GLC Soup Series ~ Soup 3: Easy Peasy Greens and Beansies...

...AKA beans and greens or minestra

 

This is likely to be the easiest of all the soup recipes I post for the series--for one reason: it's a wicked versatile soup. You can alter it a million ways with additions (rice, pasta, meat, other veggies, whatever you fancy), varying ingredients (different kinds of white beans, different kinds of broth, different greens, etc.), or make it less a soup and more of a side by using only a little broth. However, since this is a soup series, that's what I did.

Basic Beans and Greens Soup

Ingredients:

1-2 onions, chopped (1 large or 2 small)
5-8 cloves of garlic, chopped
1-2 Tb good olive oil
2-3 quarts vegetable (or chicken) broth
1 & 1/2 cups of cooked (or canned), rinsed, and drained white beans (navy, great northern, or cannellini all work well)
2 lbs of escarole (about 1 large head) washed and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for topping each bowl

Start by sauteing the onions and garlic in the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot (like a dutch oven) over a medium flame. When the onions are translucent, add the beans and season with salt and pepper. To get the beans to take on the flavor of the onions and garlic, let it cook (with a watchful eye) for about 5-10 minutes, adjust the heat to avoid burning. Tip--if you want you can add a sage or bay leaf while sauteing the beans for a little extra flavor.

When the beans have cooked for a bit, add the broth and let it come to a light boil. Once the broth is boiling, add the chopped escarole. Once the escarole is wilted, the soup is ready to eat. Pour yourself (and others) a bowl and add cheese to your liking

For alterations and add ins:

If using greens other than escarole: keep in mind that different greens have different cooking requirements. For example, if you want to use collards, you'll want to cut them up in smaller pieces and cook them longer (I might even saute them along with the beans, then add the broth). If using baby spinach, pour the soup over the spinach in individual bowls, otherwise it can turn kind of slimy.

If using meat (such as, say slices of Italian sausage or pancetta): make sure it is cooked and heated through before adding the broth--usually you can cook these with the onion and garlic--that is to say, add a step before adding the beans by adding the meat before the beans.

If using additional veggies: be sure to cook them appropriately. For example, if you want to add carrots, I would saute them along with the garlic and onion to ensure they are soft by the time the soup is ready.

If adding pasta or rice: cook them separately and add them to each individual portion so the broth isn't all absorbed and the pasta or rice doesn't turn to mush after sitting in the soup for a while.

I like this basic recipe because it's so easy and it can be changed often. After I made this, a few nights later I made it with chicken broth and added chicken sausage. How will you make it?

GLC Soup Series ~ Soup Two: Caldo Verde

If you've been following this blog at all, you probably know by now that I am a fan of kale. Well... to be more precise, I try to eat a good amount of it since it's a super food, and when it's prepared the right way, it's quite tasty. I find that kale is a perfect green for soups since it's so hearty and even after it's been in the broth a while it still maintains some texture (unlike spinach, for example). So for the second soup in the series, I decided to include one where kale is a major component. 

Caldo Verde is a Portuguese soup (it's literal translation is "green broth"). It's traditionally made with linguiça (a smoked, cured sausage), but finding it around here was not so easy, so I substituted it with smoked kielbasa made at one of my favorite places in all of Schenectady, Garofalo's. If you're from around the capital region, and don't know this place, I highly suggest a visit (if you're a fan of Italian food or fresh meats, anyway). They've been in business for ages and their products and service are the reason why. After speaking with one of the sisters (an owner), she suggested I use chorizo or the andouille as a linguiça subsitute--which I agreed might be more appropriate replacement sausages--but after I explained that I can only handle so much "heat" from spice, she agreed that the smoked kielbasa was my best bet. 

So here we go, with Gigi's version of....

Caldo Verde

Ingredients:

• 2-3 TB olive oil 
• 1/2 to 3/4 lb linguiça or chorizo or andouille or smoked kielbasa, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (that's at least a lb pictured above, I didn't use the whole thing)
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced or chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced
• 3-5 (about 1 lb) russet or red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 6-8 cups of water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb kale, washed with stems removed and cut into small, bite-sized pieces

Before I go into the steps, please keep in mind that getting good quality sausage is key. You can use one of the supermarket brands for your sausage, but chances are you will end up with a greasy layer of fat on top of your soup, which isn't particularly appetizing. So, I want to make sure it is understood before you make this and decide that it's disgusting--the quality of your ingredients is what can make or break a meal. The majority of sausages I've gotten from Garofalo's are very lean, and there was hardly any fat melting off this keilbasa.

Ok... now on with the cooking.

First heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot (I use my dutch oven) on medium-high heat for approximately 3 minutes. Then add and brown the sausage. Once the sausage is done, transfer it with the spoon to a bowl or plate.

Add more olive oil to the pan if necessary (and let it get hot), then add the garlic and onions. Sauté them until the onions are translucent and then add the potatoes. Toss the potatoes around the pan a bit, but just so they absorb some of the garlic and onion flavoring, not so they get brown. Then add the water and salt, and cook the potatoes until very tender--about 15 minutes.  

Once the potatoes have softened, mash a couple of them within the soup with the spoon or a fork--this adds a little creaminess to the texture of the soup. Then add the kale and let the soup simmer for about 5-7 minutes. 

Once the kale wilts into the soup and appears to be cooked through, add the sausage and stir. Let the soup simmer with all the ingredients for about five minutes or so to make sure the sausage is heated though and the flavors come together nicely. Then it's ready to eat!

For a soup that is so simple, and has so few ingredients, the flavors and textures can't be beat. The smokey and spicy flavor of the sausage complements the bitter greens, while the potatoes add a rich comforting starch with an almost creamy texture. If desired, you could sprinkle a little grated parm on top of this soup, but I don't think it's necessary. And though dipping a nice piece of bread or some crackers might be your normal accoutrements for soup, I don't think this one requires any additions.

You can store leftovers in your refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze it for longer, but I doubt it'll last that long...  I have to admit, over the course of five days, I made it through this entire batch (about 2 quarts). No taste-testers or even frozen leftovers, this soup was all mine. I had it for lunch or dinner each day, and it was gone before I knew it! 

Eating More Kale

Lemony Kale and Walnut Pesto

Recently at the HWFC Cheese and Specialty department, where I work as a monger (well, kind of), we acquired a new product. It is a Lacinato kale and garlic pesto, and it's very good, but also very expensive. I read the ingredients and it seemed pretty straight forward. Since I've been doing my best to get more greens into my diet, I had a ton of kale in my house (regular curly kale, however) and set out to make my own. 

Before I started I did a "something" search for some basic recipes to see what other people out there have done to make a kale pesto--I wondered if people basically did the same thing as a basil pesto or if anyone had added some tricks (certain special ingredients, etc.). I found for the most part that it was more or less like a basil pesto, except in all the recipes the kale was blanched first. This makes complete sense to me because otherwise it might still be too tough to make the pesto smooth. Plus, since I have trouble digesting raw kale, I was happy to find this as the first step. 

What I used and did:

Ingredients

3-5 cups raw kale, stems removed and roughly chopped (then blanched)

3-4 cloves garlic

1 small shallot or half a medium one

1 lemon for juice and zest (all the juice and about a teaspoon of its zest)

1/2 cup toasted walnuts (more or less can be used depending on how creamy you want the pesto)

1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano

1 cup (more or less) of good extra virgin olive oil

After removing any tough stems left on the kale, I blanched it in boiling water for about one to two minutes. On top of softening the kale, blanching gave it a really nice bright green color. 

After the couple minutes in the hot water, I moved the kale to a bowl of ice water to stop it from cooking too much (and losing some of its nutrients to the water). 

While I let the kale cool off in the cold water,  I gathered all the other ingredients: walnuts (which I toasted), a lemon (for juice and zest), 4 cloves garlic, half a shallot, and Parmigiano Reggiano. Oh, and olive oil, of course. 

After toasting the walnuts and letting them cool, I tossed them in the mini food processor and gave them a whirl for about 20 seconds. Then I added, the shallot and garlic and spun all of them together for another 10-15 seconds. 

Once those were all nicely ground up, I added the lemon juice and zest, and whirled it for a few seconds just to make sure it was all combined. 

I then drained the kale and patted it dry with a clean, lint-free towel and tossed it in the large food processor. After chopping it up nice and fine, I added the walnut mixture. 

I spun that together and then got ready to add the cheese.

I shredded the cheese then added it to the food processor and whirled it together, then I slowly added the olive oil. 

I think I may have used a little more walnuts than necessary because the mixture was extra creamy and thick, but it was still tasty. It wasn't quite as garlicky as the one from the coop (or as oily), but it had a nice lemony flavor making it taste very fresh. The yield was about a pint of pesto total. 

I brought over a half pint to my buddy's house for a picnic, and we served it with a very tasty cheese and homemade spelt crackers (she made). 

I think everyone liked it because it was all gone before we had dinner. :)