Kale & Chickpea Soup with Lemon & Parmesan
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 cups dried chickpeas
  • 1 carrot, chopped into thirds
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped into thirds
  • 1 onion, halved
  • 11 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 5 strips fresh lemon peel
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 2 tsp kosher salt + more, to taste
  • 3 cups water
  • ½ cup + 3 Tbsp olive oil
  • ¼ tsp chili flakes
  • 2 bunches fresh kale
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • .
  • Garnish with:
  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • Fresh lemon wedges
  • Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (omit for vegan)
Instructions
  1. Soak chickpeas overnight (~8 hours) in a large bowl, completely submerged in water. Drain and set aside.
  2. Wrap the carrot, celery, onion, 3 garlic cloves, lemon peel and rosemary in cheesecloth and secure with kitchen twine. If you don't have cheesecloth, don't worry about it- just keep your chunks of veggies quite large and then strain them out with a slotted spoon after the chickpea 'stock' is finished simmering.
  3. In a large pot, combine chickpeas, 3 cups of water, ½ cup olive oil and the cheesecloth sachet of veggies. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer on medium-low until chickpeas are tender- roughly an hour. Remove cheesecloth sachet (or scoop out veggie chunks) from the stock.
  4. In a small pan, heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Crush the remaining 8 garlic cloves into the heated olive oil and cook until the garlic is fragrant but not browned. Set aside.
  5. Rinse the kale leaves and rip the center spines out from each frond. Discard the spines and coarsely chop the leaves. In a large pan, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the kale in batches, cooking until tender (~4 minutes per batch). Remove from heat and set aside.
  6. Once the chickpeas are fully cooked, combine the garlic in oil, kale, 2 cups of the cooked chickpeas and 1 cup of the chickpea cooking liquid in a food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour the pureed chickpea mixture back into the main chickpea pot, add the kosher salt and heat through. Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and adjust seasoning as needed.
  7. Serve with fresh lemon wedges, a good crack of fresh pepper and a healthy grating of Parmesan cheese (skip the cheese for vegan).
Notes
* Adapted from Food and Wine Best of the Best Vol. 17
Recipe by Port and Fin at https://portandfin.com/kale-chickpea-soup-with-lemon-garlic/