Sausage, Kale and Lentil Soup
Sausage, Kale and Lentil Soup is a hearty and simple winter meal. Serve with a hunk of bread smeared in good butter and you’re good to go!
My slow cooker and stove top get a serious workout this time of year. Soups and stews for the win! My house is divided when it comes to soup for dinner. While I’m a huge fan and happily make my dinner out of a bowl of steaming soup, a hunk of good bread slathered with butter (always butter!!), and a glass of red wine, my husband would disagree. Every time I serve soup for dinner he feels he’s being cheated somehow. He finishes his soup (unsatisfied) and proceeds to dig through the fridge in hopes to find a prime rib dinner. Um, yeah….not happening buddy.
It doesn’t matter how hearty or tasty the soup is, he’s just not a soup-as-a-meal kind of guy. He’ll chow the soup the next few days as part of his lunch or as a post-workout snack but soup is never a meal and definitely not dinner. I don’t get it. There isn’t anything about soup for dinner that I don’t like. As a get older mature, I appreciate eating lighter in the evening and there is something so comforting about a big ‘ol bowl of soup. Soups only get better as they sit making them the perfect make ahead meal and can I PLEASE get a high five for cooking once and getting multiple dinners out of a one-pot meal? Like I said, what’s not to love about soup?
I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen yesterday, prepping for the week, making cookies for a cookie exchange on Tuesday and making this soup for dinner. When 5 o’clock rolls around and my boys + husband are in the kitchen asking what’s for dinner, I didnt even turn around and make eye contact. I simply replied: soup. I got the expected reactions. From my kids it was pinched noses and ew, gross. My husbands was a whiney “really, soup for dinner?” so I gave the all the finger and told them to get out of my kitchen. Ok, not really, but in my head I did and it felt great. As they sat down to pizza (no joke, they ordered pizza), I ate this Sausage, Kale and Lentil Soup and it was good. Damn good. I had my wine and my buttered bread and as my heathen family inhaled their pizza, I could’t help help but think they’re all a little bit crazy and seriously missing out a really good soup.
But like all things in my house, this won’t go uneaten. They always come around and I have no doubt that in the next day or two, the soup will be gone. Not as dinner, not a chance, but as lunch, a snack and maybe even breakfast.
Boys.
PrintSausage, Kale and Lentil Soup
Yield: 8 servings 1x
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Pin RecipeDescription
A hearty winter soup featuring sausage, kale and lentils
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound your favorite sausage
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 3 ribs celery, chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 small yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into small dice (about 1 cup)
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 2 large cloves garlic, chopped
- salt and pepper
- 1 bunch kale, stemmed and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup lentils
- 7–8 cups chicken stock
- rind of parmesan cheese (optional)
Instructions
- In a rage soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, breaking it into pieces, and cook until lightly brown. Add the onions, celery, carrots, potato, rosemary, and a pinch of salt and pepper; cook about 8-10 minutes until veggies are softened. Add garlic and kale and cook until kale wilts just a little about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste for 30 seconds, then add white wine. Cook to reduce by 1/2 about 2 minutes. Add the lentils, stock and parmesan cheese rinds if using. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer the soup until the lentils are tender, about 35 minutes. Serve immediately or cool, store, and reheat. Serve with chopped chopped parsley and extra grated parmesan cheese as garnish is desired.
Notes
Start with 7 cups of liquid and add an additional cup if needed. At high altitude, I’m always having to add more liquid to my soups.
6 Comments
Um, I would take this over pizza any day. đŸ˜‰ Seriously, this looks so perfectly warm and comforting (and healthier!) for chilly winter days. I love it!
I love adding parm rinds to food!! My husband always demands bread or sweet potato fries when I make soup. đŸ˜‰ Men are silly.
Like the idea of adding lentils to a kale sausage soup! I make a similar soup with beans.
This just made it onto my menu for the week! BTW – My husband and 6 year old daughter have the same reaction when I make soup for dinner;)
Quick question – Once the soup is done, how does one deal with the rinds? are they eaten, taken out of the soup like a bay leaf? I’m a cheese rind newb, so your expertise would be greatly appreciated.
Take the rinds out and discard!