Bacon, Tomato and Kale Soup
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I am still spending some time with my parents. This however means that more new posts might be thin on the ground for a little while – I haven’t done any cooking or baking in 5 days!
This is a soup I made just before Christmas and it was wonderfully tasty, and so simple. As with lots of good things it came from the necessity to use up things I had to hand and from no specific recipe. The week before Christmas, for me, is a time to try to use up anything left in the fridge or from the veggie box. I still had a plentiful supply of the soup basics: onions, leeks and carrots. Add to this fresh black kale, a tin of tomatoes and some leftover crispy bacon, and you have the makings of the perfect winter warmer.
Bacon, Tomato and Kale Soup
~ serves 3 as lunch, 4 for a starter
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 parsnip, diced
- 1 leek, shredded finely
- 200 grams of fresh black kale, with large vein removed, and sliced into bite sized pieces
- 1 tin of tomatoes
- Leftover crispy bacon, to top the soup (I used smoked bacon)
- 500 ml of vegetable stock
First add a little olive oil to a pan over a medium heat, once warmed add the onion, carrots, parsnip and shredded leeks. Cook until softened around 10 minutes, before adding stock and leaving to simmer, with the lid on, for around 30 – 40 minutes.
After all the vegetables are softened, blend the mixture, using a hand blender. Be careful as it will be hot! I like my soup still with the odd chunk of vegetables so I am not to precious about this step!
Once blended put it back on a lower heat, adding the tin of tomatoes and the kale. Cook for another 20 minutes with the lid on then serve, topped with bacon.
I make a huge amount of soup these days but very few recipes I feel are actually worth posting, either because they are not very good or because they are not very interesting. This one is neither, I love the fact that I finally have a great kale recipe and that the other half won’t turn his nose up at it.
Related posts:
on Twitter
December 27th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
This sounds hearty and delicious, particularly with the addition of bacon. I’m always trying to clear out the fridge before Christmas, too!
December 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
With a little bacon, one can make anything! Great soup – sounds delicious!
December 29th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Unbelievable but this year I haven’t made anything with Kale…..so, will note this down! Usually, we make dutch hodgepodge (stampot) with potatoes, kale and bacon, a sort of mash….served with ‘worst’ – a smoked sausage.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:28 am
Wowow I love your soup, especially with the addition of kale!
Happy New Year
December 30th, 2009 at 2:23 am
You have won my heart! Kale IS a challenge to incorporate, and oh, such a collection I also have of posts I don’t think worthy – but when others tell you to go ahead (and I’m now one) please do. I suspect your day-to-day journal would be a great read, and my best guess is that you can turn the very simple into something you could not pay for at the best restaurant around!
January 2nd, 2010 at 4:19 pm
thanks for this hearty Kale soup dish to get us through the rest (and the worst) of winter! Happy New Year!
January 21st, 2010 at 10:44 pm
[...] usual soup repertoire of basics like Bacon, Tomato and Kale Soup and Carrot and Coriander Soup smell and taste wonderful but in no way elicit the same eye popping [...]
March 4th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I love kale and use it with mashed potato+seasoning in the dish; I also make a good quick stir fry.
Where I live parsnips are hard to come by, I have seen only once in 4 years! So, could I use the
turnip, instead.
This soup should taste fine.
Tks
March 4th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Hi Maris, parsnips are by no means necessary in this recipe. You could add carrots or turnip to replace the parsnips.
Thanks for the Kale suggestions I had never thought of having it in a stir-fry before, I am always looking for changes to my standard stir-fry recipe!