Kale Soup...

It is safe to say that I am going to gain 5,000 lbs while I live at SIFAT.  I thought I'd lose weight (the whole no money thing) but turns out, I'm going to be fat.  When groups are here we eat ALL the time...and it is good food!  Most of the time it is normal cafeteria food...chicken, spaghetti, biscuits etc.  However, there are some times when the food is exceptional.  

With one of the retreats, they were living outside in the third world village and had to cook their own dinner.  Since they were 6th graders, that translates into Laura and I cooked their dinner.  

We had Kale Soup cooked over an open fire (everything tastes better cooked over fire)....

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

1 large yellow onion, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 to 8 cloves garlic, to your taste, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

1/4 pound dried navy white beans, rinsed, sorted over, soaked overnight in water to cover and drained

1/4 pound dried red beans, rinsed, sorted over, soaked overnight in water to cover and drained.

4 quarts chicken stock or canned chicken broth

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced

1 bunch kale, well washed, stemmed, and torn into bite-size pieces

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

1 loaf crusty Portuguese bread

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy 8-quart stockpot over high heat. Add the sausage and onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, parsley, and beans and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

2. Add the bay leaves, thyme and the crushed red pepper. Season again with salt and black pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until the beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Add the potatoes and kale, season with salt and pepper, and continue to simmer until the potatoes are tender, about another 30 minutes. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface. Remove the bay leaves.

4. To serve, pour the soup into individual soup bowls and garnish each with a tablespoon of the mint. Allow the mint to steep for about 1 minute before serving with the bread.

Yield: 8 servings.

There's no need to cook it for an hour and a half "until the beans are tender"....just let it simmer for about 15 minutes then add the Kale and potatoes.  When the potatoes are soft, the soup is done.  It's delicious.

So everyone go build a wood burning stove and get cooking! :)