Kale and Mushroom Soup

I made this in a effort to get more calcium into my diet. When you cook kale more of the calcium is available to the body. I'm hoping the vitamin c from the kale is preserved since it's a soup. C leeches into water, but since we're consuming the water (broth), we should, in theory, still get it. The mushrooms provide potassium.

I wanted to keep it relatively simple. Let the core ingredients shine. Just let time and heat work their magic on some humble veg. You could add some beans to this to make it heartier. I wanted to keep it light.

10 oz white mushrooms, chopped small
1/2 medium red onion, diced
6 cups loosely packed kale, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbls apple cider vinegar
6 cups water
1 tbl salt
3 tsps black pepper

In a large sauce pot cook down the mushrooms and onions in the oil and salt until nice and dark. Deglaze with wine. Cook off wine for 5 minutes. Add garlic and brandy and deglaze again. Cook off brandy for 5 minutes.

Add kale, water, black pepper and vinegar. The vinegar will turn the kale dark, but it doesn't matter. The long cooking we're going to subject it to would do the same.

Bring to a boil and them simmer until reduced by half. About 20 minutes.