greener kale soup

For a long while I thought of kale as just the vegetable with the mud color. Then a couple of years ago a friend made a kale soup for me at her home in Budapest that was fresh green in color and fresh in taste. Thereafter I thought back of the soup a lot of times but had no idea how to make it and never gave it a shot on my own (the friend and I didn't keep in touch frequently and somehow I thought that if I contacted her out of the blue, I should not ask for a recipe...:)).

In my quest I got a hint by Sybille-Anna (thank you!) who is familiar to Hungarian cuisine as well as all other things food-related, I am sure :)

So with her directions I made my first kale soup - being very attentive not to overcook the green. I have no idea if this is Hungarian or if the soup in my memory was. I am not even sure if this is the taste that I was seeking for as there have been many years in between... But I am happy with the result. And pity for those winters beforehand without having rejoiced in this color and the lovely bitter aroma. It made up a fine match with orange.

basic kale soup

prep & cooking time 20 min.

1. thoroughly rinse the kale (as much as fits comfortably into a big pot), tear the leaves into smaller sizes and slice the stems finely. salt the kale a little.

2. dice 1 onion and 3 potatoes and sweat all in a large pot with 1 tbsp butter.
add the kale and sweat for around 5 minutes.

4. add 1 l vegetable broth , close with a lid and let everything simmer for around 10 min until the kale gets soft. stir from time to time.

5. add pepper and if needed, additional salt to taste. puree the soup.

6. serve with sour cream and optionally with dried or fresh orange zests.

Last but not least, I dedicate this dish to this very talented lady who appeared in a television cooking show last year and is a celebrity in the blogosphere now :)