Hungarian potato and cabbage soup

Serves 4

Paprika gives a slightly sweet, gently spiced warmth to the soup (JASON LOWE)

Paprika is used a lot in Hungarian cooking, and used correctly it gives a slightly sweet, gently spiced warmth to a winter soup or stew. I've used chunks of bacon here but you could cook a ham hock first and make the soup from the stock and use pieces of hock itself in the soup.

1 large onion, peeled, halved, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
120g piece of smoked streaky bacon cut into cm chunks
2tsp paprika
A couple of good knobs of butter
2ltrs chicken or ham stock
400-500g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm chunks
300-350g green or Savoy cabbage leaves, washed and cut into 2cm squares
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed pan and gently cook the onion, garlic, bacon and paprika for 3-4 minutes with a lid on, stirring every so often. Add the stock, season and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the potatoes and cabbage and continue simmering until they are just cooked. Re-season if necessary and serve.