Although today was 83 degrees and sunny here in Charlotte, it really is fall and fall calls for soups. Soups are so healthy and so very hard to mess up. This weekend, my girls and I had a rare opportunity to wander our favorite Farmers Market on Saturday morning so I was able to pick up some fresh kale, local onions, and amazing homemade butter.
The butter has absolutely nothing to do with this recipe, but if you happen to visit the Atherton Farmers Market here in Charlotte, you must stop by and say hi to LynnErin at Simply Local – everything she stocks in her little corner of the market comes from North Carolina. There are too many items to list but a few of my favorites were the peanut butter, goat cheese, gouda, milk, chocolate, and, most importantly, butter. It tastes like the butter I make at home on the rare occasion that I need to keep my kiddos occupied for an extended stretch of time… Really, really delicious.
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| Yum! Love that kale… |
But let’s get back to the soup! For this soup, I used a small bunch of fresh kale – the leaves stripped from the stems and then chopped. We like to compost around here but, truthfully, I don’t really need to because my two huge dogs have never met a veggie scrap they didn’t love. These kale stems were gone in minutes.
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| Fenway … veggie lover |
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| My Co-Shopper |
Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale, leaves stripped from the stems and chopped
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
1/2 large onion, chopped
5 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 lb hot pork sausage (optional)
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon or so of salt, to taste
Directions:
1. Gently crumble and cook about 1/2 pound of hot pork sausage, drain the fat and then added the onions and garlic and let those cook until the onions are soft. If you would like to make this vegetarian, simply cook the onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil.
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| Kale and Potato Soup |
2. Add the chopped potatoes and the paprika and stirred the ingredients well. I let everything cook for a few minutes while I was chopping up the kale.
3. Add the kale and about 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Stir and add the chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
We served our soup with a little bit of cheese sprinkled over the top and I added some hot sauce to give it a little kick! Enjoy!
The local line-up …
Hot pork sausage – Charlene’s Garden
Garlic – Greene Family Farm
Kennebec Potatoes – Jones Family Farms
Kale and Onion – Atherton Farmers Market
