Tuscan Kale Soup

I have really been into making soups for dinners recently! They are great on a cold weeknight and only require one pot. A lot of soup recipes start with a mirepoix (mix of carrots, celery and onion) and I found an already chopped and prepped mirepoix at Trader Joe’s that makes the recipe even easier! My secret ingredient in this recipe is a parmesan cheese rind. I was watching Food Network and Giada De Laurentiis was adding a cheese rind to her soup so I thought I’d give it a try! I had a block of parmesan that was almost down to the rind so I decided to throw it into the soup. The rind will not melt all the way so you will have to take it out but it adds a really great savory flavor to the soup! I have also seen very small blocks of parmesan cheese for sale at TJ’s and Safeway that you could buy to stick in the soup. If you decide not to go the cheese rind route the soup will still taste amazing!

Makes 4 dinner sized bowls of soup

Ingredients:

6 pieces of Bacon

4 cups of Low Sodium Chicken Broth (1 32 oz carton)

1 tub of TJ’s Mirepoix (or about 2 combined cups of onion, celery and carrots)

4 Garlic Cloves

2 cans of Cannellini Beans

1 small Parmesan Rind

½ pound or 5-6 large stems of Tuscan Kale

Parsley

Red Pepper Flakes

Pepper

Olive Oil

1. Heat up 1 tbsp of olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot over medium to high heat. Chop the bacon and add to the pan. Saute for 8 to 10 minutes or until bacon is golden and crisped. Remove from the pot and place on paper towels to soak up the grease.

2. While bacon is crisping finely mince the garlic cloves and chop mirepoix ingredients if not using a prepackaged mirepoix.

3. If you have excess bacon grease in the pot drain it into a glass cup or carefully wipe out with paper towels (Leave about 2 tbsp of bacon grease to saute the mirepoix).

4. Add the mirepoix and a dash of salt to the pot and continue to saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes until the vegetables start to become tender. Add the garlic gloves and a dash of red pepper and continue to saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Add 4 cups of chicken broth, both cans of cannellini beans (with their liquid), and the parmesan rind. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat to low and allow to cook for 10 minutes.

6. While soup is cooking, wash the kale and remove the leaves. Roughly chop kale and parsley. After soup has cooked for 10 minutes remove the parmesan rind (if it hasn’t melted completely) and add kale. Let soup simmer for another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to the soup to taste. You may not need a lot of salt as the bean liquid will be salty.

7. Serve soup topped with bacon and chopped parsley! Enjoy!