Kale and New Potato Soup

Taken from a late 90's edition of Organic Gardening magazine. Quantities aren't listed in the original recipe, but by just following my intuition this has made an excellent soup for me for fifteen years. What's worked for me is to use enough soup stock to cover the potatoes as they boil- that makes a good liquid ratio. If you measure out enough stock to cover, then picture a nice shot of half and half near the end, that will give you a good idea how how much you're making. Picture how much Kale you think you'd like in that amount of soup, and you're in business.

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 9-99
• Yields: 1 pot of soup

Ingredients

•  new potato
•  kale
•  butter
•  chicken stock
•  half-and-half
•  salt
•  black pepper

Directions

1. Boil unskinned potatoes in good chicken broth (or vegetable broth). Use enough stock to well-cover the potatoes.
2. Meanwhile, chop some kale and stir fry it in the butter. Again, use the level of the broth covering your potatoes, plus a little extra, to guess how much soup you'll have in the end. Chop as much kale as you think you'd like for that much soup, and saute the kale on fairly high heat until it's browned in a few places.
3. Remove your potatoes from the stock, mash them, then return them to the pot. Stir in the kale, a good shot of half and half, and salt and pepper to taste. I'm generous with the pepper; it's what really gives this soup a kick.
4. Shredded cheese is a nice garnish with this, too.