For those of you who are unsure about kale... Yes, it is a tough-looking supergreen, but this soup had my hubby proclaiming "Hey, kale is pretty good!" So I encourage you to give kale a chance :)
Up until this point, I had been slowing introducing the men in my family to kale by mixing it in with other greens that they recognised (e.g. mixing it into a quick saag paneer) or using it all chopped up in quiches and hand pies. This was the first dish I made where the kale is just itself and I'm glad it was a hit!
My butcher carries a slightly spicy Italian sausage (not sweet) and this worked beautifully in the soup - especially after adding the splash of red wine vinegar at the end. Hot, salty and slightly sour was the perfect balance for this deceivingly filling soup.
I didn't have any celery at home, so I used the some bok choy (stalks in with the onions, leaves thrown in with the kale) which I think lent the soup some sweetness as well. I only used about half as much chicken stock as the recipe called for and added some more water instead, since I find sausage quite tasteful and salty to begin with.
The lentils were the perfect thickener for this soup as they added richness without starch (as potatoes or pasta would have). My son had this soup spooned over some rice and we just ate it as is. Such a great tasting soup and pretty healthy too (you could always pour off any excess sausage oil or use ground dark meat turkey, I guess, if you wanted to really wanted to trim this soup down).
Going to make some stracciatella with kale next time and try freezing it. Wonder how the egg drop soup will freeze?
Martha's Sausage, Lentil and Kale Soup
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