Corn, Carrot, Kale, and Sausage Soup

This turns out to be a fantastic way to use up leftover vegetables and stay warm in the cold California winter!
The big chunks of corn work particularly well in soup, deepen the flavor, and are fun to gnaw around the edges. You can also make it vegetarian or vegan- just substitute vegetable stock and skip the sausage or use a veggie substitute.

Ingredients:
~2T canola oil (to cover bottom of pan)
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
bay leaf
~6 carrots, chopped into rings
splash of booze of your choice (or water)
2 ears corn, shucked and chopped into rings
2 pounds leftover sausages¹, cooked and chopped
1 bunch lacinato "dinosaur" kale, chopped
~6-8 c stock (or water + boullion cubes)
handful garlic cloves, grated
salt & pepper to taste

- Saute onion in oil until soft.
- Add bay leaf and carrots, and saute until the onions begin to stick.
- Add a splash of booze to deglaze the pan (lift the tasty sticky brown bits). I used Madeira. Stir until booze has mostly evaporated, but nothing is sticking.
- Add the stock. I used about 8 cups of homemade turkey stock.
- Add corn and sausage, and simmer for ~10 minutes.
- Add kale, and cook until the leaves have just wilted. (If you're using the stems, add them first to get a head start cooking.)
- Grate garlic cloves into soup, and cook for another minute or two to soften/blend the flavor.
- Sample, and add salt/pepper to taste.

¹ We pilfered the leftover sausages from the last night's dinner at foo camp. If you're short on geeky conferences with good leftovers, purchase and pre-cook your own sausage.