Hearty Spicy Kale and Pork Soup with White Beans

Hearty Spicy Kale and Pork Soup with White Beans

I had made a small promise to myself earlier this year that I was going to cook something with kale. In all my years of cooking, this is one vegetable that I just never got around to using. Of course, now that I’ve made this absolutely delicious soup with it, I’ll have to rotate it into our diets. It’s chock full of vitamins and calcium and a chemical with anti-cancer properties. YES! More Kale! I have adapted this soup I found from Eating Well magazine by kicking it up a notch and using Hungarian Paprika and Ancho Chile Powder in place of the smoked paprika, among other modifications. The entire family really enjoyed it and trust me, their is no lack of flavor in this hearty soup. We sopped it up with big thick slices of French bread, which you’ll want to pair this with to get every last yummy drop in your bowl.

Hearty Spicy Kale and Pork Soup with White Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless pork  loin or chops, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
Mrs. Dash Table Blend
Ground Black Pepper
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
1/4 cup red wine
4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
4 to 5 cups chicken or turkey broth, homemade or low sodium
1 bunch of kale, ribs removed and chopped
1 can white bean

Kale and Pork Soup with White Beans

This is one of those recipes where you’ll want to chop everything up in advance. Once all the chopping is done, the preparation is quite simple.  Start out by heating the oil in a dutch oven or soup pot on medium high. Generously season the pork with the Mrs. Dash and black pepper, then add to the pot. Brown the pork on all sides, then remove to a bowl and set aside. Add the chopped onion to the pot, and cook for about five minutes until starting to soften. Then add the minced garlic, Hungarian paprika and ancho chile powder. If you don’t have those two ingredients, you can substitute with regular or smoked paprika and add some crushed red pepper to taste to make it spicy. Stir for about a minute longer, then add the red wine and chopped tomatoes, stirring to scrape up any browned bits on the bottom. Now add the broth, then bring to a boil. Add the kale (it looks like a lot, but it all wilts down just like spinach) until it’s mixed in, then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Add the pork back in and the white beans (I used cannellini) and continue simmering until ready to eat. You could probably eat it right away but I wanted the flavors to meld so let it simmer before about an hour before eating. Serve with thick slabs of crusty French bread. Mmmmmm!

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Rosemary White Bean Soup with Veggies and Ham

Rosemary White Bean Soup with Veggies and Ham

I set out to make this a vegetarian dish for a work Fall Harvest Soup Potluck, but after finding I didn’t have enough veggie broth for it and used chicken broth instead, I said “what the heck” and added some ham chunks I had in the freezer. But feel free to sub veggie broth and omit the ham. I was gone again for four days from Friday through Monday, then had this soup potluck to prepare for after we drove four hours back from the coast. (No Big Fish, AGAIN! We did come back with more Dungeness crab for the freezer. MMMM.) I made this AFTER fixing a dinner of chicken tenders, baked potatoes and broccoli, so wasn’t exactly in the mood to dash out to the store to buy more veggie broth. But that’s OK. From the ingredients you can see that it’s easily adapted to a vegetarian meal. No gluten either! We had nine large pots of different soups show up at the potluck, plus a full salad bar for whatever you wanted with three different greens and all manners of veggies. Oh and real bacon bits. We do have our bacon lovers in the office, too. Full bellies, happy workers.

Rosemary White Bean Soup with Veggies and Ham

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced baby carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
Lots of black pepper, to taste
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb, to taste
6 to 7 cups of chicken or veggie broth
3 or 4 cans of Canellinni beans (or any other white beans), drained and rinsed
1 can of diced petite tomatoes, drained
1 cup of diced ham, optional
1 tablespoon fresh minced rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh minced tarragon

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, sauté the carrots, celery, and onion over medium heat, about 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and sauté another two minutes or so. Add black pepper and Mrs. Dash to taste. Pour in the broth, and bring to a simmer for about another half hour until the veggies are tender. Add all but one can of the white beans. Take the other can of rinsed and drained beans and add to a blender with about a cup of the broth and puree until smooth, then add to the soup. Now add the can of tomatoes. One interesting factoid I’ve learned in the past is that the acidic properties of tomatoes will hinder your veggies from getting “more tender” after adding the tomatoes, so wait until you are happy with the softness of them before adding. Next, add the ham if you want. Lastly, add your fresh minced herbs. Feel free to exchange for different fresh herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, thyme, etc. These are just the ones I had fresh, but I made sure the rosemary was the overriding herb of this soup. Feel free to add some salt to taste, but I really didn’t think it needed it with the ham, but you might want to if making this vegetarian.  Bring back to a simmer for a bit now to let the herbs meld. I then transferred the soup to the crockpot then refrigerated overnight to heat up when I got to work. Soup’s On!

p.s. Just a photo note, I took the main photo BEFORE I added the rosemary. Only had the tarragon in at that point. I added the rosemary the next day, as it was a true Duh moment for me.  I was tired and cranky, lol. But the rosemary shined through in the end.

Simple White Bean and Tuna Salad

White Bean and Tuna Salad

I am on my way out of town to visit some relatives with my sister, so I’m posting a very simple lunch I made last week when I was in a time crunch and had no leftovers I was interested in warming up. I spied a can of tuna in the pantry, and right next to it was a can of white beans. Bingo! I knew something could be whipped up with that combination. It made way more than I needed for lunch, so the leftovers made a tasty snack with crackers the next few days. Here is what I came up with:

White Bean and Tuna Salad

3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Black pepper
Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb
1 can cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed
1 can solid white albacore tuna, drained
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
Romaine lettuce

In a medium bowl, Whisk the lemon juice, oil and garlic. Season with pepper and Mrs. Dash to taste while whisking. Add the beans, tuna, onion, parsley and basil and mix well. Fresh herbs would be better I’m sure but I didn’t have any. Serve on a bed of romaine lettuce. As said before, this makes great leftovers with crackers. I snacked on it with Triscuits.