Cabbage Bread Soup

The soup has a much fancier name that makes it sound more appealing if you like Italian names: valle d'aosta soup. However, it means nothing to me, so I renamed it. It was great comfort food for this cold evening and it used up 3/4 of my cabbage. Curtis and I loved it, as did M. I had forgotten that Curtis had gotten her hooked on cabbage on our road trip. She had 3 bowls of soup. J thought the cheese and cabbage was pretty good, but for a change, he didn't eat the broth laden bread. The only changes I would make in the future would be to use a saltier cheese (I used cheddar instead of the fontina it called for) or add a lot more salt to the soup. Other than that, it was perfect for a cold December day.

Cabbage Bread Soup
4 c cubed bread (about 1/2 pound)
5 T butter
5 - 6 c cabbage, thinly sliced or grated (easiest way to grate is using a food processor slicer or shredder attachment if you have one)
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground black pepper
1/2 t salt (or more) to taste
6 c broth (I used 5 c chicken broth and 1 c water)
2 c grated cheese

Spread the bread cubes evenly in a 2 -qt ovenproof dish If the cubes aren't dry (mine weren't), toast them briefly in a preheated 350 degrees oven. Melt 3 T of butter and drizzle over the bread. Set aside.

Meanwhile, blanch the cabbage until just tender in a boiling pot of water, about 2 minutes. Drain well. Spread the cabbage over the bread. Melt the remaining 2 T butter and stir in the nutmeg, black pepper, and salt. Pour the seasoned butter on the cabbage and bread. Pour the stock over everything and evenly spread the cheese on top. Bake until the cheese melts and the starts to brown (in a preheated 350 degrees oven), 25 - 35 minutes.