Put some broth on it!
I went to Portland at the end of August to visit my cousins & their adorable new baby before swinging up to our family reunion outside of Seattle (where even more adorable babies awaited me!).
I LOVE PORTLAND. I love its neighborhood nooks. I love its food trucks. I love how ubiquitous responsible/sustainable/organic food is. I love that Portlandia now makes more sense to me. And I love Portland Soup.
What is Portland Soup, you ask? On our last night in the city, my cousin’s friends prepared a really delicious and hearty soup. It was so good that two days after returning to DC, I made my own batch, with a few twists on the original. And then I made it again, using produce I gathered at a recent farmer’s market haul (so fall fresh!). Every time I make it, it feels hearty but healthy, filling but not overly heavy. It’s a perfect fall soup.
This is also the type of soup that gets better each day you eat it for leftovers. If you make a batch of this on Sunday or Monday, you can eat it at lunch all week.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of quinoa
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 1 32 oz. container of organic/free range, low-sodium chicken broth (sometimes I splash in a bit more)
- 3 medium white potatoes
- 1 package (4 sausages) of fully cooked organic chicken or turkey Italian sausage (like Applegate)
- One bunch of kale
- Salt & pepper to taste
This recipe makes about 5 servings.
Prep work: remove the veins from your kale and roughly chop the leafy parts. Roughly peel the potatoes (I like a little skin on mine…it’s good for you!) and cut into small pieces. Peel the casing off your sausage and cut into small chunks.
Start boiling water for your quinoa. Prepare your quinoa according to the instructions on the package and set aside. While you wait: dice your onion & finely chop a clove of garlic. Toss into a large, deep pot and sauté with olive oil until the onions are translucent.
Pour the broth over the mixture, toss in the potatoes, and bring your soon-to-be soup to a boil. Turn your heat back down and simmer until your potatoes are tender (15ish minutes, but be liberal with fork tests). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add kale, sausage and quinoa, and continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until your kale has wilted. Then eat and enjoy! (and enjoy it again as you dig into leftovers all week.)
