Chorizo, White Bean and Kale Soup

I realize that this is the second soup recipe on a blog that currently has just six posts including this one.  It's just that I love soup.  It's like a really good friend, comforting and forgiving.  Yes, forgiving.  You see, it's really hard to mess up soup.  Don't have the right vegetable, meat or liquid?  Toss in another.  Staring at a veggie drawer full of odds and ends?  Go ahead and put those in there too.  It'll still be warm, comforting goodness in your bowl.

I had seen similar soups in many places: Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Je Mange La Ville, and probably some others that I can't remember.  This isn't exactly an unusual combination of ingredients.  But of course my netbook battery was dead, I couldn't find hard copies of any of them, and the desktop and printer were all the way upstairs.  So I winged it.  Since I made this on a weeknight about half an hour before dinner time, it's a little simpler than some of the other recipes that inspired this one.  But the result was a filling, substantial soup that didn't taste like I had tossed it together at the last minute.

Chorizo, White Bean and Kale Soup

What's in it:

2 links fresh chorizo sausage, removed from casing and broken into small chunks
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz. can fire-roasted tomatoes
1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
3-4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bunch of kale, thick stems removed and chopped (about 3 cups)

How to make it:

Heat your favorite soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add chorizo, and cook until browned and almost cooked through, stirring frequently.  Add onions and garlic, cook until the onions start to soften.

Add tomatoes, beans and broth, and bring to a simmer.  Stir in kale, continuing to simmer until the kale wilts in the soup.

At this point, I used an immersion blender to puree about half the soup to give it a creamier, thicker texture.

Check soup for seasoning; add salt and pepper if desired.  Between the canned beans and the chorizo, I didn't find it necessary to add any other salt to the soup.