American Fusion Kale Soup

This is one of the "peasanty-est" dishes I think I have ever experienced in my life, and with two teachers as parents, the end of August hits us hard. That wasn't necessarily the reason for this dish; it just so happened I picked up two pounds of kale for a ridiculously low price at Genuardi's, and we wanted something veggie-filled for the health of my grandpa and our own as well. This dinner occurred on the 20th...but yet again life has been a bit hectic lately, so here it goes.

I label this as an American fusion dish, since it takes into account all parts of America. We have kale and carrots that are more than likely local to some extent from North American soil, corn that, while grown in the good ol' U. S. of A., was certainly originally grown in Central/south America, and tomatillos providing the base of the soup from below the border as well. These tomatillos were locally grown and provided for me at a farmers' market, but hey...it's all about the semblance of a united American continent through a single dish. Also, this dish is really, really simply like a good pozole without the hominy. Instead, we substituted roasted corn, but did everything else similarly. The tomatillos were roasted to perfection as was the corn in the oven, developing a rich, earthy sweetness that only roasted vegetation alone can muster. This dish was quite spicy, since we used two jalapenos, two serranos, two roasted poblanos that were locally grown and rather spicy for such a mild pepper, and some italian hot peppers I picked up at that roadside stand on my way home from the beach. It made me sweat to eat it, which means I liked it and it cooled me down - as much as soup can, anyway. The garlic and onions provided a depth of flavor that any dish without I would find severely lacking in depth. I found that out the hard way one time when I made a bean soup in my rice cooker: it did not have layers of flavor...it was simply bland to some extent. It lacked the sauteed aromatics in the beginning to bolster and support the flavors of the Mexican spices I added later. If you get nothing else from reading my blog, just know that onions and especially garlic go a long way in making food that much healthier and tastier. Never leave out this beginning step!

As a general rule, kale holds up much better than any other leafy green I know except for collard greens. This makes it indispensable when dealing with soups. It makes the soup hearty, and it balances out the sweetness of root vegetables with its tasty green bitterness characteristic of such leaves. It also provides a surprising amount of protein for a leaf, so it allows for vegetarian-friendly meals that are both filling and hearty. The corn and tomatillos really benefited from the sweetness of the carrots and roasted red bell pepper as well as the intensity of the kale. There was a lot of kale: it does NOT shrink nearly as much as spinach or other wilting and insubstantial greens. It's absolutely my new favorite edible leaf - hands down.

Since this is simply a meatless alteration of an already fantastic Penkala Posole with corn and kale rather than hominy and chicken/pork, just use the methods of cooking called for in that earlier post, including a sole large roasted red bell pepper, sliced to add a bit of roasty, toasty sweetness with the added bitterness. Really it plays on all five tastes well and exhibits quite a balance of flavors. Try it out when you need to stretch the pot and the wallet to feed a crowd that isn't absolutely craving meat. Or you could make it on your own in a rice cooker or a one person sauce-pot on the stove. Either way it pleases the gullet.