Holiday Cooking

On a day when most everyone I know is gorging themselves on bar-b-qued everything – brisket, ribs, chicken, pork chops, hamburgers – I am working on two new things in my life, being a vegetarian and trying to eat “local.” I don’t miss the meat, but I did want to prepare a special meal for the holiday weekend, and I did want to incorporate the local ingredient I got from the farm this week – kale. This is what I came up with, and it was so delicious I didn’t even mind the smell of the steaks on the grill next door.



Black Bean and Kale Soup

1 pound dried black beans
Olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup sliced carrots
12 ounces kale, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup fresh orange juice

Rinse beans and soak overnight. Sauté onion and celery in small amount of olive oil until soft, add garlic and ginger and cook for one minute more. Add soaked, drained beans, 7 cups of water, thyme, chili powder, cayenne pepper, allspice, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer approximately 2 hours or until beans are tender, if necessary add boiling water to beans. When beans are tender, add carrots and kale. Simmer until carrots and kale are tender. Add orange juice before serving.

P.S. I also had a sampling of the potato salad referenced in yesterday’s blog. (Okay, it was more than a sampling! And it was as good as the stranger said it would be.)