Recipe: Kevin Gillespie’s Spicy Sausage and Kale Soup

Photo: Angie Mosier

Gunshow’s Kevin Gillespie’s second cookbook, Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World, hits shelves at the end of this month, and we have a peek at one the recipes in the 240-page guide to pork: spicy kale and sausage soup. For more pork awesomeness (and the scoop on what else Gillespie has up his sleeve for 2015!) read our interview with the Top Chef alum in the April issue of Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles (on stands now and available through the AH&L app).

SPICY SAUSAGE AND KALE SOUP
Makes 3 quarts

INGREDIENTS
1 pound boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
2. cups .-inch-diced Vidalia onion
8 cloves garlic, thickly sliced, about . cup
1 tablespoon Espelette pepper or hot paprika
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon toasted fennel seeds
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil + more for garnish
3 Yukon gold potatoes, halved and then sliced into 1/4-inch slices, about 3 cups
2 quarts Chicken Stock (page 26)
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese + more for garnish
4 cups packed sliced kale leaves, preferrably black lacinato kale, tough ribs removed
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or apple cider vinegar

RECIPE
Refrigerate the pork until well chilled; the fat should be solid and firm. Chill your meat grinder and the large die. Toss 1. cups of the onion, 2 tablespoons of the garlic, the Espelette pepper, fennel seeds, salt, and red pepper flakes with the pork and mix well. Chill until ready to grind. Assemble the meat grinder and grind the pork into a large bowl. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and swirl to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the ground pork, stirring gently until it just starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1. cups onion and 2 tablespoons garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Your sausage should be crumbly. Add the potatoes and toss to coat with oil. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover, and decrease the heat to low. Cook until the potatoes are cooked through and are just starting to break apart, about 20 minutes. Remove the lid, add the cheese and kale, and cook until the kale is completely wilted, about 10 minutes.
Just before serving, stir in the vinegar. Garnish each bowl with additional Parmesan cheese and a heavy drizzle of olive oil. The oil and other garnishes take the soup from ho-hum to over the top.

Recipe from Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World by Kevin Gillespie with David Joachim, Andrews McMeel Publishing
Photos by Angie Mosier for Pure Pork Awesomeness: Totally Cookable Recipes from Around the World