This is a quick-cooking soup ready in less than 45 minutes to make use of fall garden or farmers’ market vegetables, including your kale. I enjoy the bright green hue of kale cooked separately in this soup. To skip that extra step, add kale directly to soup after it’s simmered for 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 whole leek, cut in half lengthwise, rinsed, and sliced
- 2 cups peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash (¾-inch dice)
- 4 carrots, diced (about 1½ cups)
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 6 cups water
- Salt
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices, or 1 cup roasted fresh tomatoes
- 5 cups kale (about 1 small bunch, stripped from stalk, cut into bite-size pieces, and rinsed)
- 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- Freshly ground black pepper
How to Make It
- In a soup pot, sauté the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the leek, butternut squash, carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté until the leek is wilted, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the chili powder and oregano and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the water, a few pinches of salt and the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked, but not falling apart.
- Meanwhile, bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook the kale, covered, in the boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, and add to the soup, along with the beans. Season with additional salt, until the flavors pop, and pepper.