Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup

Hmm, for no reason at all, I seem to be on a pork soup kick.  I followed this recipe (loosely) for dinner tonight.  I had some leftover Korean spiced pork roast from dinner last night so used that up.  I just cut it up into small bite sized pieces.  I also used Johnsonville Brats in place of the ground pork since that's what I had in the freezer.  I took them out of the casings and broke them apart so it resembled ground meat.

I added some crushed chili flakes to this to give some heat.  There were no shiitake mushrooms when we shopped either, so cremini it was.  I omitted the potato as well.  I chopped an onion and minced 4 cloves of garlic.  I put this in a dutch oven with about a tablespoon of bacon fat.  I think bacon and cabbage just go together.  I added the sausage, freshly cracked pepper and turned it up to medium.

As it started browning, I realized I forgot the mushrooms so quickly sliced them and dumped them in the pot. I added the remaining pork from last night as well as the leftover veggies and sauce.  I drained all the fat out after the sausage was cooked.

I sliced the carrots and the cabbage (cut into quarters lengthwise first).

I also chopped a good handful of cilantro and added that in.  I added 2 boxes of Kirkland organic no salt chicken broth.

I brought this to a boil and simmered for about twenty minutes.  I garnished with more cilantro and green onions.

This was flavorful and fulfilling.  I added no salt at all as it didn't need any.  It was very porky, had a little hint of heat and I liked the cilantro in it a lot.  The cabbage and carrots gave it a tinge of sweetness.