Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup

When the Mister and I first started dating I asked him if there was one food I could make for him, what would it be.  He replied simply with, "soup."  I'd never really made soup before, other than a slapdash attempt at a curried pumpkin soup the year prior, but I'm always up for any culinary challenge and...I was blissfully in love (still am for the record!).  So I unearthed a recipe for Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup that I'd been hankering to try and with a few minor tweaks it quickly became my signature soup and one of the Mister's favourite dishes of mine.  If there's one recipe folks ask me for, it's always this one, and just so you know how good it is, there was an incident where a dear friend -- who shall remain nameless to protect his pride -- was caught standing in my kitchen, with the ladle, and eating more of the soup right out of the giant stock part.  That's love right there!

So while this post is a week late coming as we had potatoes and kale last week, file this one away in your memory banks as this comforting and hearty soup will take you through the whole winter.

And just because people need to know this...all of tonight's blogging is being done whilst watching Sharknado.  So if things start to get a little campy with tonight's posts, now you know why.  And now...the SOUPNADO!

Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped

6 links turkey sausage (hot or sweet depending on your heat preference), casings removed and meat crumbled

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 - 32 oz containers of reduced sodium chicken stock

1 lb red or yellow potatoes, diced

1 bundle kale, leaves stripped from stalks and roughly chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Saute garlic and onions for 3-4 minutes or until translucent.  Add in turkey sausage and stir to continue to crumble.  Increase heat and cook until sausage is cooked through and browned.  Deglaze pan with white wine and stir to get any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan.  Add in your stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat but still keep liquid at a vigorous simmer and add in your potatoes.  Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Reduce heat to a simmer and add in chopped kale.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes and then remove pot from heat to allow soup to finish setting up and cool slightly.  Taste broth and season with additional salt & pepper, if needed.