This simple vegetable soup was inspired by the one found in the 2011 video game, TES V: Skyrim. Although I don’t really consider myself a gamer, Skyrim was one of the most fun and immersive games I’ve ever had the chance to play during long Canadian winters. In the game, you gather potato, cabbage, leek and tomato, and you’ve got a powerful dish that will give you +1 health and +1 stamina per second for 12 whole minutes.

In real life, this soup is rich in nutrients and flavour from the organic vegetables and the base of lard that I collected from cooking nitrate-free bacon. Lard is extremely healthy and provides copious amounts of vitamin D which can be particularly useful in long winters. It doesn’t get destabilized by high amounts of heat, making it anti-cancer compared to other oils like industrialized vegetable or seed oils.

You don’t even have to use lard! Other healthy, stable cooking fats include:

• Grass-fed, finished beef or other tallow

• Grass-fed ghee

• Virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil

• Good olive oil (authentic)

The recipe in the official Elder Scrolls cookbook uses butter, but I actually don’t recommend grass-fed butter here since it reacts with high temperatures and becomes damaging to the body with a smoke point of only 350F. It’s a vital healthy fat, but keep it at room temp or warm! You could always add a pat of grass-fed butter to the pot once everything is done cooking, though.

The vegetables are humble and delicious, providing a decent amount of nutrients, vitamins and minerals for proper function, and even more anti-cancer properties. Potatoes (in their unprocessed whole form) provide notable amounts of potassium, cabbage provides loads of vitamin C and vitamin K, and the heated tomatoes provide carotenoids like lycopene as well as folate, vitamin C, and vitamin K. All of these are even more potent in organic, regenerative and homegrown produce from nutrient-rich soils. Get ready for the healing, detoxifying, medicinal and comforting benefits!

The recipe in the game doesn’t require a salt pile, but for this real life recipe I highly recommend seasoning it with lots of mineral-rich sea salt to open up the delicate flavours of the vegetables and herbs.

Ingredients

• Spoonful of nitrate-free lard or healthy cooking fat of your choice

• 1 organic red onion, small dice

• 3 cloves organic garlic, peeled and minced

• 2 organic leeks, thinly sliced

• 1 tsp mixed organic herbs of your choice (I used an Italian blend)

• 2/3 cup organic tomato paste

• 4-5 large organic tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

• 4 organic potatoes, diced (can be yellow, red, or even sweet potatoes) *if you’re really watching your blood sugar balance, you’ll know to just use sweet potatoes or omit potatoes altogether, and enjoy this soup with a good source of protein like a grass-fed and finished steak)

• Sea salt and organic fresh cracked black pepper, to taste (I like at least 1 tsp salt, but if you use a lot of liquid in your soup, use more salt!)

• 1 L organic vegetable broth, grass-fed and finished bone broth or spring water (or enough to cover the veg)

• 1/2 small organic cabbage, chopped

Method

1. Heat up the lard in a big soup pot over medium heat (I like our Dutch oven). Sauté the onions in the lard for 4 minutes, until soft and translucent.

2. Add in the garlic. Stir the garlic in with the onions for 30 seconds until fragrant.

3. Add in the leeks and stir for 4 more minutes. They’ll turn bright green and soft.

4. Stir in the herbs and tomato paste to combine, about 1 minute.

5. Add in the chopped tomatoes and potatoes, and stir to coat everything in the herbs and fat, about 3 minutes, until potatoes are slightly softened.

6. Season everything with salt and pepper. Slowly pour in the vegetable broth until it covers the vegetables. Bring it to a boil, then simmer for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are nice and soft.

7. Take the soup off the heat, and add in the cabbage last so that it wilts just enough to stay a little firm. Stir it in, taste and add more salt if needed, and serve the soup hot! Watch the skies, traveller.