How are you all doing this month? It’s ok if you’re feeling a little fuzzy, I get it. We’re a year into this pandemic and it seems like it has been forever. I admit I’m nervous about having to re-enter society again. I’m a bit of an introvert and I think that my social skills, meagre at best, have severely declined. Will I be able to make eye contact with my friends again? Will there be awkward silences in our conversations? I don’t have answers to these question, but I do have soup for you.
Although the first day of spring is a few days away, there’s still plenty of soup weather in my future where I live. This soup bridges the gap between winter and spring. Leeks are an early spring vegetable and they have a much milder and sweeter taste than onions. Pairing them with potatoes is a classic preparation, but I wanted to boost the nutrient quotient, so I added kale during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
I like to puree about 1/3 of the soup and mix it back into the soup. It thickens the soup slightly but you still have a chunky, substantial soup. My favourite part of soup is the toppings. A drizzle of sour cream and handful of fresh chopped dill are a great way to finish this soup. I also prepared some frizzled leeks for a crunchy element. Totally optional, but worth the effort.
Oscar Wilde once said, “I am not young enough to know everything.” As I age, I have learned to not rule out any possibilities. Kale is a perfect case in point. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I used to be a kale hater. Turns out, I was wrong. I just didn’t understand kale. Much like some people, kale is tough and needs a bit of massaging to coax out her very best qualities.
I recently had a kale salad at Mudtown Flats, in Owen Sound that blew me away and changed my mind about kale salads. I came home and immediately set about trying to recreate it. I think I nailed it. I urge you to give it a try.
Seek out Tuscan Kale (also known as Lacinato Kale or Dinosaur Kale or Cavalo Nero/Black Kale). It is a bit more tender than the curly variety and the flavour, while still quite earthy, has an almost nutty sweetness. The first step is to remove the tough stems.
Next, I’m going to give you the opportunity to practice your knife skills and ask you to slice the leaves as thin as you can. Remember to tuck your fingers under and away from the knife.
Next, treat the kale to a good sprinkling of kosher salt and get your hands in there to gently massage the leaves. I learned this trick from Mark Bittman. Did you guys know he recently started an online food magazine called Heated? It’s illuminating, highly entertaining and very well written.
The salt, combined with the massaging action, helps to break down the cell walls of the kale and make it more tender. Rub the kale leaves together between your fingers, only until it starts to wilt. It will only take a minute or two. Let it sit while you get on with the rest of the salad.
As in choosing a life mate, what you choose to pair with the kale is an important decision. Squash is an excellent partner. The sweetness of squash is the perfect foil for kale’s slighly bitter edge.
Cut the squash into little cubes, give it a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in a hot oven until the edges get all brown and crispy.
With every salad I compose, I aim for contrast in both flavour and texture. Kale and walnuts are slightly bitter. Squash and golden raisins will balance the bitterness perfectly.
Crunch comes from toasted pumpkin seeds and walnuts. Walnuts are another ingredient I used to hate. Again, I didn’t really understand how and when to use them. They must be very well toasted or they will taste very mealy and unpleasant.
I added some feta cheese for creaminess and salt. If you can find Bulgarian feta, give it a try. It has a creamier texture than Greek feta. Check out this post if you’re a cheese geek and keen to learn about the differences between all the different styles of feta.
Sumac, a dried middle-eastern spice, adds a liveliness and lemony kick to this vinaigrette. It’s becoming more widely available and you’ll find yourself using it in dry rubs or marinades for chicken lamb, fish and vegetables as well as a finishing spice for humus and other dips and spreads. This astringent and tangy spice is very versatile.
Does anyone else suffer from “soup fatigue”? I’m talking about that feeling of losing interest after a few spoonfuls. I get bored by the flavour of every mouthful being exactly the same as the last. Not so with this soup. It’s got it all going on in terms of both flavour and texture.
I’ll warn you right now that this is not one of those soups you can throw together in 30 minutes. It calls for dried white kidney beans, so you will need to soak them for about 8 hours before proceeding with making the soup. Once the beans are soaked, they are cooked with onions, carrots and celery, which infuses the beans with great flavour. Plus, as a bonus, you use that flavourful bean cooking liquid in the soup. If you’re pressed for time, you could use canned beans, but you won’t get the same depth of flavour that cooking the beans yourself develops.
To add even more flavour to the soup I added a rind of parmesan cheese to the simmering pot. I keep the rinds in the freezer in a ziploc bag. They infuse the soup with a big boost of umami. Both regular and sweet potatoes are added along with a big handful of deep green kale.
While the soup is simmering, make a batch of coarse seasoned bread crumbs as a garnish. They add a welcome crunch to the creamy soup.
In the 549 posts I have written for this blog, only one, thus far, has contained kale. This will be the second. This scarcity of kale recipes is not by accident. I just didn’t think I liked kale. it was tough and bitter and swallowing it scratched the back of my throat.
Apparently, I was doing it all wrong. I was buying curly kale, and using it raw, in salads. Curly kale is best for blending into smoothies or sauteeing, stews and soups, where the heat can mellow it’s bitter bite.
For eating raw, Tuscan Kale (aka Lacinato Kale or Dinosaur Kale or Cavalo Nero/Black Kale) is a better choice. It is a bit more tender than the curly variety and the flavour, while still quite earthy, has an almost nutty sweetness. You need to remove the stems, slice it quite thin and let it sit in the dressing for about half an hour before serving. That will help to tenderize it.
Kamut is an ancient wheat grain, likely originating in Iran. It is reminiscent of farro, but a bit larger in size. It has a firm and chewy texture and a rich buttery flavour. it is nutritional powerhouse. High in fiber, protein, zinc and magnesium, kamut is a fantasic addition to soups and salads. I love the Bob’s Redmill brand, which is available in most healthfood stores , or online.
This salad was inspired by and adapted from the “Berkeley Brussels Salad” from pbs.org. You can customize the salad to include what ever is in season and looks good at the market that day. I added some spring onions and radishes, thinly sliced raw Brussels sprouts and some julienned radicchio. If you’re making it as a main course salad, cheese is always a welcome addition. I used manchego, a Spanish sheeps milk cheese. Don’t forget the crunch. I added toasted pumpkin seeds.
The creamy avocado based dressing makes more than you will need, but it keeps well in the fridge for about a week. It’s delicious as a sauce for frilled fish, chicken or vegetables.
In my last post I mentioned a Baby Kale and Brussels Sprouts salad that somehow became tossed aside in favour of Pretzel Crusted Turtle Bars. These things happen, it’s understandable, but today we get down to business with that very virtuous slaw.
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may already know that there is not much love lost between me and kale (or Brussels sprouts, for that matter). I have made friends with cooked kale in a Kale Chicken Sausage and White Bean Soup and I have come to a détente of sorts with maple syrup roasted Brussels sprouts. Kale continues to reign supreme in the nutrition battlefield and I really want to join the troops and benefit from all its goodness.
My main problem with raw kale is the itch factor. It scratches my throat on the way down. But what if I removed the fibrous ribs of the kale and then sliced the leaves thin, like a slaw? I came across a raw kale and Brussels sprouts salad, created by Sue Riedl in her “month of salads” feature in the Globe and Mail newspaper, and was inspired to give raw kale a chance.I was excited when I found some very tender baby kale at the market. I sliced it thinly. I julienned some Brussels sprouts and one large Honeycrisp apple.
Some toasted chopped hazelnuts added a wonderful crunch. Dressed with a honey lemon mustard vinaigrette, the kale and Brussels sprouts really sing! I gilded the lily with some shavings of Parmesan cheese. Everything is better with cheese.I made this for dinner for my husband and oldest (23 year old) son. Neither was enthusiastic when I told them what was in the slaw. My son said, “nope, not gonna eat it.” With some cajoling, they both tried it. My husband declared it “blogworthy” and my son had a second helping. High praise indeed.
The lemon dressing is quite acidic, but it pairs beautifully with the raw kale and Brussels sprouts. The julienned Honey crisp apples add sweetness and the chopped hazelnuts add an amazing textural contrast with their crunch. Finishing the salad off with shaved Parmesan adds a wonderful grace note of umami.
If you keep up on these things, you may know that one of the hottest “it” foods in 2013 was kale. I realize that we are already a month into 2014 now, so forgive me if I’m just a little late to the party.
Dubbed the “Queen of Greens”, Kale has a ton of health benefits. Low in calories, high in fibre and anti-oxidant rich, kale contains calcium, potassium and vitamins A, C and K. Research shows it helps fight age-related diseases too!
Last year I read about The Kale Effect (TKE). Defined as an “immediate, and observable, autonomic nervous system response to the absorption of the vitamins and minerals in nutrient rich kale. Symptoms may include uncontrollable smiling, laughing, and jumping up and down in the kitchen.”
I wanted in on “The Kale Effect” in the worst way possible. I mean who wouldn’t? I suspected the only way kale was going to make me laugh uncontrollably was if I chopped it finely, rolled it in paper and smoked it. But I was game to give kale a chance.
I spent quite a bit of time last year trying to like kale. Everyone gushed about kale chips. They said that eating these would make any craving for potato chips vanish. They said that kale chips were just as satisfying as potato chips. They were wrong! Kale chips taste like crispy seaweed that turns to dust in your mouth.
Then I moved onto raw chopped kale in a salad with apples and walnuts. Swallowing that raw kale felt like someone was trying to scratch the inside of my throat. Then I heard that you should massage your kale first, before eating it. Apparently massaging it breaks down the cellulose structure and raw kale goes from bitter and tough to silky and sweet. I never did try the rubdown. I have my limits. I mean, good lord, what’s next, a mani and pedi for your Brussels sprouts?
I worked my way through kale and onion pie, sautéed kale with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes, stir fried kale, smoked kale and braised kale with cabbage and balsamic vinegar. None of these were terribly awful (except for the smoked kale), but I certainly did not want to make any of them for a second time.
But damn, I wanted to get in on The Kale Effect. When would I begin smiling and laughing uncontrollably? It seems that the key to kale love, for me, was to combine it with lots of other ingredients so that it became filler and not the star of the show. That way you have lots of other delicious ingredients and still get all the benefits of kale.
The two main types of kale you are likely to encounter in the grocery store are curly kale, which is quite pungent, dinosaur or black kale, (also called calvolo nero) which is sweet and delicate in flavour. Try this kale soup and soon, you too, may begin smiling and laughing uncontrollably and jumping up and down in your kitchen!I adapted a similar recipe for Sausage and Kale Soup with Black Eyed Peas from Serious Eats. I decided to lighten mine up a bit and I used spicy chicken sausages instead of traditional pork sausages. I also opted for canned white beans instead of soaking my own black eyed peas.The chopped kale gets added during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Just enough time to wilt and soften it. Before the kale is added, about a quarter of the soup is pureed in the blender. The finished soup gets a final garnish of freshly grated lemon zest, chopped fresh rosemary and a shaving of Parmesan Reggiano cheese.
I loved this soup. The spicy chicken sausage packed just the right amount of heat to keep this soup from being bland. Pureeing just a quarter of the soup created an amazing thick and comforting texture. The bitter kale, added right at the end, had just enough time to mellow slightly, while still retaining some texture. Lemon zest as a garnish added just the right extra hit of freshness and brightness. I am a kale convert.
