Curly Kale and Cauliflower soup recipe
For me, it’s all about what is either in season, on special
or left over in my cupboards. You know
how there is always a spare potato or two from different packs at the bottom of
your basket, or bags of onions that you bought on special but never got around
to using, and are beginning to sprout… well, this soup uses whatever you have
around.
I especially bought the cauliflower and kale, and to be
honest, Ive not tried this combination before.
Normally its cauliflower, leek and potato, and my girls LOVE this soup,
which was a bit of a surprize.’
I saw that leeks are in season and very cheap at the moment,
like 3 for $2. Normally I’d buy them,
but I remembered that I had a huge bag of onion at home so I’ll use them
instead.
In this recipe there is
1 whole cauliflower rinsed and cut or broken into rough
pieces.
1 bunch of curly kale rinsed and torn
5 or 6 onions roughly chopped
3 potatoes. I only
used three today as they were the stragglers left behind, normally I’d add a
couple more. The potato brings the soup
together.
Garlic…as much or as little as you like, smashed
Sea salt or stock cubes.
Water.
The very first thing I ever do before cooking anything is to
find some music to play that will add to the mood of cooking. For example, If I’m making a curry, it would
be Indian lounge fusion, If making African food, I’d listen to Angelique Kidjo,
or Mama Mozambiqui. When cooking hot
food, I listen to cool Jazz.
Today I chose a Buddha bar compilation…Siddhartha, Spirit of
Buddha Bar. You choose what ever feels right for your dish.
After peeling, washing and chopping everything, I cook the
onion in plenty of olive oil until soft, and slightly caramelized…do not
burn…like I often do. Use the biggest
pot you can find, because this will start off really big, but as it cooks and
softens it will reduce slightly in height and volume.
Next add garlic, and potato, and stir until garlic is
fragrant. Next I add the cauliflower,
and toss everything around. Once all of
that is in the pot, I’ll add the water.
I never fully cover the vegetables, as I like my soups a bit
thicker. So just enough water to come
under the top by about an inch.
Once the water and veg start to boil, I turn it down, and
add my stock cubes. I start with 2, and
let them dissolve in the simmering water for a few minutes, Stir it to
distribute, and
then using a plastic or melamine spoon I taste it. At this point, you can either leave it, or
add a couple of extra cubes…one at a time tasting in between for salt level, or
add in a sprinkling of sea salt. Don’t
do what I normally do, and add too much salt…the sea salt is coarser, and takes
longer to dissolve, so you may think there isn’t enough salt, but then it
tastes way too salty after about 10 minutes.
Then it’s TOO LATE…lol
Normally, I’d be stirring, and singing into the pot… It
really infuses a magical and loving quality into your food, that your family
will reap the benefits of.
Just then when I threw in my garlic, I also added in a pinch
of caraway seeds and cumin seeds…
I just added the potato.
Next I added my cauliflower, and guess what…It was way too
much!!! OMG, it nearly came out the top of my pot. Then I remembered why. Last few times I only used half a cauliflower…duh. No worries.
I just took half of it out, and will bag it and use it next time. Gotta leave room for the kale. I’ll be adding that at the end.
So hang around until you can see your soup start to boil,
and if you have gas, turn it down to a low simmer . If you have electric turn it down as soon as
it begins boiling, and even remove it to a cold plate to calm it down a
bit. I don’t like over boiling soups and
vegetables because the high heat will destroy your water soluble vitamins, and
render your food less nutritional, so don’t do what I normally do, and wander
off, check your facebook and forget you have something on your stove, and only
remember when you smell burnt wafts through your house, or even your smoke
alarms might get activated… (clears throat).
While I was cooking, I got onto a skype call with my friend
who is a nutritionist, among several other things, and she told me, kale
needs to be cooked, as eating it raw is not good for our thyroid.
“”Goitragens compounds interfere with iodine production-
thiroid killers
So I have just thrown the cut up kale in…and it simmered for
20 minutes. I noticed that my water
level is quite low, so I will add in 1 more cup of boiled water and a touch of
sea salt.
Once Ive done that I will keep it on the residual heat and
let it cool down so that I can blitz it with my hand held blender.
you can wiz it rough or smooth as you like. I think if you have kids, smooth is better. For me, I'm ok with the chunks left it
Enjoy
you can wiz it rough or smooth as you like. I think if you have kids, smooth is better. For me, I'm ok with the chunks left it
Enjoy
