When it rains, I soup. Yesterday it rained, so I souped. Aside from what some might say is a not-so-fetching split pea green color, I think this soup is pretty freaking good lookin’. This soup’s main bragging right is that the recipe uses no dairy at all, but beans instead, to create a creamy texture. It’s god damn delicious–it just might earn a spot on the dream menu that I’m going to serve when Christopher Plummer comes to my house for dinner.
Recipe and a video of me singing a beautiful rendition of Edelweiss with afore mentioned Hollywood legend after the jump. Just kidding, sadly. BUT, I will show you how to make this yummy green soup. I’ll now also share with you a Sound of Music sad snapple fact–Christopher Plummer didn’t even sing the songs himself in the movie. All Captain Von Trapp’s songs were voiced by Bill Lee (who also sang ‘Cruella De Vil’ in 101 Dalmatians.) God, Chris and I are going to have so much to talk about over dinner. Okay, I digress.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 links of hot italian turkey sausage, removed from casing (optional–omission of this makes the dish vegetarian)
1 small brown onion, sliced
4 large garlic cloves, whole
1 head curly kale (or whatever varietal you have on hand), rinsed well
2, 15 ounce cans white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 rind of parmigiano reggiano cheese
1, 32 ounce box of vegetable stock
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
kosher salt & pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
Optional, crouton topping:
1 small french baguette
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt
olive oil
Directions
1. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, brown turkey sausage and break up into small pieces over medium-high heat. After 3-5 minutes, the sausage should be just cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add in roughly chopped onions and whole garlic cloves and sauté until soft, approximately 5 minutes.
3. Add in two tablespoons of the vegetable stock to the pan in order to get until the bits at the bottom of the pot up and into the onions & garlic mixture.
4. Raise the heat of the burner to high and tear 3/4 of the kale into medium-sized pieces and add into the pan (setting remaining portion aside for later) along with 1 can of rinsed and drained beans. Cook down until kale is wilted and has a little bit of charred color.
5. Add smoked paprika along with parmesan rind and fresh dill. Cover ingredients with remaining stock from box. Do not salt to taste at this stage! The parmesan rind is going to let off a lot of flavor that will add salt and you won’t be able to measure the salt level until after it’s done working.
6. Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour (truthfully, you could get away with 30 minutes but if you’re gonna do it, really do it.)
7. While soup is simmering, roll the remaining portion of kale before slicing into thin strips. These pieces will not be puréed like the ones in the pot now, so be sure they are bite-sized!
8. If you are going to opt in on the crouton topping (which you should), turn the oven to 325 degrees. Meanwhile, cut bread into bite-sized cubes (1/2 inch) and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
9. Drizzle bread cubes with olive oil and top evenly with granulated onion and salt.
10. Bake for 12 minutes, turning over once, halfway through. Set aside.
11. After soup is done doing its thing for an hour, remove the parmesan rind and test the soup for salt & pepper needs.
12. Add the entire mixture to the blender (or a food processor) and blend until smooth. I used my vitamix, working all the way to high speed, for 2 full minutes. This step will completely depend on what machine you are using! All that matters is that the soup is a texture you like.
13. Add the entire mixture to the blender (or a food processor) and blend until smooth. I used my vitamix, working all the way to high speed, for 2 full minutes. This step will completely depend on what machine you are using! All that matters is that the soup is a texture you like.
14. Put purée back into the pot and turn burner to a medium heat. Add remaining can of rinsed and drained beans, chopped kale, and turkey sausage and stir well. Bring all ingredients to temperature and allow kale to wilt, about 5 minutes.
15. Serve by topping with croutons and a little more fresh dill.
