Roasted Garlic, White Bean and Kale Soup

I've been seeing a lot of Kale and White Bean Soup recipes lately. Just seeing the name of this soup makes me want it. I figured it was my turn to see what flavours I could creat using White Beans and Kale.

I decided to start with roasted garlic. Roasted garlic is up there among my top ten savoury ingredients. I still remember the time I bought a kilo of garlic, sliced the bottom off every bulb, placed them all in a baking dish, drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper. I roasted those bulbs for an hour and a half. The result? perfectly roasted garlic that I pureed and froze into ice cube trays. Brilliant.

Until Business got home and smelled the garlic as soon as he got out of his car.... in the driveway. You can imagine how thrilled he was with the lingering smell in the house....

Now, when I want to do a large batch I do it on the BBQ.

For this recipe though, I did one bulb of garlic, drizzled with olive oil and wrapped in tin foil. I put it in the oven at 400 for 45 minutes. The garlic should come out soft, and carmelized.

My Opa always grew Kale in his giant garden. Opa and Oma would harvest the kale, wash, blanch and freeze it. Then, they would share this, along with all the other goodies from their gardenwith us.

One of my favorite dishes, from the garden, was Boerenkool. It's a Dutch dish, made of potatoes, mashed with steamed kale, topped with smoked sausage and then served with salt and vinegar. I'll post a recipe soon, and I know you'll love it.

Anyway, back to the soup.

Roasted Garlic, White Bean and Kale Soup.

1 large onion, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 bulb roasted garlic
Olive oil
1 can white beans, drained and well rinsed
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 bunches of kale, washed, and chopped

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened and lightly browned. Add the cloves of garlic. Mash the cloves down a bit.
2. Add the white bean and mix well. I find this step helps give the beans some of the raosted garlic flavour.
3. Add the stock and bring up to a simmer.
4. 15 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the chopped kale. The soup is ready once the kale has softened.