Recipe of the day: Kale Soup

Ingredients1 med/large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 cups beef broth
1-15 oz can tomato sauce (I did this to taste using a 28 oz. can so this is approximate)
kosher salt
pepper
1/2 Tablespoon whole allspice (I eyeballed this as well so it might have been a little more)
1 teaspoon cumin
2 bay leaves
water
About 1/2 lb of kale, more or less as you wish
2 large (or 3 or 4 med/small) russet potatoes, peeled and cut into about 2 inch chunks


Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium-high in a large pot until shimmering. Add onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. Watch them carefully you don't want them to burn! Using a slotted spoon remove the onions and garlic to a plate and set aside.

If needed, add in more olive oil, turn heat to high. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper and quickly brown on all sides. You don't want to cook them, you just want to give the pieces a quick sear.

Add the onions and garlic back in the pan, along with the beef broth, tomato sauce, allspice, cumin and bay leaves. At this point, depending on what beef broth you use, you may want to add in some water. The broth should be a fairly clear, reddish-brown color. If it's a murky red, add some water to water down the tomato sauce. The soup should be pretty brothy. If you feel like you want/need more broth add in some more, this recipe is very forgiving. Bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover for about 1 hour.

After the 1 hour the meat should be pretty tender, if not, let it cook a bit longer. When the meat is ready, add the potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Then, add the kale. Cook until the kale is cooked through, about another 10 minutes. At this point I needed to add a little more salt but I waited until the end to see how it tasted. You can also just allow each individual to salt as desired.