Dinosaur Soup

I am not a big customer of Whole Foods, as I have mentioned before. The combination of high prices and distance (read:bus ride with bags) is discouraging, and in the summer, spring and fall, my CSA veg are so abundent and wonderful that I am not really hampered by the limitations of the Giant Eagle produce. But there are some things you don't find at the Giant Eagle- or in the Strip District either. The Strip is most fabulous for imports, ethnic foods, fish and cheese.

The produce there is nice, and it is cheap, too, but limited. You do get some of the lovely Italian seasonal specialities-figs, fava beans, etc.. There are sometimes fantastic mushrooms. But I have never found black kale, or dinosaur kale, as it is sometimes called, at the Giant Eagle or the Strip District markets. I love this stuff. (Pittsburghers: If I am wrong, please point me to the market in the Strip that has this-I will bless you til the cows come home). As I was recently kindly driven to Whole Foods for a small spree, I have some. I wish I'd bought it all, as I would like to eat it every night for a week.

Faced with the deciding how best to consume my all too small portion of this beautiful, jungly-looking dark green flavorama, I went with soup. There are quite a few versions of bean and kale soup out there, but most have pancetta or bacon going on. That would have been fine with me, but my vegetarian family members were due here for the holidays. I thought it would be good to have a nice soup, for lunches between the various scheduled holiday feasts. So I cooked up my own version, which really owes more to the tradition in general than any particular other recipe.

I wish I'd taken a picture of my gorgeous kale before it was cooked. I was not in the mood to photograph my food after a day of work, a post-work haircut (I can see again, a miracle!), followed by food shopping. This is particularly the case since I've started following the advice of my only child, who took the tip from the spendid Paula Wolfert. Greens, of the sort you intend to cook, rather than salad-ize, really store better and last longer if you blanch them before you put them away. That's what I did. So even before I made my soup, the grandeur was flopped out of the kale. The magic of the internet, however, allowed me to present you with a picture of someone else's black kale, which I assure you resembles my own, pre-blanch. The soup you see, though less beautiful, is my own.

This is what I used:

black kale 1 bunch, blanched and cut in thin ribbons
cannellini beans 1/2 lb.
onion, one, thinly sliced
olive oil
garlic 2 cloves, chopped
2 cups boxed veg broth
2 cups water
pecorino cheese, chunk of rind and cheese about 2"X4"
a chopped carrot
sprig rosemary
salt
pepper
aleppo pepper - a pinch
smoked spanish paprika 1 tsp
home canned san marzano tomatoes 2 quarts, with liquid (obviously, you can substitute any good canned tomatoes)

I soaked the beans overnight. In the morning, I sauteed the onions in some olive oil, until they were soft, added the garlic and cooked it just a bit more. Next came the beans, carrot, seasonings, water and stock, as well as the cheese. I cooked the lot til the beans were tender, about 1 hour. Then, I added the tomatoes and their liquid, fished out the rosemary sprig, and pureed the soup with my immersion blender. (It is important not to add the tomatoes until the beans are tender. Once they- or anything acedic, are added to beans, the beans will never get softer. Some people claim this is also true for salt; I have not found it so.)

Most recipes using cheese rind will tell you to remove it, but I do like it mixed in, so I included it in the puree process. If you do this, your soup will not be perfectly smooth, but I prefer mine with some texture and also random tomato chunks, personally.

I added the ribbons of kale, and cooked the soup for 45 minutes more. Then I applied the immersion blender again, being careful to leave lots of lovely dark green flecks and minichunks of the kale. It rested, cooled, in the fridge for a day, before being reheated, sprinkled with grated romano, and slurped up, with crusty bread. The cheese and tomato flavors did tend to be a little dominant (as compared to the pleasures of eating the kale more or less alone, sauteed), but they also stretched out the small amount of kale to make more nice food. And, immodest though it may be, I've got to say these home canned tomatoes are so noticeably more delicious than the best I've bought. I'm kind of surprised by this, but it is true.

I'm very glad I bothered, and wish I had more jars than I do. Yum.

Comments

[Kimberly]

Yum, indeed. The soup sounds lovely. My current favorite kale and white bean soup also includes roasted butternut squash cut into chunks and added near the end. It's not a pureed soup, and the beans, kale and squash are a lovely color combination.

Happy hollandaise to you and yours, Lindy.

[shuna fish lydon]

Have you ever asked your other markets if they would carry it for you?

Soup has kept me going this week. It seems to be what a lot of us are making. Hope you are having these holi-days filled with what you want them filled with.

[mzn]

I always salt beans and they cook just fine. I also cook them without presoaking. The difference in cooking times seems small.

I love this kind of kale too. Is it the same thing as lacinato kale? I think I love them all.

[lindy]

Kimberly-Mmm-sounds very good. I am big on butternut squash, as you may have noticed. Must try this combo.

Shuna-I did ask a woman in the fancy produce store in my neighborhood about carrying it. She said,"People around here don't want that sort of thing." I did not respond with the apropos, "What am I, chopped liver?" because it just wasn't on the tip of my tongue.
I do wonder about the business wisdom of telling customers that they don't really exist, though. I probably have more chance of finding it in the Strip District.

Mzn- that's the stuff, alright. Isn't it the best?
I actually think beans taste noticeably better when the salt goes in early. I haven't ever tried skipping the soaking step. Maybe next time I do beans.

Thanks all.

[Barbara]

I have seen it called lacinato kale as well. And it is my favorite kind of kale, and the only kale that Zak will willingly eat.

I like it stir fried with mushrooms, a little bit of soy sauce, some sugar, ginger, garlic and chile pepper. Very nice.

The soup sounds fantastic! I used it to good effect in a French style lamb stew a couple of months ago and both Morganna and Zak loved it.

[Emily]

I made this soup today - it was wonderful. Thanks for the recipe!

[Joe Laudano]

Hi

I live in New Jersey and have taken to growing my own. "Whole Paycheck" (Whole Foods) is insane for special items like this as far as prices go. I do admire their value proposition and do patronize them, however.

You can purchase organic seeds from Nichols Garden Nursery in Oregon.

http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com

Normally, these should be grown in teh fall, however, I start the seeds in the ground in September, thin and then cover with a cold framd. They winter over as medium sized seedlings. A little soluble fertilizer in March before it gets too warm and they explode with growth.

I pick them as needed in the early spring, and, then, when the stems begin to lengthen (a sign they are going to bolt soon)I pick them all, de-stem, blanch the leaves, stack like dollar bills in portions and freeze for Lacinato Kale for the rest of the year.

These Kale grow very vertically so they are space-saving. Two 3x3 beds will yield 72 plants, enough Kale for my wife and I for the year.

[lindy]

Joe- I now live in an apartment, and sadly, no longer have a garden. I do herbs and flowers in pots on my steps, and have a lemon tree at work, which had one full grown lemon last year, and is working on 2 this year!
I do miss having a garden. My CSA Farmbox will have kale, but not the lacinato-which I adore.

[lindy]

PS I am jealous!