Potato and kale soup

Name: Potato and kale soup
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients: Potatoes 3 medium (500 g); Kale 4–5 leaves (100 g); Onion 1; Garlic 3 cloves; Olive oil 1 tbsp; Water or vegetable stock 800 ml; Salt 1/2 tsp; Pepper a pinch

Potatoes go in with their skins and the broth gets eaten. Potassium leaches into the water — but if you do not pour the water away, nothing is lost.

3 servings35 min

Ingredients

Potatoes3 medium (500 g)
Kale4–5 leaves (100 g)
Onion1
Garlic3 cloves
Olive oil1 tbsp
Water or vegetable stock800 ml
Salt1/2 tsp
Peppera pinch

Method

Scrub the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes with the skin on. Cut away any green patches or sprouts.
Chop the onion coarsely and slice the garlic. Strip the kale stems and tear the leaves into bite-size pieces.
Warm the olive oil in a pot and cook the onion over medium-low heat for seven to eight minutes — until translucent, not browned.
Add the garlic for 30 seconds, then the potatoes and the water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 18–20 minutes.
Crush about half the potatoes against the side of the pot with the back of a ladle. Not crushing all of them is the trick.
Add the kale and cook three minutes only. When the colour brightens, season with salt and pepper and take it off the heat.

Cooking note

Potato's potassium (425 mg per 100 g) and vitamin C (19.7 mg) dissolve in water. Peel, boil and drain, and a good share goes down the sink. A soup eats that water, so the loss does not happen. The skins stay on for the same reason — fibre and nutrients concentrate just beneath them.

Crushing only half is about texture. Released starch thickens the broth while leaving something to chew. Blend it all smooth and it is silkier, but less filling.

Three minutes of kale is about vitamin C. Kale carries 93 mg per 100 g, more than an orange, and it is heat-sensitive. The moment the colour deepens to bright green is the moment to stop.

If kidney disease has you limiting potassium, this soup is not for you. You would need to dice the potatoes, soak them, boil them and throw the water away.

If you take warfarin, remember the kale's vitamin K — the point is not to drop it but to keep the amount steady.