It was going to be a cold day Saturday so when I was thinking about dinner for our friends I decided soup was the way to go. The original recipe I used came from a copy of Redbook from February 2000. The basic recipe has just 5 ingredients and it comes together in 30 minutes tops. Here’s the menu…
White Bean & Kale Soup
Baked kielbasa & chorizo
Saffron & Herb Bread with salt & pepper crust (thank you ted_badger)
Hot fudge & caramel sundaes for dessert
And here’s the recipe…
White Bean & Kale Soup
– serves 4
Ingriedents
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups vegetable broth (I make it using Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base)
2 19 oz. cans cannelini beans, drained & rinsed
4 cups of kale, chopped or hand shredded into bite size pieces
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the garlic for about 30 seconds.
- Add the broth and bring to a boil.
- Add the beans, bring back up to a simmer, reduce the heat to maintain the simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Remove 1 cup of soup with beans and puree in a blender until it is smooth. Add the puree back to the soup. This helps thicken the soup and gives it a creamy taste without the use of any dairy.
- Add the kale and simmer for another 5 to 7 minutes. The kale should be tender.
- Season with salt & pepper to taste and serve.
The original recipe called for 8 oz. of kielbasa to be thinly sliced and cooked first in the pot. It is then set aside and added back with the kale. To make the recipe vegetarian friendly we cook & serve the kielbasa separately. The soup is great either way.
Notes
I made a triple batch of soup to have enough for the 12 folks eating dinner. It was all eaten.
I cheated with respect to the garlic this go around. We have a jar of Stonewall Kitchen Roasted Garlic and Onion Jam in the fridge gathering dust. I used two heaping tablespoons of the jam instead of the fresh garlic in this batch. I thought it fit in well.
Ted’s bread this week was particularly tasty. A lovely yellow hue from the saffron the flavor matched well with the soup and the salt & pepper on the crust was a great addition. We went through 1 1/2 loaves of it instead of the usual single loaf.
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