Russian Kale Soup with Smoked Sausage

Well, the nights are drawing in and I've noticed a lot of people saying it's Soup Season.  Well, guess what, here at Soup Tuesday, it never stops being soup season.  I never seem to be one for seasonal dishes anyway.  I eat stews in the middle of summer and salads in the snow.  It's all good to me.

However, what I do enjoy at this time of year is the later crops that arrive, like turnips, swede, big carrots and dark cabbages.  Today's soup involves just one of these, but it's my favourite!.  As I'm on a bit of a crusade to make soups from the more un-loved soups, I remembered when I was a kid and my favourite dish was Steak and Kidney pie (Still is my favourite actually) and my Mum would always serve it with a type of cabbage that I just can't seem to find anywhere any more - it had dark green leaves like a savoy, but was smooth, and had a taste that was almost bitter.  If anyone knows what variety it was, or even where to get my hands on said cabbage, I would love you for ever and dedicate a soup to you...

In lieu of that cabbage, I am including Kale in tonight's soup, which is a hearty winter warmer to get you in the mood for longer evenings, snow drifts and mince pies in the shops (I know they are already there, which is good news, bring on Xmas...)  Kale is pretty simialr in taste to the cabbage I remember from being a kid, and I know that its flavour is not to everyone's taste, but I like it as it has the strong, almost bitter thing going on, and is a prefect complement to the smoked sausage that goes into the soup as well

Ingredients
1 Onion
1 Large Bunch of Red Kale
200g Smoked Sausage
1 Tin Tomatoes
1 Tin Borlotti Beans
3 Cloves Chopped Garlic
1tsp Chopped Fresh Rosemary
1tsp Chopped Sage Leaves
1.2l Chicken Stock
Salt & Pepper

Method
1.  Heat some olive oil in your soup pan.  Gently fry the  finely onion, garlic, rosemary and sage for 3-5 minutes, until the onion starts to colour

2. Add the tomatoes and stock, then bring to to boil

3.   Finely shred the kale, removing the stalks, and add this to the soup, as well as the beans and 2/3s of the sausage, cut into cubes.

4.  Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes, until the kale has completely cooked and softened.

5.  Slice the remaining sausage and fry this in some oil until it starts to brown.

6.  Check the seasoning of the soup, serve in warm bowls with a couple of the fried sausage slices on top.  Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Spicy Bean Burgers

So I was free-styling a mean for the end of the week, as I usually crash in from work and just want junk food, but in this time of resolutions (Such as the one I made to lose some weight, but horror-of-horrors this might mean cutting down on beer, and me with lots of exciting home brew ideas to try...) I wanted something a bit healthier.

And so I thought - bean burgers - they are pretty healthy, right?  And they must be easy to make too, right?  And you know what, I was right, and guess what also, they are tasty too.  So if you are looking for an alternative to meaty snacks, why not make some of these, freeze them and then dig them out when you need a meal in a hurry!

Ingredients


2 Tins of beans (I used chickpeas, but kidney, black, or any other variety are good too)
2 Onions - Finely chopper
2 Cloves Garlic
A good handful of fresh coriander
1tsp Cumin
1/2tsp Chili Powder
Some cream crackers
Salt and pepper


Method
Fry the onions until they brown slightly.  Put them in a food mixer with the (drained) beans, garlic, coriander and spices, then season to taste.  Blitz the mixture until it turns into a thick and fairly smooth paste.

In a pestle and mortar, crush the crackers, and add them a bit at a time, to the bean paste, until it thickens up.  The number of crackers needed will vary depending on consistency of the bean mixture, bu you are looking for a firm texture, so the burgers don't fall apart when you cook them.

Once you have the right texture, leave the mixture to stand for 10 minutes, then form into patties - the recipe should make six to eight, depending on how small you want them.  Then you can either freeze them for later, fry or grill them (Frying works best, but grilling is more healthy...)

Serve however you like your burgers - I like mine smothered in full fat mayo and lots of cheese.  Hmmm, so much for that diet idea then...

Enjoy!

Home Made Baked Beans

Before we go any further, a confession - I can't stand tinned Baked Beans.  I know that marks me out as a food heretic in many people's eyes, but it's true.  Luckily it's about my only weakness when it comes to food - I will eat anything else (oh apart from Salad Creme - tastes like mayo that's gone off... Maybe I just have a thing against Heinz products, apart from Oxtail Soup, which is wonderful!)

So why am I finding myself writing a recipe for what is essentially glorified baked beans?  Well...  I think I may have mentioned that it's been my birthday recently - and if you feel the need, contact me for a present list, I don't mind if they are belated (Hallmark make cards for every occasion...) and as a special birthday present, Team Soup de-camped to Cambridge for the weekend to, umm, camp.  On the way we stopped off at Melton Mowbray to sample some rather amazing pies, ate delicious Wild Boar sausages in a pub near our campsite and I also had cooked for me a brilliant Steak and Kidney pie a la Delia (my special birthday meal)

Ribollita

It's the end of the month and as usual, things are a bit tight, so it's time to make cupboard food!  That is, try to make something nice with whatever is left in the fridge, cupboard or freezer - a bit like when I was a student, but hopefully I'm a bit better at throwing things together these days.

There are quite a few recipes from all over the world that seem to fit into this category of food - and this is not to say that these meals aren't tasty, wonderful, nourishing, or classy when made with the right, and often expensive ingredients, but they can also be put together with whatever is at hand.

For instance, Minestrone can be made with so many variations of ingredients, you can pretty much always cobble something together that is at least approaching a decent soup with that last carrot, the onion at the back of the drawer, a tin of tomatoes and some stand-by pasta - hey presto Minestrone!

This soup is another version of that idea - a Tuscan version, but I'd love to hear what your idea of an 'end of the month' meal is, before pay day rolls around and you can eat extravagantly again!