I don’t know exactly why, but this Shiitake Kale and White Bean Soup is simply fabulous. When I first made it my hubby went crazy for it (even said it was the best soup I ever made!), but since I was in the midst of my juice-only-detox I didn’t get to enjoy any 🙁 Since today was cold and snowy, and my hubby was out hunting all day, I made up another pot and let.me.tell.you…it is AMAZING!!
Now, there’s a trick to this soup.. we call it the “Nan” cooking method. Nan would make dinner early in the day and let it sit on the stove until it was time to eat, like letting it rest. So, although I made this soup in just 20 minutes, the flavors didn’t come together until after it rested a while. Also, even though the soup is really good on it’s own, we think it’s best with a big spoon of parsley-butter-rice in the bottom of your bowl!
Shiitake, Kale & White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- .25 pounds Bacon chopped
- 2 tablespoons Organic Grass-Fed Butter or Ghee
- 1 cup Onion chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1/2 cup carrots peeled/chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic pressed or minced
- 1 cup sliced Shiitake Mushrooms
- 6 cups Chicken Bone Broth
- 6 cups Water, filtered
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- Sea Salt Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper
- 2 cups Kale chopped
- 1 can organic cannellini beans
Instructions
- In a large soup pot heated to medium, cook chopped bacon pieces in butter. Once the bacon is crisp add the garlic, onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms (yes leave all the yummy fat in the pot!) Cook your veggies over medium/low heat until tender, season with sea salt, black pepper, a pinch of crushed red pepper and 1t paprika, stir to combine and cook a little longer... then add in your water, chicken stock, beans and kale. Let soup cook over med/low for about 20 min, then put a lid on the pot, turn off the burner and let your soup rest for a hour or more... season with additional sea salt, pepper and crushed red pepper to taste.
Nutrition
While your soup is resting, make up some of my Perfectly Seasoned Rice
then in a skillet or small pot over medium heat, add in some butter and allow it to melt. Toss your cooked rice in the melted butter and season it with salt, pepper and a generous sprinkle of parsley, let cook over medium/low until warm.
This sounds like an amazing soup. I just have one question – why do you consider butter and bacon as healthy? Lots and lots of saturated fat!
Karin – your question saddens me. There are so many people out there still afraid of saturated fats, I’m sorry that it’s a new idea for you.
Through my 10 years of research, I’ve come to understand that REAL, WHOLE, NATURAL, OLD FASHION foods are not something we should fear… processed, manufactured, modern foods are what are robbing us of our health!!! Trans fats and manufactured fats are what you need to avoid… However, you need to become educated on the other side of the saturated fat argument.. we all need to be proactively in control of our health, and YES millions of us are experiencing great health when switching to diets of REAL FOOD – including eggs, red meat and saturated fats 🙂
I have a post about fats (I’m not an expert) where I link to my favorite posts on the Web regarding fats – please start there!
I’m always here to help you in any way I can 🙂 Here is a book I strongly urge you to read, it will answer every single question you have regarding fats – this is the most through book on fats and the body that’s been written. http://amzn.to/10ixsoB
And yes. I consume lots of fats, mostly saturated.. and when I was at the Dr last fall (for the first time in 8 years) to get a basic check up when I turned 35.. He asked me back to see him so that I can review with him what I was doing, my cholesterol numbers were some of the best he’d ever seen (i’ve never eaten low fat foods, always real fats) and my vitamin D was the very best he’d ever seen… I am proof that it works 🙂