Sweet Greens

 

The first time I made this soup was last thanksgiving. My husband's sister was visiting. Like my husband, she also has sensitive digestion and was on a very restricted diet. Instead of a list of foods she was avoiding I was sent a short list of foods she could eat. Rather than being discouraged by these limits I decided to rise to the challenge.

The list included rutabagas, kale and chard. So the first version of this soup was simply rutabaga and greens boiled and pureed with no spices or anything else. She was thrilled with it, but the rest of us needed a little more flavor. I took enough out for her, then added carrots, ginger, cumin, coriander, pepper and salt. Now I was getting somewhere but it was still bland and well... a little too rutabagaish. I added lemon juice and served it with a dollop of yogurt. While no one came back for seconds everyone was pleasantly surprised that its wasn't bad.

Trying to sneak greens into our diet can be tricky so I thought I would revisit and revise this soup. I kept it simple and used sweet potato instead of rutabaga. Now this is a soup I would serve again and ask for seconds.

Sweet Potato Green Soup

- 3 medium sweet potatoes chopped into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 bunch kale
- 1 bunch swiss chard
- An inch of fresh minced ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil

In a large pot saute ginger and spices in olive oil. Add sweet potato and saute until starts to brown. Add enough water to completely cover the sweet potatoes, bring to boil, then simmer until potatoes are soft.

While the sweet potatoes are simmering wash and chop the chard and kale. Once potatoes are soft add the greens cook for another few minutes until the greens are wilted and turned bright green. Turn off the heat and then puree in a blender (I was recently given an immersion blender and love it). Add salt to taste. This soup is nice as is or served with a big dollop of yogurt.

This is a pretty big pot of soup so have some friends over or freeze in single serving containers.