Late Summer Kale and Soup

 

It's the end of August and autumn is almost here. Things are cooling off. The 100+ degree days are done (I hope). Every day the sun tracks lower. Now, in the late afternoon it clips the tops of some tall cottonwoods growing to our south. They cast long shadows across the compost pile and our onion bed. Around here, corn is finishing up and the lettuce (thankfully) are starting to give tender leaves again. Summer's still hanging on but it won't be long now. 

We aspire to be a four season farm, so while the chaos of summer is letting up, our to-do list is still long. We're still getting our fall and winter crops in (we will succession plant these for a few more months). We need to build our low-hoop houses, need to mulch for winter, need to bend more pickets for floating row-cover, need to green manure the beds not used over winter and we need to keep up with our soil-blocking in the grow room. On top of all that, we are converting another 1/4 acre from weeds to garden beds. The soil is terrible. We're having to double dig and amend very heavily with brown peat, compost and lime (for ph). The workload is still heavy but with summer ending things can happen at a slightly more relaxed pace. It feels good. I'm reinvigorated. And I've been thinking a lot about kale.

We grow kale all year round and while it's good in the spring and summer, in fall and winter it's great. Hot summer days cause tough spindly leaves. But under colder conditions everything stays heavily crinkled and tender. It's one of our best cold weather crops both in terms of quality and productivity. Some varieties (like Red-Winter) can survive all winter long with good protection, providing reliable, fresh greens all the way through till spring.

Over the last few weeks we've planted a full 20-foot bed to kale and prepped another 20-feet for succession planting. We transplant all our kale from soil-blocks. They spend 3-4 weeks in the grow room before going outside, where we lay them in on a six-inch grid. We don't harden kale before putting it in, but instead plant it under row-cover. Kale is shallow rooted, so we transplant a couple inches deeper than it grew in the blocks. Just the top leaves peek above ground. When the plants get a bit taller, 4-5 inches, we will mulch with aged straw to improve moisture availability and to provide a first layer of cold protection. We will keep the  row-cover on all winter, raising it as the kale grows, as a second layer against cold. Finally, before the middle of October we will cover the rows with a low-hoop made from 1/2-inch PVC and 6-mil greenhouse plastic. These three layers of protection should keep the plants alive through temperatures down to -10 f.

In the fall and early winter, kale matures and can be harvested in about 60 days. We pick it just like we do spinach. We harvest the large, outer leaves and the plant produces new leaves in the middle. Each plant is harvested three or four times.

My favorite use for kale, particularly for Tuscan Kale, is in soup. The options are infinite but this Portuguese style recipe is among my favorites. It's hardy and rustic. Not meant for some pretentious soup course, it's a complete meal.

Portuguese Kale Soup

1-2 lbs    Kale (preferably Tuscan, aka lacinato, aka dinosaur) 

1    lg     White onion, diced 1/2 inch

3    clove Garlic

3    lbs    Russet potato, peeled and diced

1    lbs    Pork sausage (brats work, dry-chorizo, Spanish or Portuguese not mexican, is better)

12  c       Chicken stock

1    lbs    cooked white beans (cannelloni or great white) - optional

In a large pot, sweat the onion and garlic, taking care to not burn the garlic. Add the stock and the diced potato. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are almost done, about 20 minutes. Add cooked beans if you'd like. Half puree with a stick mixer, food processor or blender. The potato and beans will creamy everything up and provide a smooth texture. If you don't have a mixer, the potatoes can be broken down with a heavy wish and some vigorous beating. In a separate pan, cook the sausage and dice it into 1/2-inch pieces. If you are using a drychorizo just dice it up but know it will give your whole soup a prominent paprika flavor. Add the kale and the sausage to the soup. Cook it all for another 15 minutes and serve with a hearty bread. Don't use any garnish or fancy croutons here. Just serve bread, the heartier the better, and perhaps some butter.