roasted garlic, kale, and cannellini soup

I left sunny San Francisco Friday morning for a weekend in SoCal filled with grey sky and drizzle. Drizzle that moved up the coast while we feted friends getting married (congrats, Gary & Jayme!). Drizzle that caused our short flight earlier today to be delayed by two hours and then kept us on the tarmac in the airplane for an hour waiting for SFO to clear us to land so that we could leave LA. Drizzle that met us here upon landing.

When we finally got home - cold and hungry - all I could think about was hot soup. So I set about making some.

I had kale on hand from the last CSA delivery - beautiful petite curly kale. I've been convinced since I made kale cannellini crostini earlier in the year that these greens and beans were made for each other. But what else to include? Should I keep it simple, or go to town? I started flipping through cookbooks for inspiration.

I found one in Fresh that caught my eye: roasted garlic, winter kale, and white bean soup. I've never thought to put roasted garlic in soup. Surely, that's a fantastic idea. The kale soup they had in mind included potatoes and heavy cream. That didn't fit the bill, but it didn't matter, as the roasted garlic idea was all I needed to put the rest into motion.

The resulting soup was hot, healthy, and flavorful. It reminded me how much I enjoy having something cooking on the stove when the weather is chilly. I will definitely make this again. I'm already looking forward to eating the leftovers tomorrow. Here's what I did:

Roasted Garlic, Kale & Cannellini Soup

Serves 3-4

1 large head of garlic

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, minced

3 c. vegetable stock (I used my favorite mushroom stock)

2 c. water

15 oz. can diced tomatoes

15 oz. can cannellini beans, well rinsed and drained

1 bunch kale, center ribs removed and roughly chopped

rustic bread

high quality extra virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Make a small boat out of aluminum foil. Place garlic head in it and roast in oven until soft, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove skin from cloves. Chop.

Heat 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion. Stir and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add half of the roasted garlic and all of the thyme. Stir and cook 1 minute.

Add stock, water, and tomatoes (with juice). Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium. Partially cover pot and simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in kale and beans. Cook 10 minutes uncovered. Season with salt and pepper.

Mix the other half of the roasted garlic with 3 Tbsp. olive oil and a generous pinch of sea salt. Spread on rustic bread and enjoy alongside (or dipped in) soup.

One year ago: black bean soup with avocado lime cream