Healthy Recipes: Smoky Kale Soup

Enjoy Safe Smoke

By Dana Jacobi
for the American Institute for Cancer Research

Why do we love to grill? Because everybody enjoys the aromatic, slightly acrid flavors of smoky grilled foods. However, the potentially carcinogenic substances in smoked foods require caution as to how often and how much we consume.

I attended a workshop at the New York University’s Experimental Cooking Collaborative on how to avoid virtually all potential carcinogenic substances in smoked foods, including PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons).

The good news is that giving dishes smoky flavor is as easy as adding one of these four condiments or ingredients. These ingredients are made in ways that minimize bad compounds in them, particularly when you are using perhaps one teaspoon in a dish serving four or more.

To give dishes a smoke flavor, choose from:

• Chipotle Chiles – Smoked red-ripe jalapeño peppers. Available ground into powder; canned in adobo, a tomato-vinegar sauce; or as whole dried chiles.
• Spanish Pimentón Pepper –Paprika made from ripe peppers smoked over smoldering oak, then ground. The best come from the La Vera valley in Spain. Available in sweet (dulce) and hot (picante).
• Smoked Sea Salt – Produced in Oregon and the Breton section of France. Use sparingly as a “finishing salt” sprinkled on foods just before serving.
• Lapsang Souchong Tea – Black tea smoked over pinewood. Chefs use the brewed tea in savory sauces, sweet shortbread cookies and even ice cream.

I use Spanish pimentón in this hearty kale soup to warm the flavors of the kale, potatoes and tomatoes. Many supermarkets now carry this in the spice section.

Smoky Kale Soup

In small Dutch oven or large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring often, until onion is soft, 3 minutes.

Add half the kale and stir to coat with oil. Cook until kale has collapsed, 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining kale and cook until collapsed, 2 minutes.

Add broth. Bring liquid to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add potatoes, tomatoes and paprika. Cover and simmer until potatoes and kale are tender, about 20 minutes longer. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide soup among 6 deep soup bowls and serve.

Makes 6 servings

Per serving: 150 calories, 5 g total fat (1 g saturated fat), 23 g carbohydrate,
5 g protein, 4 g dietary fiber, 350 mg sodium.

Note: To stem kale, hold the leaf in one hand with stem pointing up and fold the leaf closed like a book. Firmly holding the leaf, with your other hand and starting at the base of the leafy part, pull the stem away.

Something Different is written by Dana Jacobi, author of 12 Best Foods Cookbook and contributor to AICR’s New American Plate Cookbook: Recipes for a Healthy Weight and a Healthy Life.

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The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) is the cancer charity that fosters research on the relationship of nutrition, physical activity and weight management to cancer risk, interprets the scientific literature and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $91 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR has published two landmark reports that interpret the accumulated research in the field, and is committed to a process of continuous review. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.