Budget Gourmet Dinner

Budget Gourmet Spanish Kale Soup

This recipe yields a soup that tastes as good as my bowl from my favorite Spanish restaurant but I can stay warm in the house instead of venturing out in subzero temps.  If you like to bake and have the time I usually add a nice loaf of crusty bread to my dinner.  But you can easily buy that at the store slice and heat in the oven, so good dipped in the soup.  One this I always make with this soup is my homemade Sangria and by using seasonal fruit it is super affordable and tastes really authentic.  In the summer right through the winter and into Spring again Kale flourishes so if you have room plant a couple plants (believe that is all you need) and take advantage of this veggie.  It is the easiest thing to grow and you can use it in a ton of different ways.

Ingredients:
2 cans chicken broth (or 4 cups homemade)
Ham hock
1 Bag or bunch of Kale
1 28oz can diced tomatoes (in summer I would use fresh diced)
1 can cannellini beans
2 medium yellow onions diced
3 lbs potatoes diced
2 tbs Spanish paprika
Salt and pepper

First thing is to cook the ham hock for about 1 hr in the chicken broth.  This gives such a great depth of flavor over just cooking in water.  Simmer the ham hock until the meat falls off the bone.  Then cool the hock in a bowl until ready to use.  I like a really smokey ham hock for this recipe to help add flavor.  We also do this recipe with dried Spanish chorizo (but that is not a budget recipe).

Fry the onions over medium for about 2 minutes just until translucent, turn to low add garlic and saute for another minute.  I turn it to low because I do not want the garlic to brown.  If the garlic browns it tends to get bitter and really impacts the overall flavor.

 Dice potatoes into small 1 inch or 1/2 inch pieces.  I like a nice waxy potato (a new potato or a Yukon gold work best)  they tend to hold up better after cooking.

Turn heat to medium low, cover and cook for 10 minutes

Add paprika, salt and pepper and cook for another minute

 Dice the ham taken off the bone and add to pot.

Add kale at one time or in batches until you've gotten the whole bag in the pot.  It looks like it would be way too much but it cooks down to nothing so be sure to just add then wait a minute til the kale wilts and add more.  This is kale soup after all, you want kale to be the main ingredient.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

Looks like too much kale, but just keep adding it until the bag is empty, trust me it will never be too much!

Add beans and simmer to 10 minutes more.  Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper and serve.  Yum!

The kids love this soup and it has such great nutritional value.  They will eat two bowls of this every time I make it.