Italian wedding soup with kale

A co-worker of mine participates in a community share association (CSA) for produce. CSAs are fantastic for regularly delivering in-season produce grown locally for a reasonable price. More on these in a future posting. Since he was going away for the holiday and didn't want the produce to go to waste, he asked me if I wanted a few items including a bunch of kale. If you've never seen kale, it is your basic dark green leafy veggie with slightly tougher leaves and stalk than spinach. You wouldn't want to eat it raw because it is more bitter than it's leafy cousins but can still be used as a spinach substitute (think sauteed kale instead of sauteed spinach) ... just cook it longer to soften it up. It seems like kale is ALWAYS in season in these parts but it doesn't show up on a lot of restaurant menus. And when it does, its in a traditional (e.g. sauteed or steamed) role.

My first thought for the kale was to steam it and serve it as the bed for grilled or broiled piece of salmon, but I decided on soup. That's right, soup ... in July. IN JULY! It has been damn cold here in Boston. I know, I know, Boston is supposed to be cold what you are thinking, But before I argue anymore, let me present to you the analysis of my good friend Anant:

"Continuing our discussion on June temperatures in Boston, I got some data on the last 30 years of June temps over the last 30 years was 67.7degs, and this year (so far) the mean temp is 61degs. That is a huge drop, and it is the lowest June mean in these 30 years. "

Did I mention that like me he is an engineer? Was it obvious?

Continuing, this June was the fifth coldest on record and we must have had rain on 25 of the 30 days (this last part is a guess, but I'm willing to bet that I'm only a couple days off in either direction). The ironic part is that my sister, who is spending this summer in Oklahoma as a National Park Ranger (check out her AWESOME blog to read about her adventures ... such a cool gig) has been begging for rain. We are often joking about how we should exchange weather.

I guess it was somewhere between remembering what the sun looked like and contemplating what color to paint the interior of my ark that I decided to make soup; an Italian wedding soup - meatballs, cannellini beans, corn, kale, and broth topped with grated Parmesan cheese. Done and done.

Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey
1 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 onion, grated
4 tbs. olive oil, divided
1 large bunch of kale (separate leaves from stalks, discard stalks)
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. corn kernels (or corn from one ear)
10 oz. cannellini beans
3 cups chicken broth
Parmesan cheese, grated

Step 1: Pull the leaves away from the stalk. Discard stalks. Do a little dance. Get excited.

Step 2: In a bowl, mix 1 lb. ground turkey and 1/4 grated onion. Add 1 cup Italian-style bread crumbs slowly. All the bread crumbs may not be necessary. You are looking for a consistency that is easy to work with but you don't want too much filler or they will be too dry. Roll several meatballs from mixture. Each meatball should be 2-3 inches.

Heat 2 tbs. olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add meatballs and brown on all sides - 3+ minutes per side.

Step 3: Meanwhile, heat 2 tbs. olive oil over medium high heat in deep bottomed pan. Saute 2 cloves of minced garlic for about a minute. Add kale leaves, 10 oz. cannellini beans (liquid drained from can), 8 oz. corn kernels, salt and pepper. Cook until kale leaves are wilted (about 2 minutes). Add 3 cups chicken broth and reduce heat to low so that broth simmers.

Confession: Those are not cannellini beans. I thought I had a can of beans in my pantry. I was right, but they were chick peas. Stick with cannellinis ...

Step 4: After meatballs are browned on all sides, add them to the pan with the kale mixture. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. This will help the center of the meatballs finish cooking without burning the outside. If you make your meatballs smaller, then you will not need to wait the full 10 minutes.

Step 5: Serve with grated Parmesan on top. Salt and pepper to taste.