I know, I know. It’s freaking 80 degrees and I’m making soup. So sue me. I like soup.
Moreover, soup is a great way to use up some of the vegetables that are literally taking over my kitchen. They won’t fit in the fridge. They are overflowing. My weekly farm boxes have been generous, wonderful, delicious. But…plentiful. Plentiful to the point of having to work to eat it all. We went out to eat once or twice this week so I was falling behind on the vegetable consumption project. I’m trying to be creative so we eat more than just gigantic salads every night but there has been salad. A lot of salad. So. Soup. I’m breaking up the salad and rice bowl parade with soup.
This is similar to potato soups I’ve made before but the yummy kicker on this one is the crunchy pile of – stick with me here – kale breadcrumbs! Crazy, right? They were delicious. Garlicky, crunchy, salty. They were the perfect complement to the soup. And who knows? The leftovers may find themselves gracing a salad too.
Rustic potato leek soup with crunchy kale breadcrumbs.
6 red potatoes, diced
2-4 leeks (mine weren’t very big so I used 4) – reserve a little thumb sized chunk of leek to blend with the breadcrumbs
2 cups cabbage, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick butter
Salt & pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. dill
1 bunch kale (I used red russian kale, but any variety will do)
1-2 large clove garlic
1/4 cup parmesan
2 slices sourdough bread
Sea salt (I used infused sriracha sea salt from lordsofsalt.com for an extra kick but any coarse sea salt will work just fine.)
Cover potatoes and cabbage with water in a soup pot. Add a big pinch of salt, bring to a boil, reduce heat a bit and cook until tender. Drain off most of the water. Using a potato masher mash potato mixture (a little or a lot depending on the texture you like – I left mine pretty chunky but if you prefer it really smooth, put it in a blender and puree and then return to the pot. Add broth, cream and seasonings to taste. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
While potatoes are cooking, sauté leeks in a pan with the butter. When soft, blend up in a blender or food processor with a little broth or cream to help it blend smoother. Add leek mixture to the pot.
Heat oven to 400˚. In a food processor, blend up reserved leek chunk, garlic, sourdough bread, kale, and a pinch of sriracha salt (or regular sea salt) until it makes coarse crumbs. Spread out on a large cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment and bake 15-20 minutes or until crunchy, stirring about every 5 minutes.
Taste the soup and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve in a bowl with a little (or big!) heap of breadcrumbs.
Serves 4-6.
3hungrymonkeys 