Cabbage Sausage Orzo Soup

Last full week of school before winter break. Classroom parties and gift exchanges that I kept very low-key — a small bag of treats for each student, a card I made, the expectation managed so nobody felt left out and nobody was overwhelmed. T. gave me a drawing. It was of Room 108, labeled — the same labeled-classroom drawing format as the one D. gave me at the end of student teaching. I have them both now. Two classrooms, two drawings, two students who wanted me to know they had noticed where they were.

Home to Oak Lawn for winter break. The drive on the Stevenson in December is fast in the evening — everyone has already left the city. I arrived at Steve and Patty's at six-thirty and the house smelled like Patty's kitchen in December, which is specific: something with cinnamon, the candles she burns in December, the coffee always on. Patty hugged me at the door and said "You look tired" and I said "I am. I'm also good." She said "I know. Come eat."

She had made kielbasa and sauerkraut and the potato pancakes, Babcia Rose's recipe as she has been making it for forty years — Patty's version is slightly less crispy than Babcia Rose's but more consistent. Steve ate three. I ate four. Nobody counted. This is the rule for December food at Steve and Patty's: nobody counts.

I brought Babcia Rose's notebook to Oak Lawn to work on over break. It is a spiral notebook now — the spiral I started in 2017, filling in measurements when Babcia Rose is not looking and adding notes from memory. It has forty-two entries. I want to add the gołąbki while it is still fully in my head from the last time I watched her make it. I want to add the borscht. I want every recipe in writing before — and I stop that thought there, the same place I always stop it. Before. But I keep writing it down.

Patty’s kielbasa and sauerkraut is a recipe I’ll never fully replicate — it lives in her kitchen, her December candles, her particular way of saying “come eat” like it answers everything. But when I’m home in my own apartment after a week like that last one — the drawings, the drive, the notebook with forty-two entries and the thought I always stop before I finish — I need something that points in the same direction. This cabbage sausage orzo soup is that for me: sausage and cabbage in a pot, nothing complicated, something that smells like it knows what it’s doing. It doesn’t replace Patty’s table, but it holds the same intention.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb smoked kielbasa or Polish sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups green cabbage, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup orzo pasta, uncooked
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

Brown the sausage. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sausage slices in a single layer and cook 2—3 minutes per side until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Soften the aromatics. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to the same pot and cook 4—5 minutes until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring so it doesn’t burn.
Build the base. Add carrots, celery, and cabbage to the pot. Stir to combine with the onion and garlic. Cook 3—4 minutes until the cabbage begins to wilt.
Add liquid and seasoning. Pour in the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Stir in smoked paprika and caraway seeds if using. Return the browned sausage to the pot. Bring to a boil over high heat.
Cook the orzo. Once boiling, add the orzo. Reduce heat to a steady simmer and cook uncovered for 10—12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until orzo is tender and has absorbed some of the broth.
Season and serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread if you have it.

Nutrition (per serving)

Cabbage Sausage Orzo Soup — The Bowl Patty Would Have Made If She Had More Time