White Bean, Kale and Chorizo Soup

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I have been craving soups lately. This was one I made a couple of weeks ago when, to my delight, I realized I had almost all the ingredients required, minus the kale. S’okay. I walked to the store and got kale!

The original recipe (from the defunct, “Cooking Live” on Food Network) called for dried beans and 3 chorizo sausages. I used canned beans and a 2:1 ratio of turkey sausage to pork chorizo. My turkey sausage was raw, so I cooked that in link form and then sliced up (to avoid the casing shrinkage). My chorizo was cooked already, so I just chopped and browned that. Then, I started the soup in all the sausage drippings. Oh yeah, I added a couple of potatoes too.

The paprika, saffron and sherry vinegar totally rock this soup (and the spices give it a very pretty color!)

White Bean, Kale and Chorizo Soup
Recipe adapted from Sara Moulton
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
6 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt
Pinch saffron threads
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Spanish chorizo sausages, about 3/4 pound, cut into 1/2-inch dice (or a mix of chorizo and turkey sausage — this is what I did, 2 turkey sausages and 1 chorizo sausage, this worked really well)
1 large onion, finely chopped (I used red)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 large red or yellow bell pepper, finely diced
1 tbsp sweet paprika
2 medium, red potatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
1 bunch kale, about 3/4 pound, tough stems removed, washed well, and coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Sherry vinegar, to taste

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Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a plate.

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Add the onion; reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the red pepper and the paprika. Cook for 2 minutes longer.

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Add 6 cups of stock and the beans. Stir in the saffron with the soaking liquid, the sausage, and the potatoes.

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Bring back to a simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Add the kale and cook until that is wilted, about 5 minutes longer.

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Season with salt and pepper, stir in the vinegar, and serve hot in bowls.

6 Replies to “White Bean, Kale and Chorizo Soup”

  1. This whole concept is pretty flawless. We’re having a bit of a vegetarian spell, so we tried this without sausage, just a pinch of pimenton, a cup of canned tomatoes, and a hefty handful of grated parmesan instead…I wouldn’t say we missed the meat at all. Although chorizo sounds really good at the moment.

  2. I just made this recipe last night and it was a big hit! I did not use saffron because I did not have any (although I must buy some because it’s delish!), but it still turned out rich an yummy!
    I want to try the above apple cake next!

  3. This was delicious! I swapped meat-free chorizo for the real stuff when the ingredients on the chorizo package read lymph nodes and salivary glands. Yikes. Perfect winter soup and a great way to use the endless kale that keeps getting delivered in my CSA box. 🙂

  4. I found this recipe when I realized that the bookmark I had for Sarah Moulton’s recipe had been removed from the Food Network site. Amazingly delicious! Whole family loved it, which is saying a lot considering I have 3 toddlers and kale is never the obvious choice for them. I couldn’t find any decent chorizo that didn’t include lymph nodes and salivary glands (shudder) so I opted for turkey sausages and soy-rizo, the vegetarian option for chorizo. Soy-rizo was very soft and didn’t cut into nice pieces, but I dolloped small bits of it into the soup and it added a wonderful color and flavor (although it sort of disintegrated into the broth). Overall: A! Thanks for posting.

  5. Whoops, sorry for the double-post. When I wrote the first review it returned an error message so I assumed it hadn’t taken. Feel free to delete one of them.

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