same soup, different year?

i am not really a religious person, but being raised roman-catholic, ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent and i have always followed the rule to not eat meat on that day (plus i don't eat meat on good friday). a meat-less diet is not a sacrifice for me and so i decided to not smoke today. i am not a confirmed smoker, but damn, it hurts to not have my cigarette with my coffee. but you are right, i definitely should skip this nasty habit for good. i smoked my first cigarette when i was 25 - seriously: how stupid do you have to be to make it through your teenage years without a single drag and start in your late 20ies? i have been an occasional smoker for the first few years only smoking on weekends, but somehow i ended up on a pack every day. i quit every once in a while (haven't smoked for 4 month in 2005), but somehow i don't seem to be able to stop at the moment ... i desperately need a challenge to distract me from the nicotine ...

last year i challenged myself during the 40 days of lent to cook a different soup every day. yeah, i failed with flying colours ...

soups have always been a favorite of mine, and while i often cook soups somehow i rarely blog about them. so i will renew my soup vow this year and once again try to cook a different soup every day during lent. i tried some rather interesting recipes last year and most of them really where keepers.

do i think that i am up to the challenge this year?
will i be able to really come up with 40 blog posts of soups?
i don't know yet.
we'll see.
i certainly will try harder this year.

recipe # 1: savoy cabbage and anchovy soup

about 300 g savoy cabbage (one small cabbage)
1 small onion
500 ml water (take vegetable stock if you like)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 table spoons of crème fraîche (i prefer lean rama cremefine)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 tbsp cress
a few anchovis

1. cut a savoy cabbage in quarters and remove the stalk
   
2. roughly cut into fairly large stripes (about 3-4 cm)
   
   
   clean them if necessary (rinsing should be fine)
   
3. dice the onion
4. in a pot, heat the oil and stew the onion and the cabbage for a little while
5. chop up two or three anchovis and add them to the cabbage
   
6. remove some of the cabbage stripes for garnish and add the water
7. bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes
8. mix it all with a hand-held blender until smooth
   
9. fold in crème fraîche
10. season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg - easy on the salt, the anchovies usually are very salty!
    
11. pour in a soup bowl and garnish with cabbage stripes, cress and another anchovi if you like
    

makes about 750 ml of soup