On a cold and rainy night there is really nothing better than a warm bowl of soup.  And sometimes a warm bowl of soup just sounds good so who cares if it isn’t cold and rainy.

This recipe came about from being a bit lazy and not wanting to do all the steps the cooking light recipe called for.  What should have been a creamy potato soup with a kale oil on top became a hearty potato and kale soup.  I have to say the end result was quite yummy.

Kale has become a favorite ingredient for me, it just adds something to the dishes you put it in.  I credit my friend Rachel for introducing me to this wonderful ingredient.  I remember I was in her kitchen while she was visiting for Christmas last year and she was making me dinner.  Rachel is a wonderful cook and so I knew it was going to be a great vegetarian meal, little did I know she was going to introduce me to this amazing ingredient.

I have to take a minute and explain to you the friendship Rachel and I have had over the last 5 years.  Rachel described our friendship perfectly this morning in an email “I am so glad that the universe saw fit to bring us together with our matching backpacks to spend a year in Egypt where we could build a life long friendship.”

While living in Egypt Rachel was my cook, you see we had this sort of agreement, I would provide ingredients and she would make them into a meal.  It worked very well for us because I was not a fan of anything that had to do with the kitchen and she enjoyed creating things, especially some truly amazing cinnamon rolls.

Over the years she has seen me slowly change my opinions on cooking and has been there to support me as I grow in my skills.  So thank you to Rachel for showing me how amazing kale is and being such a great friend.

Kale Potato Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups finely chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 pounds cubed peeled potatoes

4 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth

1 cup half and half

4 ounces Romano cheese

6 ounces hot italian sausage

2 cups chopped kale

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add 1 1/2 cups onion, saute 4 minutes stirring frequently.  Stir in peppers, 1/8 teaspoon salt and potato, saute 2 minutes.  Add broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender; stirring occasionally.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add remaining 1/2 cup onion; saute for 6 minutes stirring frequently.  Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt and sausage; cook 8 minutes or until browned.

Add half and half and kale to soup and cook for 4 minutes or until kale is softened.  Stir in sausage and heat soup thoroughly.

Tags: Kale, Potato, Sausage, Soup

This entry was posted on Friday, October 9th, 2009 at 7:31 am and is filed under Sausage, Soup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.