Pig n' Pepper Soup!

Ever wanted to fall down the rabbit hole with Alice just to see what would happen?

Well, good friend, great writer, and talented foodie Rebekah Murphy has come up with some kick-ass recipes for a culinary journey through trippy Wonderland food fun. I've been standing by and occasionally assisting, particular with the concoction yummy theme-appropriate cocktails. This week we had an impromptu vegetarian feast at my place with Abby Machson-Carter (see her blog on the side, her dishes are super AND homegrown).

Bekah made some amazing finger-foods that would make the White Queen drool, but I'll let her tell you about them here.

I was set to make a wonderful recipe I got from the my dear and fabulous friend Jen Good-Schiff (who wouldn't want to eat her "Best Potato Kale Soup EVA"?) but decided to change it a bit to fit in with the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland theme. So this soup recipe is Jen's with a tiny Alicey twist.

Pig n' Pepper Soup (aka "Best Potato Kale Soup EVA")

The name of this soup is taken from Chapter VI of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice meets the Duchess, who is tending a baby (who is REALLY a pig) and a soup with much too much pepper.


This soup calls for:
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
4 medium potatoes, medium-sized dice
1 bunch steamed kale
1 med-lrg leek, medium-coarsely chopped
3 buillion cubes (I used Rapunzel, no salt added)
2 fake bacon strips (I swear by Morningstar)
salt
pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Eyeballing it:
The only seasoning this soup calls for is salt and pepper. I love them both and believe any dish needs them. Usually, I salt more than I pepper but for this soup I changed my m.o. So this soup has LOTS of pepper. You can adjust as you like but I added lots of freshly ground black, white, green, and red pepper at various points in the soup (letting the pepper settle and do it's thang before peppering again). Do what tastes right to you but just know that the combo of pepper and bacon is KNOCK-DOWN-DRAG-OUT TASTY.

Here we go:
1) Saute the onion in EVOO (pouring the EVOO around the skillet twice is sufficient for our needs) until golden. Stir in the garlic and saute until that distinct garlic aroma starts tickling your olfactories. Add to your stock pot.
2) Add the chopped potatoes and leeks to the pot and cover with 5 cups of water
3) Pepper generously and add the 3 buillion cubes (don't do what I did and add 5 cups of water AND 3 buillion cubes dissolved in the appropriate amount of water. That's just way too much liquid. If you mess up like I did, however, you CAN fix it*)
4) Bring to a boil.
5) While veggies are cooking, steam your bunch of kale and cook your bacon. I like to do away with any stems or tough veins in my kale, ripping them by hand and steaming. I sauted my fake bacon (by all means, use actual bacon if you so choose, the fake has much less fat but lots of sodium) in the same skillet I used for the onion/garlic, to infuse flavor and save on washing.
6) When veggies in the pot are soft, turn off heat and immersion blend the soup about half-way (you want things to be chunky and not smooth).
7) Add the steamed kale and cooked bacon (crumble first so you get even distribution) to the pot and, taste the soup. One last time, pepper (and salt) as needed.

Now, you've got a soup fit for a Duchess!

*If you ever make a mistake with your liquids and need to thicken your soup, Mark Bittman, in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, gives this great advice, which has saved more than a few of my soups: add some butter and/or bread to the pot. I like to add both teaspoons of unsalted butter and handfuls of homemade croutons to thicken the pot.

Huge thanks to Jen Good-Schiff for the original recipe, Bekah Murphy for her assistance and inspiration, and Abby Machson-Carter for her fun help in the kitchen!