SOUP WITH KIELBASA
1 quart beef broth
1 cup beer
1 can (141/2 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 large baking potato
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, cut into 1-inch slices
8 ounces kielbasa or smoked turkey sausage, cut in 1/2 inch dice
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon salt, optional
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Note: As you slice and dice each vegetable, add them to the hot broth mixture.
Heat the broth, beer, tomatoes with their juice and bay leaf to a boil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Add the cabbage, potato, onion, carrot, kielbasa, thyme and caraway.
Heat to a boil; reduce heat to medium. Partially cover the pot. Cook until the potato and carrot are tender, about 15 minutes. Add salt, if needed, and pepper.
Yield: 6 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: 242 calories, 39 percent of calories from fat, 11 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 27 g carbohydrates, 11 g protein, 1,048 mg sodium, 4 g fiber.