MY CALDO VERDE
A personal take on a Portuguese soup
Caldo Verde (or “green soup”) is a traditional Portuguese soup with a base of sausage, potatoes, and “kale.” That’s a good starting point and I go from there with a handful of tweaks.
Serves 8 to 12
Ingredients
8 cups chicken stock
4 to 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 to 2 lbs fresh “kale”*, destemmed and torn into 1- to 2-inch pieces or cut chiffonade-style
1 to ½ lbs wax potatoes, cubed (I usually use baby potatoes, halved)
2 Tbs Cajun/Creole seasoning mix**
4 Tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion
5 links (or more) sweet or mild Italian sausage***, skins removed and sliced cross-wise (or 1 lb bulk/chub sausage, rolled into bite-sized meatballs first)
Directions
Into a large stock/soup pot, add the stock, garlic, kale, potatoes, and seasoning and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil on medium and sauté the onion and sausage until onion is softened and the sausage is somewhat browned on the edges.
When the stock et al has simmered for 15 minutes, add the cooked onions and sausage to it and continue cooking for another 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
NOTES
* Traditionally, the Portuguese version would include tronchuda (a collards-like kale) or collards. When I can’t find tronchuda or collards, I use lacinato (cavolo nero). You can use pretty much any kale, including gai lan (Chinese broccoli) or broccoli raab.
** I use the No-Salt version of Tony Chachere brand and then salt it to my taste. You can get a comparable flavor with bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, ground chili (not chili powder), paprika, and salt.
*** Authentic recipes call for chouriço, a Portuguese hard sausage with a strong garlic flavor, or Portuguese linguiça. Italian sausage is easier to find and since I’m Italian, why not?
If you puree some of the potatoes after cooking and return them to the pot along with some cream, you have something very similar to Zuppa Toscana (especially if you use lacinato kale (cavolo nero) and Italian seasonings instead of Cajun/Creole.
