Recipe: Kale-Potato-Fish Soup

Oh gulp, I knew it had been a long long time (actually, it also seems like in a galaxy far-far away) since I had posted here. I didn't know it had been two months............Sigh............You can read about my non-stop life at my dianadyer.com blog (not much posting there this summer either, but I am 'coming back', i.e. getting caught up, even a little - maybe even again).

Part of my 'coming back' is cooking again, and also cooking before it is dark outside when we feel we can 'justify' calling it quits outside at the farm. However, of course by then, we are too tired to do very much in terms of cooking or even eating. We have been far better this summer than last in terms of healthy eating because we have been trading garlic for fresh vegetables with many of our farmer friends and other vendors (i.e. cheese, bread). However, even when I have cooked, there has been no time or energy left over to blog.

'Time out!!' says the Universe. 'Cooking, eating, and blogging are too important to you to just quit what you love, so give something up, re-prioritize, even be bold and cook, eat, and blog during the daylight hours if you want to, yes if you want to."

Big deep breath, so here I am on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon inside quickly writing this post and even sharing a picture I remembered to take this week. All I did was look in my refrigerator and on my kitchen counter to find bits and pieces of delicious food items just waiting to be combined into something easy and delicious to eat one night last week.

I know I already have a recipe for Kale-Potato Soup on this blog, but I added fish, fish broth, and almost a quart of organic milk to this soup tonight because it was time to get those foods used up before I needed to freeze those left-overs.

So it really is a basic easy soup (no real amounts are needed because of the flexibility of this recipe):
• Chopped onion and garlic, saute quickly in a bit of olive oil in a large soup pot
• Poach fish in ~ 2 cups of water in separate 2 quart saucepan, skin and debone fish if needed, flake and set aside.
• Strain fish broth if needed
• Wash, chop, and cook potatoes in another saucepan until almost soft, drain, rinse starch off
• Add fish broth and potatoes to onions and garlic in large soup pot
• Simmer until potatoes are done through but not mushy
• Add chopped tomatoes
• Add chopped kale (I do take off the stems, save in my freezer to make future soup stock, and only use tender kale leaves)
• Add milk and heat until hot but not boiling
• I added a bit of salt and white pepper to taste

(Photo: Kale-Potato-Fish Soup, still in the soup pot, with slotted spoon showing off the kale, potatoes, and tomatoes)

Add anything else you wish and serve with anything you wish. I had some frozen lasagna that I re-heated and sliced organic peaches (found these at Whole Foods Market, but just this morning at the Ann Arbor Farmers' Market, I saw that Scott and Mandy Decker who own Salem Orchard, my favorite local organic orchard, had a few, too - woohoo - many thanks, my young farmer friends, hmm, that does not sound quite right. What do you call yourselves? Fruit Farmers? Fruit Growers? Orchardists? I'll ask you when I see you next week, so I can set the record straight. In any case, many many thanks for your passion and dedication to bringing your family's old orchard back to life organically and expanding our local organic fruit options, too. You're the best!)

(Photo: organic peach slices, a scrumptious and just right dessert)

I really hope it is not another two months before I post again. I have eaten kale or other Brassica vegetables nearly every day in the interim, but what can I say. Life has gotten away from us since we are actually working full-time on our farm. Here is a funny joke. My husband writes the blog 'no time for bland food', which he is now thinking of re-naming the 'no time for blogging' blog.  Thanks to all my readers who have hung in here with me!

Where kale continues to be more than decoration on my plate, even if I am not blogging about it!

Diana Dyer, MS, RD