Ever heard the story of “Stone Soup” when a hungry man wandered into a town and asked people for something to eat? No one had anything to give him, so starting with a stone, he got one person to contribute an onion, another a parsnip, then a carrot…someone had a bone with a little meat still on it…you get the picture! Pretty soon there was a big pot of soup for the town after someone contributed a big pot and someone else some water.
Things are not THAT desperate now, but every once in a while you look into your refrigerator and start putting things together making your own “stone soup”. Such is the case with this Kale-Zucchini soup. A couple of weeks ago I was tidying up the refrigerator and thought that the vegetable bin absolutely needed some attention. There was some kale I had meant to use, 3 zucchini left over from a farmer’s market basket, lots of jalapeño peppers, and some cilantro among a couple of other veggies.
I decided to make a soup with my old wilted kale and used the vegetables I thought would go with it. It turned out to be delicious and “a keeper”.
This week I went to the store and bought the ingredients that had worked out so well for me and made the soup, this time, with a plan and a purpose. Again, the soup was delicious getting the thumbs up from my husband, Jack.
Ingredients
- Bunch of green onions
- 3 zucchini
- Bunch of lacinato kale
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- Bunch of cilantro
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups of water
- ½ cup 10 minute farro*
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Directions:
- Wash all the vegetables.
- Slice the green onions and zucchini
- Seed the jalapeño pepper & chop
- Chop the cilantro and the kale
- In a stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the green onions, the salt, and zucchini and cover the pan.
- Sauté the vegetables for about 8-10 minutes, until soft.
- Add the chopped kale and cilantro. Continue to cook, covered, for about 10 minutes. Stir.
- Add the ½ cup farro and the six cups of water. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for another 10 minutes. If the farro is not quick cooking, you will need to cook longer.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup to a creamy consistency.
- Add a little acid with the two tablespoons of lemon juice.
- Adjust seasoning adding salt & pepper to taste and more lemon juice if desired.