Sunday Soup #30: Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) Sausage, Kale, and Sweet Potato Soup

It occurs to me that the last soup I posted on the blog before this one was a Guest Sunday Soup, made by my friend Lisa, and is titled "Sausage, Potato, and Kale Soup." I have to admit that I was not thinking about that when I chose to make this soup this past Sunday... But, they are two completely distinct recipes, so I hope you'll forgive the consecutive same-ness. If, however, you are completely disturbed and just can't get past it, then you have my permission to skip this soup and wait for next week's post. ;-)

Still with me? Okay... Here goes...

This recipe came from: http://www.wholesomelicious.com/slow-cooker-instant-pot-sausage-kale-sweet-potato-soup/

*Pic 1 - Picture from http://www.wholesomelicious.com/slow-cooker-instant-pot-sausage-kale-sweet-potato-soup/

My Variations from Recipe as Written: I chose to make the Instant Pot version of this soup (although that isn't really a "change," since the recipe encourages it). And, I used pork sausage (hot Italian), and a cabernet sauvignon for the white wine (if that makes a difference to you). Finally, I seeded and chopped two jalapeño peppers to add to my recipe because I am a chile-head.

General Thoughts: True to its word, this recipe was quite easy to make, and it cooked quickly. There wasn't much to it other than sautéing the sausage and chopping the veggies, all of which went fairly quickly.  And, I spent more time waiting for the Instant Pot to reach pressure than I did actually cooking the soup (only 8 minutes!).

Right from the start, even before it started cooking, everything smelled really good together... Aromatic basil, together with the hot sausage, apple cider vinegar, and the onion/garlic mixture smelled heavenly, and I hoped it would taste as good as it smelled when it was finished.

*Pics 2 & 3 - Pictures from when I made it

I was surprised that the kale fit so well in this one (I chopped up the bagged baby kale you can get from your supermarket's produce aisle).  With kale, I always worry that it is going to feel (and taste) like I went into the backyard and grabbed a giant handful out of the first pile of old leaves I could find.  But, it was actually a terrific compliment in this soup and gave it an earthy taste that offset the sweetness of the sweet potatoes.

An added bonus with this one is that it is relatively healthy.  If you are eating paleo or Whole30 (with a small alteration), this soup is right up your alley and provided a surprising flavor punch for a healthy choice.

The soup was hearty and filling and did a good job of looking "full," despite its broth-y nature. But, what most surprised me about it was the variety of textures in the finished soup.  The sweet potatoes wound up being very soft (as sweet potatoes are want to do), followed closely by the kale.  But then the sausage was a bit spongy (again, not usual for sausage), and the mushrooms were a little rubbery, even though well cooked.  The result was a slightly odd cacophony of textures on the tongue. I personally didn't mind it, but it was the death nell for my wife having anything further to do with this soup after only a couple of bites.

Polling the Fam: I liked the soup overall and enjoyed that it was both tasty and healthy.  However, I do have to say that I could get sick of this soup fairly quickly if I had a ton of leftovers, so I am glad I did not double this recipe.  Becky gave it the old college try (since she does not like mushrooms and is just "meh" about kale), but she was immediately weirded out by the texture.  She said it skeeved her out, and she didn't think she could eat it again... but she did admit that it actually tasted good.  Hunter liked the soup as well and was pleased that he'd finally found something in which he actually like sweet potato (i.e., he is normally not a fan).  He added that if the mushrooms were not in the recipe, he would not have liked it nearly as much.

Verdict: It was okay. (3 stars)

Sunday Soup #19: Pork and Poblano Stew

This recipe came from: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pork_and_poblano_stew/

*Pic 1 - http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pork_and_poblano_stew/

My Variations from Recipe as Written: I used two chipotle peppers in adobo, instead of just the one for which the recipe called; I need my spice! And, I left the pork shoulder bone in the pot while it cooked (after I had trimmed off all the meat I could get for the stew, of course), and it imparted a lot of flavor! Finally, the recipe called for the cook to salt the pork as it's seared, so I used some mesquite smoked salt that I had on hand for that purpose, rather than just plain old salt.

General Thoughts: This was another one of those soups that I was worried about when it was cooking. The pork and all the spices seemed spot on... But, I am generally not a fan of corn in my soups, and I really don't care for sweet potato in anything. However, I am glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised! The corn provided some needed texture, and the sweet potato gave the soup a nice creaminess and did not taste overly "sweet potato-y" at all.

*Pics 2 & 3 - Pictures from when I made it

Be warned, this soup took a little longer to prepare than some of the others I've posted, but that is not necessarily a bad thing if you have the time... You could cut down on prep time by using a pre-cooked or pre-smoked pork shoulder, but I am afraid the flavor would not be quite as good, particularly as you would not have a bone to add to the pot either. Using the raw pork shoulder as I did, prep took me about 90 minutes (but I tend to take my time and meander a little bit, so you might be able to knock it out faster).

This stew was somewhat reminiscent of my favorite soup, pozole, owing primarily to the pork and the cumin, but that is where the similarity ended. Where pozole gets very aggressive with the spices and relies on add-ins and garnishes to put it over the top, this pork stew features its core ingredients (the well seasoned pork, the onions/garlic, the sweet potato, and - yes - even the corn) to shine. As you can see in my picture above, I did garnish with sour cream (as suggested by the recipe) and tortilla chips, which were both delish, but it really didn't need much more than that to be super solid.

I will say that even with the two chipotle peppers in adobo, the soup was not really spicy, and I needed something a little more to "kick it up a notch." I settled for pouring some of the vinegar out of a jar of jalapeno peppers into my bowl, and it was perfect!

Polling the Fam: I rather enjoyed this stew and would definitely look forward to making it again. Becky thought it was very good and said it was her second favorite so far (behind only Sunday Soup #18: http://soupersleuth.blogspot.com/2016/10/sunday-soup-18.html).  Hunter likewise really enjoyed it and said he would absolutely want to have it again.

Verdict: Liked it. (4 stars)