Saint Patrick’s Day left us stewheads with a lot more cabbage than corned beef which is almost always the case. This predicament forced us to do some creative thinking in order to save the cabbage from the compost heap. Our solution: a good pot of Giambott.
Traditional Giambott is more of a fall dish than spring and is an excellent exit strategy for all those overripe tomatoes from the garden. Our post St. Patrick’s Giambott omits the tomatoes and replaces them with hunky white Cannellini beans, smoky roasted eggplant and veg tossed over a slab of garlic rubbed bread. This dish pairs well with a cold and blustery March day.
St. Pat would surely have loved to belly-up to a big bowl of our Giambott given that the old snake charmer was actually of Italian descent begorrah.
Erin go Braless!
Need This
3 carrots
3 celery stalks
8 cloves of garlic (peeled)
Boiled cabbage
1 medium size eggplant
3 – 15 ounce cans of cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
2 – 15 ounce cans of chicken broth
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper
Italian bread
Do This
Drop the eggplant directly onto a stove burner and fire it up.* Roast the eggplant in the open flame, turning occasionally, until the skin is charred on all sides and the bulb starts to cave in (about 15 minutes). Remove the eggplant from the flames and set it on a dish to cool.
Now chop the carrots and celery.
Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil into the bottom of a large pot, set it on a stove burner and bring a medium heat up under it.
Throw the 8 garlic cloves into the pot and let them sizzle for a minute or two in the hot oil until they start to brown. Add the chopped carrots and celery and continue to fry. Don’t be lazy, stir them around a little bit.
Rough chop the cabbage.
When the carrots and celery begin to soften add the cabbage, cannellini beans and the two cans of chicken broth.
Remove the charred skin from the eggplant. Discard the skin. Cut up the eggplant flesh into cubes and add it to the pot. Stir well.
Add clean cold water just covering the veg. Now bring the soup up to a slow boil. Add salt and pepper to taste then simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.
Slice 1 inch thick slices of Italian bread. Toast the bread slices over an open flame on your stove burner or in the oven until just crisp. Find the fattest garlic clove you can find and rub it over the faces of the toasted bread slices.
Drop a garlic bread slice into the center of each serving bowl. Ladle the Giambott over the bread and serve immediately, anointed with a little olive oil and grated parmesan cheese on the side.
Serves 4. My cost approx. $ 8.45 – about $ 2.12 per serving.
*Or you can roast it in your broiler if you have an electric range. GMN