Kale Soup with Lemon, Dill and Leeks
A healthy weeknight dinner with lots of vegetables and tons of flavor.
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 2 leeks, whites and greens, chopped
- 2 carrots, sliced into coins
- 2 stalks celery, with any greens, chopped
- 1 big bunch kale I used Red Russian kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 3 tablespoons chopped dill
- 10 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
- 4 oz farfalline or other small pasta
Instructions
- In a large stockpot, saute garlic, leeks, carrots, and celery until the carrots start to soften. Add the kale, zest, lemon juice, dill, stock, and spices. Stir. Simmer until the carrots and kale are tender, about 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Stir in the finished soup. Serve.
My thoughts:
I don’t love kale but I can accept some varieties of it more readily than others. Red Russian kale is prettier and more tender than what is generally simply labeled as “kale” which can be a little tougher than I’d prefer in a green. Of course, you can use that kale in this soup but it might take a little longer. I do love a bitter green–give me rapini, dandelion greens, beet greens, collards, any chard any day but there is something a little one-note about kale.
But! We are all making do with what we have right now thanks to the coronavirus so when I ended up with a ton of kale from my produce delivery (no subs allowed right now) I knew I had to use it up. To jazz up the kale I tossed in some lemon juice, the last of the dill we bought last week and a ton of very tasty leeks.
The leek greens and the celery leaves are perfectly edible and tasty so I always add them in. They had a ton of flavor!
