I’ve made a mushroom soup before that featured kale as a side contender (and additionally, in that one, brown rice). I love mushroom-flavoured anything, and when I make soup I always use dried mushrooms as the base. The hardiness of kale goes perfectly with it; unlike spinach, it doesn’t wilt to a gloppy mess, and instead remains substantial and girthy regardless of the length of cooking time.
(Sidenote: Just realized this hadn’t been published, although it’s well over a month old)
When my parents come over for dinner, it’s a (small) battle between differentiating tastes. Although they are both open to pretty much everything, certain restrictions still win out. My mom is following the MS Recovery Diet – which corresponds with some of my own dietary needs and choices (in this case: gluten, dairy and eggs). However, recent ELISA tests have shown more intolerances so she’s testing the waters by vetoing them out. Needless to say, they were often staples in our dinners we’d share, so sometimes it’s difficult to come up with ideas.
My dad, on the other hand, is completely open to vegan cuisine. He loves tofu scrambles and rich bean chilis and, if he doesn’t totally dig it, just slathers it with Frank’s Hot Sauce and is happy. However, because my mom can’t have tofu (or soy) or legumes of any sort, these often aren’t on the menu.
But even for vegetable-based dishes, we run into problems. I love to cook seasonally, but am open to all vegetables, although I don’t really like potatoes. My dad, however, doesn’t really dig greens cooked in any form, so often my favourites are out.
And so on, and so forth.
Luckily, there are a few things we do agree on. We all love mushrooms (especially my dad and I), and we are all fond of soups (although my mom likes them brothy, while dad and I prefer a chunky stew-like mass). We also all love roasted cauliflower and broccoli with garlic-lemon-tahini sauce, which definitely makes an appearance most days I have them over for dinner.
On Mother’s Day, the weather was a little chillier than normal, so I opted to make a mushroom soup. It was delicious and we all loved it – and I’m eating the leftovers right now for lunch.
Many Mushroom Soup with Kale
This recipe is pretty versatile and I am typing it out from what I remember. But a rule of thumb for mushroom soup: use a heavy hand with the salt. The earthy flavour of mushrooms is brought out by some good salting, and we often need more than we might think. Because I don’t use a broth, it also requires that extra sprinkle, in order to enjoy the true flavour of the fungi. I use a wet grey sea salt from France (sounds fancy, but really, just from Costco), and it’s one of the best kitchen ingredients I have.
1 package dried morel mushrooms
a few cups boiling water
2+ cloves of garlic (as much as you love)
2 small onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
lots of cremini mushrooms (I filled a brown paper bag)
thyme, oregano
a few shakes of turmeric
many handfuls of fresh kale, washed and chopped
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
3-4 tablespoons masa harina
Soak mushroom in boiling water. Meanwhile, saute garlic, onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms in a little oil in a large pot until softened and fragrant. Add herbs, turmeric. Mix around.
Strain the mushrooms into a measuring cup, squeezing out all of the extra juicy goodness. Pour the mushroom broth in the pot with the vegetables. Rinse the soaked mushrooms, chop finely, and add to the pot.
Season with salt and fresh ground pepper and add kale and additional water to make a soup consistency that you desire. Let simmer for awhile, until the ingredients are soft.
Add masa harina and simmer for about 20 additional minutes to thicken a little.
