To use the kale, garlic, and onions I collected in this week's share, I decided to make a big pot of soup. Not the most seasonally appropriate meal, perhaps, but nutritious and filling all the same.
Kale, White Bean, and Garlic Soup
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 cup of chopped onion
- 1 tablespoon of dried Italian Seasoning (optional)
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 bunch of kale, tough stem removed and rough chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 12 cups of broth or water (any combination bean, chicken, and/or vegetable broth will do)
- 5 cups of cooked dried white beans (see below) OR 2 cans of white beans, undrained
- 4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped OR 1 28 oz can of plum tomatoes, chopped
In a large pot, heat the olive oil on medium heat, and cook the onion with the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper until translucent, for about 5 minutes. Add the kale, and continue cooking, stirring often, for another 5 minutes until the kale is wilted and soft. Add the garlic, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
Next, add 11 cups of broth, 3 cups of beans, and all the tomatoes to the pot, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, skimming any foam that rises to the surface. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, combine the remaining cup of broth and the remaining beans, pulsing until thick and smooth. Add mixture to the pot, and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve warm with crusty bread.
Additional Notes:
I cut the green tops off the garlic and onions, and am reserving them for a vegetarian stock.
For a heartier soup, add some cooked sausage during the final five minutes of simmering. Crumbled spicy Italian sausage complements the kale-white bean combination quite nicely, and makes it easier for me to convince my husband to eat his daily allotment of green vegetables!
If you have any garlic scape pesto on hand, add a dollop to your bowl of soup for an additional garlicky punch.
On the side, serve crostini topped with goat cheese and your City Fresh hot pepper butter.
Cooking Dried Beans:
I use Mark Bittman’s “Quick-Soak” Method for cooking dried beans from his massive compendium How to Cook Everything. It works for almost every kind of bean imaginable except the following varieties: lentils, split peas, peeled and split beans. Although I adore using canned beans when I need to throw together a quick meal, buying beans from the bulk bins is an economical, eco-friendly practice. And I've found that cooking beans is a satisfying culinary exercise, in which a little labor yields stunning results.
Here's the recipe I used to cook the dried beans for my kale and garlic soup:
1 pound of dried Great Northern Beans
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
¼ tsp black peppercorns
s
alt and freshly ground pepper.
Rinse the beans, discarding shriveled, discolored bits and any pebbles or stray matter.
Put the beans, bay leaf, rosemary, and peppercorns in a large pot and cover with cold water by about 2 to 3 inches. Bring the pot to a boil, and let it boil, uncovered, for about 2 minutes. Then, cover the pot with a tightly fitting lid, turn off the heat, and let the beans soak for 2 hours. Don’t peek!
After two hours, taste a bean. If tender, make sure that the beans are covered by about an inch of water, and add salt and pepper to taste. If not tender, cover the beans with 2 inches of water, and hold off on the s&p.
Next, b
ring the pot to a boil, and adjust the heat so that the beans bubble gently. Cover partially and cook, stirring occasionally, checking the beans for doneness every 10 or 15 minutes, and adding more water if necessary. Once the beans are tender, add the salt and pepper. Stop cooking when the beans taste the way you like them. Use your cooked beans in any recipe that calls for canned beans, and save the cooking liquid to add flavor to soups and stocks.
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