omorka | Greens are Greener

As those of you who have followed my random grumblings might remember from the "memorable thing" meme, I can't eat spinach anymore; it's one of the things that reliably sets off my trick stomach (right after peppermint). For a normal person, this would be no great loss, but I'm one of those weirdoes who actually likes spinach. This is, in fact, a significant irritation to me, as a number of my favorite recipes - including quite a few of my skillet and soup pot quickies - rely solely on spinach and onions for their vegetable content. (I can't eat raw onions anymore either, but that's no great loss; I never liked them in the first place. The best onion is one that's transparent and golden, starting to go caramel-brown on the edges, and cooked ones don't cause me any trouble.)

The upshot of this is that I've been experimenting with other leafy greens. Now, as a true daughter of the South, I'd always eaten collards on New Year's Day, but only the long-simmered-with-salt-pork kind that my grandmother's old cook used to make, and only then - my mother, being of German and Scandinavian background, didn't ever use them. The only turnip or mustard greens I'd ever had as a child were the awful canned type in school cafeterias. I don't think anyone ever offered me kale or chard - at least, I don't remember them. I have discovered over the past few years that I actually do like chard (all colors), collards, and kale quite a bit. I haven't experimented much with mustard greens yet.

Having gone to Middle Market yesterday and gotten both collards and kale, I ended up making a new recipe for dinner. I am rather enamored of this now - the whole apartment still smells like the stuff. It's really not that different from the hamburger-chard soup that's one of my standard throw-togethers, but the extra flavoring is really interesting. Downside: not particularly low-fat.

Kale and Chorizo Soup:

1/2 lb. to 1 lb. chorizo, removed from the casings and sliced crosswise into disks
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium boiling potatoes (red, white, or gold), scrubbed and cut in 1/2" dice
4 cups (or 2 cans) chicken broth
1 bunch (about 1 lb.) kale, washed, stems removed, cut into strips
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1 can (16 oz) diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste (start with 1/4 tsp of each)

Heat a Dutch oven or other large, heavy saucepan over med-high heat. Add the chorizo; stir to brown evenly, breaking up a few of the disks. Add the onions and continue to stir until all the onions are transparent. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the potatoes, stir well, and cook for 3 minutes. Pour in the chicken broth and 2 cups water; turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the kale in three batches, stirring between each; if the liquid does not cover, add another 1-2 cups water. Allow to return to a boil. Add the kidney beans, bay leaves, thyme, and Cajun seasoning, cover, turn the heat to medium, and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper, stir, re-cover, raise heat to medium high until it returns to a boil, and simmer 15 more minutes. Serve with bread.

Note 1: I didn't garnish this with anything, but a sprinkling of either chopped fresh Italian parsley or poppy seeds would look festive and wouldn't hurt it a bit.

Note 2: Yes, the chorizo exudes massive amounts of orange grease during cooking. You need that to cook the onions and the potatoes in. If it grossly offends you, you can refrigerate the mess after adding the chicken broth and skim the semi-solidified grease off the top before reheating to a boil and adding the kale, but don't drain it off before you've sauteed the potatoes.