Kale and Bean Soup

Gil2's Note:

This recipe is from my web-site ( www.portuguese-recipes.com ).It has many variations this is my rendition of it.It's a great meatless soup but you can always add sausage or even stew beef.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil or 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 6 -8 garlic cloves (crushed or minced)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cups kale, chopped if fresh (you can use frozen 2 or 3 pkgs. or if canned use 2 to 3 cans)
• you can substitute spinach, swiss chard, mustard greens, cabbage, turnip greens, collard greens (these work well)
• 4 cups chicken broth or 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15 1/2 ounce) cans white beans
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomatoes or 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup of chopped parsley

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil then add garlic and onion.
2. Sauté these ingredients until soft.
3. Add kale and sauté until wilted.
4. Add 3 cups of the broth, 2 cups of beans, tomatoes, herbs,salt and pepper.
5. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Use a blender, or what have you, mix the remaining beans and broth until smooth.
7. I bet your asking why, its to thicken the soup.
8. Mix into soup.
9. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
10. Serve it up in bowls and dress with parsley.
11. For Vegetarians use the vegetable broth.
12. Thanks for all the great reviews. All the substitutions and ideas are wonderful. I will try most of them myself. Again thanks. Gil2 ( www.Portuguese-recipes.com).

Reviews

[Chef #726534]

Great soup! Reminds me of the things my old Portuguese Avo would make when I was growing up. I used organic kale and a lot less chicken broth, so it was more like a thick stew than a soup. Also used 2 tsp. of Italian seasoning instead of the rosemary and thyme. I didn't bother pureeing the beans and broth. Came out great! Even my picky husband loved it.

[HobbitMarley]

Thanks for a great recipe! I used spinach and kale, skipped the parsley and used cilantro instead. I didn't have any thyme, but came across some lemongrass seasoning and used that as a substitute. In spite of my improvisations, this was a family favorite that I'll make again.

[georgi]

Fantastic!! The only thing I changed was to use all kale and no parsley, since thats what I had on hand. Thank you for a keeper!