A Garden Lunch

Though my desire to eat outdoors in the garden has not yet been realized due to the lack of an outdoor table, we still are enjoying the garden's bounty during lunch and dinner at the kitchen table.

Soren bringing in kale from the garden

We've been munching on greens including lettuce, kale, swiss chard and arugula, as well as radishes and herbs, which have become plentiful over the summers, having wintered quite well.

For lunch today, I made an easy vegetarian Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup using fresh kale, herbs and even frozen tomatoes from last year's harvest.

VEGETARIAN PORTUGUESE KALE AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced,
• 2 potatoes, cut into chunks
• 8 leaves (give or take) of kale, tough stems removed and finely chopped
• 3 cups chopped tomatoes (canned, frozen, or fresh)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 cans of white beans (or 4 cups cooked beans)
• 6 cups of vegetable stock (or water)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• handful of fresh sage, chopped finely
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat a dutch oven or soup pot, then add the oil.  Saute the onion and garlic and 1/2 of the sage leaves.  When the onions are translucent, add the stock, potatoes, tomatoes, paste, kale and vinegar.  Cook until potatoes are soft and the kale is tender.   Add the rest of the sage, and salt and pepper the soup to taste.

Serve with crusty bread or rice and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese (not really Portuguese, but tasty!).

I think this would be great with a Spanish Rioja wine, which I haven't had for years.  I see a trip to the liquor store in my future.

UPDATE: My adoring, blog reading husband brought home a bottle for dinner (we had leftovers).  And it was as good as I remembered from our Spanish honeymoon. :)