*I completely forgot I had this site until Square Space sent me a reminder that I’m being charged for renewing the domain, so I figured instead of having a portfolio site that I never update (and no one looks at) I’d just use this space to upload the occasional recipe. I’ll also start archiving them as I do more.
Mushroom, white bean, kale and bacon soup (31/10/21)
It might seem like a crap-ton of ingredients but a good, ultra flavourful soup requires cooking down lots of aromatics and veggies in order to draw out the sweet and earthy flavours that are otherwise diluted by the water. You’ll be surprised at how much mushrooms and leafy greens reduce in size when the water is cooked out of them. You’ll notice that I used the kale stems too. They’re completely edible, they just need a few extra minutes to tenderize in the pot (look, if it’s edible and I paid for it, I’m eating it). The flavours intensifies as it cooks and gets reheated, so add more chicken broth upon reheating to balance out the salt.
Ingredients
1 pack bacon, diced (I had a whole package about to go bad, but you can omit the bacon altogether or just use 2-3 strips)
680g button/cremini (white/brown) mushrooms, sliced
2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 minced garlic cloves
1 large bunch of kale, stems separated and diced, leaves torn into bite-sized pieces
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
2 tsp dried chili flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 tetra pack (about 1L) no salt-added chicken broth, plus more as necessary
Instructions
In a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, cook bacon until browned and starting to crisp. Add mushrooms, onions, garlic and chopped kale stems. Cook until the mushrooms have greatly reduced in size and most of the liquids have cooked off. The kale stems should be tender.
Add Italian seasoning and dried chili flakes. Add kale leaves. Stir and cook until the leaves are tender and wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt because you already have the bacon, you can always add more but you can’t take it out).
Continue to cook until the kale stems and leaves are soft. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil (add more liquid if necessary). Reduce heat and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes before serving with rice.