Ingredients :

• Green Cabbage — Choose a dense cabbage, heavy for its size, with tightly packed leaves. Avoid soft heads or yellowing outer leaves. Half a cabbage is enough for a small pot, a whole head to feed 8 people — it’s the boss of the recipe.
• Broth — Vegetable or chicken broth, both work. The difference is really felt here since it’s the liquid base of the whole dish. Homemade broth is ideal, but a quality cube does the job perfectly — taste before salting, as salt content varies wildly between brands.
• Crushed Tomatoes — A can of crushed tomatoes, not purée or coulis — the chunks provide texture. They bring the acidity that balances the sweetness of the cabbage and the roundness of the broth. This is what keeps the soup from being bland.
• Celery — 3 or 4 stalks are enough. Celery is discreet in a soup but its absence is noticed — it gives that slightly bitter and fragrant vegetable base note that you can’t quite name but instinctively look for. If you really don’t like it, replace it with a fennel bulb.