Kale & Nut Soup with Wild Mushrooms

The Autumn 2014 Edition of the Food & Drink magazine is in the LCBO and it's full of recipes that I want to try! With it being a cold and rainy weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out one of the soups. The recipe in the magazine is called "Kale & Chestnut soup with wild mushrooms" but I wasn't able to find chestnuts anywhere! I did a search for Chestnut substitutes and that didn't really help me either so I ended up going with a mixture of nuts.

I found this soup to be a little bit nutty/grainy in texture but the sweetness of the apple and nuts came through to really take away the kale's bitterness. The fried shiitake mushrooms with thyme and garlic is just amazing as a garnish! Don't make this soup without the mushroom garnish.



Ingredients (Soup):
2 - Tbsp butter
1 - Onion, chopped
1 - Small McIntosh apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 - Cups chopped mixture of Hazelnuts, Pecans and Brazil nuts
2 - Tbsp thyme
5 - Sage leaves, chopped
6 - Cups chicken stock
4 - Cups kale, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients (Garnish):
1 - Tbsp butter
8 - oz Shiitake mushrooms, torn
1 - Tbsp thyme
1 - Clove garlic, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat butter in large saucepan over medium heat; add onion and cook until lightly golden

Add apples, nuts, thyme, sage and chicken stock

Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes



In the meantime, chop up the Kale

Stir in the Kale and cook for another 4 - 6 minutes

Blend in blender, transfer to a larger serving bowl and season with Salt and Pepper

Now for the Garnish! Heat butter in another sauce pan, add Shiitake mushrooms and thyme. Saute for 5 - 6 minutes over a low-medium heat then add garlic and cook for another minute

Scoop the soup into bowls and top with mushrooms

Server with fresh bread