The Circle of Dinner
A week or so ago, I posted this on FB: "On Saturday, I made drop biscuits to go with our leftover beef and barley soup... this evening, I made sausage gravy to go with our leftover biscuits. It's the Circle of Dinner."
And I really love being able to do things like that... leftovers from one meal that work well as an addition to the next. In that case, it was even better than that, because the beef and barley soup happened due to having enough extra beef to make the soup, leftover from what was needed for a previous meal.
A few days ago, I realized we had a couple of bunches of kale in the fridge that really needed to be used... so I went looking for a new way to cook them and happened upon this recipe out at the Weight Watchers website (which currently kinda sucks when it comes to linking to recipes, so I've included it here under the cut): Potato Kale Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 medium uncooked Spanish onion(s), diced
10 clove(s) garlic , coarsely chopped
1 medium uncooked leek, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 pound uncooked Yukon gold potatoes, diced
6 cups vegetable broth
3⁄4 pounds uncooked kale, Tuscan or curly, ribs removed, leaves chopped
1⁄2 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
1⁄4 tsp paprika, hot variety, or to taste
1 Heat oil in a large, wide saucepan over medium-low heat and add onions, garlic and leek; season with 1 teaspoon salt and sweat (cook over low heat, stirring frequently) until vegetables are cooked down and really soft with no color, up to 10 minutes.
2 Add potatoes, broth and remaining 1 tsp salt; simmer over low heat until potatoes are fully cooked, about 30 minutes.
3 Let potato-leek mixture cool to room temperature; puree directly in pot with an immersion blender until completely smooth (or puree in a food processor or blender, working in batches as needed, and then return puree to pot).
4 Bring soup to a simmer over medium heat; stir in kale. Season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with paprika.
Before I pulled out the immersion blender, I decided to give it a taste and... well, it was really bland. I had rackham give it a try and we debated what we could add to give it some pop. We put a few tablespoons of the soup into a couple of ramekins and tried adding spice blends, finally settling on hot curry. And it was pretty good! Not the best thing ever, but if I end up with a bunch of kale and some potatoes I need to use, I'd probably do it again.
And then last night, I got to do one of my favorite things... I used it to make something else entirely. I cooked up some carrots and cauliflower, added some chopped up raw chicken breast and a little more curry, then dumped the leftover "Soup" in with it and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Oh my word, it was *perfect*. I would totally make that soup again, only not as a soup... but as a base for curries. I'm actually wondering how well it would freeze, so I'd have a quick and nearly ready-made dinner on hand.
And I really love being able to do things like that... leftovers from one meal that work well as an addition to the next. In that case, it was even better than that, because the beef and barley soup happened due to having enough extra beef to make the soup, leftover from what was needed for a previous meal.
A few days ago, I realized we had a couple of bunches of kale in the fridge that really needed to be used... so I went looking for a new way to cook them and happened upon this recipe out at the Weight Watchers website (which currently kinda sucks when it comes to linking to recipes, so I've included it here under the cut): Potato Kale Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 medium uncooked Spanish onion(s), diced
10 clove(s) garlic , coarsely chopped
1 medium uncooked leek, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 tsp kosher salt, divided
1 pound uncooked Yukon gold potatoes, diced
6 cups vegetable broth
3⁄4 pounds uncooked kale, Tuscan or curly, ribs removed, leaves chopped
1⁄2 tsp black pepper, freshly cracked
1⁄4 tsp paprika, hot variety, or to taste
1 Heat oil in a large, wide saucepan over medium-low heat and add onions, garlic and leek; season with 1 teaspoon salt and sweat (cook over low heat, stirring frequently) until vegetables are cooked down and really soft with no color, up to 10 minutes.
2 Add potatoes, broth and remaining 1 tsp salt; simmer over low heat until potatoes are fully cooked, about 30 minutes.
3 Let potato-leek mixture cool to room temperature; puree directly in pot with an immersion blender until completely smooth (or puree in a food processor or blender, working in batches as needed, and then return puree to pot).
4 Bring soup to a simmer over medium heat; stir in kale. Season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with paprika.
Before I pulled out the immersion blender, I decided to give it a taste and... well, it was really bland. I had rackham give it a try and we debated what we could add to give it some pop. We put a few tablespoons of the soup into a couple of ramekins and tried adding spice blends, finally settling on hot curry. And it was pretty good! Not the best thing ever, but if I end up with a bunch of kale and some potatoes I need to use, I'd probably do it again.
And then last night, I got to do one of my favorite things... I used it to make something else entirely. I cooked up some carrots and cauliflower, added some chopped up raw chicken breast and a little more curry, then dumped the leftover "Soup" in with it and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Oh my word, it was *perfect*. I would totally make that soup again, only not as a soup... but as a base for curries. I'm actually wondering how well it would freeze, so I'd have a quick and nearly ready-made dinner on hand.