Nigel Slater’s Chorizo and Kale Soup

Some of you may know that I recently embarked on a weekly Foodie News column in The Irish Independent’s Weekend magazine on Saturdays.  This not only started 2011 off with a delighted squeal of happiness but it has also allowed me to to work a few hours less at my day job as an EFL teacher.  Subsequently leading to a lot more time to cook and blog from home.  Hurray!

Last week’s Home Organics bag had a beautiful head of kale inside, with which I went to work on this gorgeous Chorizo and Potato soup by Nigel Slater, which I found over on London based blog Gourmet Traveller.

I adapted it ever so slightly to fit in with other ingredients in my Home Organics bag, and you can follow the recipe yourself after the jump!

What you need for a Nigel Slater adapted Chorizo & Potato Soup for a hearty lunch/dinner for 2

1 large onion, finely sliced in a half moon shape

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into medium sized pieces

3-4 handfuls of kal leaves, shredded

200g cooking chorizo, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2- 3 clovese of garlic

1 litre (4 cups) of boiling water

2 bay leaves

Olive oil

Salt ‘n’ peppa

Something I like about this soup is its lack of stock.  Although I had a moment of doubt about using just water, I had enough faith in my culinary BFF chorizo to add enough flavour to the soup without adding an salt-overloaded stock cube.  I was not disappointed with the result.

Heat oil over a medium to high heat in a deep frying pan and cook the onions gently for about 4 minutes.

Add the garlic, potatoes and carrots to the pan once the onions have softened a bit.  Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.  Now add the water, bay leaves and season with salt and black pepper.  This is where I had my moment of doubt because it just looked like a big sink full of floating bits of veg.  Have no fear, this soup will come through.

Bring it the boil and let it simmer away for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are soft and ready to crumble.

In the last 5 minutes of boiling, add the chopped chorizo to a small frying pan over a medium heat.  No need to use oil, the chorizo releases the most delicious oil itself.  Keep warm once the pieces have crisped up a bit.

Still on the simmer, use a potato masher or fork to mash up your potatoes so that the water suddenly become more soupy like.  Now add your kale and simmer for another 3 to 4 minutes until tender.

Serve the soup in a bowl and sprinkle over the chorizo.  Be careful not to let too much of the chorizo oil into the soup  as it will make it oily.  Instead of chucking the oil, why not pour it over a bit of toast or bread to go along with your soup.  Win!

ZNOMZ!

TUNE

Can’t stop listening to this tune at the moment from Tune-yards. Have a listen via the link below and you’ll see why.  Amaze!

Bizzness – Tune-yards (on The Hype Machine)

Categories: Dinner, Lunch

10 Comments

  1. I have been meaning to congratulate you on your new writing gig for AGES. So here we go: congratulations!

    I am not the biggest fan of kale, but I suspect Mr. Slater could make me love it – this looks delish. And everything’s good with chorizo added, right?

    • I really like green, green veg, perhaps kale most of all so this was a win win for me. Definitely give this a go, have faith in the power of chorizo to make everything taste amaze.

      And thank you so much for the congrats! Congrats to you on your food blog as well, long time coming :) I’ve added you to my blogroll which I somehow managed to neglect to do so until 2 minutes ago – sorry!

  2. Congratulations on the column! You’ll be blimmin’ great at it

  3. sounds delish and im cooking it but where do you put the garlic?

    • Oh NO! I’m so sorry, I left the garlic out of the recipe. Put it in with the carrots and potatoes to fry off a bit. Hope you enjoyed the soup as much as I did!

  4. how cool is that and so very happy that now you have more time to devote to the important stuff that we love to read! congratulations… I love chorizo but haven’t had it in soup, sounds hearty and flavorful and maybe even a bit healthy!

    • Deifnitely give chorizo a go in soups, so flavoursome! And thank you so much for the congrats, I’m delighted :)

  5. Pingback: Nigel Slater | Nigel Slater’s Chorizo and Kale Soup « I Can Has Cook? | Hardywise