Spicy Kale and Pork Noodle Soup

And just like that the holidays came and went. Well, we still have NYE, right? I’m already writing 2015 at the office, and just like I wrote it now, I had to go back and fix 2014 to say 2015. My finger and brain are just not ready to coordinate in that fashion.

The holidays were full of good people and good food as they always are and always should be. That’s all I care about. The Christmas Eve feast of sandwich fixins and chips and dips outdid itself. My parents found a new-to-us Bavarian deli called Edelweiss, which yielded some new meats for the table. They also carry European specialty foods. I need to check this out. I made some parker house pretzel rolls based on Smitten Kitchen’s recipe. I didn’t get a photo as I was running out of the house to get over to my parents’, but they’re just as good as they sound. I had to make the dough the night before, let it do its first rise, shape them, and then let the second rise happen in the fridge overnight. Since it was Christmas Eve, and I was working, I didn’t know when I’d get home. I wanted them to be freshly baked, so this was my first attempt at slowing the rise down like that. You don’t have to bring them back to room temp before baking. I let them sit out while the oven preheated and I boiled the baking soda mixture to ‘pretzel’ them, but that was it. They baked just fine, and I wouldn’t have known I had them in the fridge overnight. I also made the reuben dip again, in honor of Grammy, but the Thousand Island dressing I picked up really wasn’t my favorite. It was too sweet for my taste, but there was plenty of other food to make up it.

Christmas Day was the usual Mexican food feast since repeating Thanksgiving got old a few years ago. Crockpots full of meats, rice, and beans coupled with tamales, chicken enchiladas, taquitos and a table full of all kinds of toppings — fajita veggies, salsas, guacamole, more cheese, etc. It was heavenly. I avoided tortillas and chips just so I could mound my plate with a “taco salad.”

I hope your holidays were equally awesome.

I also wanted to leave you with this simple little soup if you’re not in the mood to cook or eat leftovers anymore. It’s really, really, really simple and has a whole bunch of greens if you feel like you’ve been missing that in your life the last few weeks. The “spicy” is relative to your tastes. Ramp it up or down depending on who is doing the eating. Feel free to use the already grown versions of these spices. I just happened to have them on hand and went with it.

Inspiration: Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients

• 1/2lb ground pork
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
• 3/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 bunch curly kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce [plus more to taste]
• 8oz dried rice noodles

Preparation

Smash together the ginger, peppercorns, chili flakes, cumin seeds, and garlic. I used a spice grinder because I’m lazy. Add the spice mixture to the ground pork in a bowl and mix together until incorporated. In your soup pot, heat the oil and medium high. When a drop of water sizzles in the pan, add the ground pork. Let it sit for a minute before breaking it up. Any caramelizing on the bottom of that pan is a good thing. Break it up into small bite sized pieces while it cooks.

When the pork is no longer pink, add the chicken broth, scallions, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Bring the whole thing to a boil before turning it down to a simmer for 6-8 minutes. Add the kale [in batches if necessary] and allow it to cook down. Allow it to cook another 10 minutes or so.

In a separate pot, cook your rice noodles according to package directions. Drain and run cool water over the top. To serve, add some noodles to the bottom of your bowl and then add the soup on top. Add more chili flakes or fish sauce to taste.