Early fall visit to Greenville

As you will see in the following posts... I LOVE Autumn. The crispness of the air mimicked in apples and pears. The cool mornings and nights. Kale, pumpkins, butternut squash, and sage. The tones of orange, yellows, and reds. Makes me want to curl up on the couch with a good book.

I drove up to Greenville today to visit mom. I arrived near suppertime and mom suggested a hearty soup. BRILLIANT! She already had celery, carrots, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, and fresh rosemary from the garden. I persuaded her to take a trip to the market with me under the ruse of drawing inspiration from the isles. Secretly, I wanted some kale and butternut to fortify mom's vegetable soup plan.

My selfishness paid off in "Autumn-izing" the vegetable soup! We came back with kale, butternut squash, and spicy turkey sausage. Mom admitted that she never had kale. How do you live in the south for 15+ years and never eat kale?!? Apparently collard greens and spinach are a lot more popular among the hospital cafeterias- yuck!

The soup is pretty easy to make. The only time consuming parts were chopping up the veggies- particularly the butternut squash! I gave up half way and only did half of the squash. I coated the other half in chipotle olive oil and roasted it in the oven to use another time. This soup can also be made with other beans, barley, turkey meat... I've seen a lot of variations of this rustic soup. 

Ingredients:
2  medium yellow onions, diced
1 potato, diced
1/2 butternut squash (1/2lb), diced
3 celery sticks, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 bunch of kale, coarsely chopped
1 lb spicy turkey sausage, casing removed and chopped
1 can of cannellini beans
4 cups of chicken broth
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp of paprika
1 clove
salt and pepper to taste
chicken cubes- just in case!

In a big stock pot, coat onions in 2 tablespoons of oil (I used vegetable since that's the the only thing you find in an Indian household... that or Ghee- and we're not THAT kind of Indian family. We're the pseudo kind so canola and vegetable are staple items in our pantry). Soften onions, add celery and carrots. Season with bay leaf, paprika, rosemary, clove, salt and pepper. Add tomato and cook till softened. Then the add butternut squash and potatoes.

In a separate pan, cook the turkey sausage till browned and cooked through. The sausage we bought from the store was home made. It had fennel, garlic, oregano, and chili flakes so it had a definite kick to it.

Once the vegetables are well on their way to softening, add the turkey sausage. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

The turkey has great seasoning in it and releases the flavors to season the vegetables.

Add kale to the pot. Kale, like spinach, cooks down from an unruly, bushy mess to wilty leaves. I don't like cooking kale too much because unlike spinach, it retains some crunch. And I like different textures when I taste!

Add the chicken stock, cannellini beans and let simmer  on low to medium heat for about 15 minutes till all the seasonings mix into the vegetables and stock. We added two chicken cubes to bring the seasoning together. Next time I think I'll add some fennel root to the onion mix to tie the sausage seasonings in more.

It tastes better than it looks! Hearty, healthy, delicious bowl of Autumn goodness.

We finished the meal with warm granola, camembert, pear crumble with brown sugar and vanilla fig balsamic vinegar drizzled on top. Recipe to follow at some point.... once I emerge from my food induced coma.