Portuguese Kale Soup

I don't always plan what I am going to cook. Sometimes the ingredients on hand tell me what they want to become as I go along. A week ago I bought two glorious bunches of kale and yesterday I thought I'd better use them now. So I rinsed and chopped them and put them in my stock pot with 6-8 chopped onions and about a gallon of water. I still didn't know what I was going to make, so I let it sit unheated. Then I decided to cook a one pound bag of dry garbanzo beans and since I hadn't planned ahead I decided to simmer them with a one inch piece of kombu (dried Japanese seaweed) and a bloop of olive oil. The seaweed tenderizes the beans which is a good thing to do when they have not been presoaked. I let this simmer in my slow cooker for about three hours. Later I heated up the stock pot and simmered the onions and kale, and when they cooked down I added the cooked garbanzo beans along with their glorious broth. I ran to my butcher and got a rope of kielbasa sausage and sliced it into coins and added it to the pot. Within minutes I had a magnificent soup. I ladled out a few bowls for my husband and me. We sprinkled on kosher salt and black pepper. It was delicious. I can see why this soup is called Portuguese penicillin. It is hearty, soothing, and light all at the same time. I will make this again, on purpose!

PS This soup can be made with other kinds of sausages like linguiça and with other kinds of beans like white beans, or with potatoes.

Have fun, enjoy, relax and experiment.