Caldo verde
Kale and Potato Soup with Chouriço- Yield
- Serves 4
- Active
- 25 minutes
- Total
- 50 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
The story
Caldo verde means "green broth," and the name is literal: a smooth purée of potato, onion and garlic with fine ribbons of dark green cabbage floating in it. The soup comes from the Minho region in northern Portugal, and it turns up in the novels of Camilo Castelo Branco. The green is couve-galega, a tall, loose-leaved Portuguese cabbage of the collard family; cooks slice it into strips 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide and add it near the end of cooking. A link of chouriço or linguiça simmers whole with the potatoes and is sliced into the bowls at the end, with a thread of olive oil on top. The soup is served in earthenware bowls called tigelas, with broa, the cornbread of the north, for dipping. It is eaten as a first course, as a late supper at weddings and birthday parties, and at the festivals of the Santos Populares, the popular saints. In 2011 a public vote named it one of Portugal's Seven Wonders of Gastronomy. Slice the greens as thin as your knife allows, since that is what gives the soup its texture; with bread and a wedge of cheese, one pot makes supper for four.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 1/2 lb russet or Yukon Gold potatoes (about 4 medium), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 7 cups water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 8 oz Portuguese chouriço or linguiça, left whole
- 8 oz collard greens or lacinato kale (1 large bunch), thick stems removed
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Broa (Portuguese cornbread) or crusty bread, for serving
Sold in New England and California supermarkets and online (Gaspar's, Amaral's); Spanish dry chorizo is the closest common substitute.
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a 5- to 6-quart pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more without letting it brown.
- Add the potatoes, water, salt and the whole chouriço. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat, partly cover and simmer until the potatoes fall apart when pierced with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes.
- While the potatoes cook, prepare the greens: stack 5 or 6 leaves, roll them tightly into a cigar and slice crosswise into threads as thin as you can, about 1/16 inch. Repeat with the rest, then rinse and drain the threads.
- Lift the chouriço out of the pot and set it aside. Purée the soup in the pot with an immersion blender until smooth (or in a blender in batches, with the lid vented). It should pour easily from a ladle; thin it with a little hot water if needed.
- Bring the soup back to a simmer, add the greens and cook uncovered until they are tender but still bright green and slightly chewy, 5 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Slice the chouriço into 1/4-inch rounds. Ladle the soup into bowls, add a few slices of chouriço and a thread of olive oil to each, and serve hot with broa or crusty bread.
Note: The puréed potato base keeps 3 days in the refrigerator; add the greens only when you reheat it so they stay bright green.