CALDO VERDE Portuguese Green Soup

The Portuguese have some wonderful dishes, rich, wholesome comfort foods. And this dish Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup) is on the top of many foodie's list.

So let's take a look at the ingredients, it's stuff you can buy at your local grocery store, and if you have a Spanish market nearby, I bet you can find the ingredients there as well. 

INGREDIENTS

Have a bottle of olive oil at the ready
1 medium round sweet onion. (I love our sweet Maui onions, so good.)
1 clove of garlic minced
6 Russet potatoes, peeled and sliced thin

1/2 a gallon of ice cold water
10 oz. of Portuguese sausage sliced (I like the hot spicy ones)
2-3 tsp. of sea salt
1/2 tsp. of white pepper or more
1 lb. of kale, sliced

DIRECTIONS

1. Use a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in 2-3 tbsp. olive oil for 3 minutes. Add in potatoes and cook stirring 3 minutes more. Pour in water, bring to a boil, and let boil gently for 20 minutes, until potatoes are very tender.----------------------------------------1-----------------------------------------
2. Meanwhile, using a separate large skillet over medium-low heat, cook Portuguese sausage until it has released most of its fat, then drain. I like to cook mine until a dark crust forms, I like that char flavor, but it's entirely up to you.---------------------------------------2--------------------------------------------
3. Mash the potato mixture with a hand blender or food processor. Stir the sausage, salt and pepper into the soup and return to medium heat. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.---------------------------------------3---------------------------------------------
4. Before serving, stir the sliced kale into soup and simmer 5 minutes, until kale is tender.  Stir in a tablespoon of olive oil and serve at onceAs you can see the ingredients are very simple, what flavors this simple dish is the garlic and onions as you cook it in olive oil for a few minutes releasing the flavors and aroma. Then the potatoes areadded to thicken the soup, and once you use a hand blender or food processor to mix everything up the flavors start to be in concert. Then adding the cooked Portuguese sausage to the mixture, the sausage will flavor the soup as well. Adding salt and pepper makes it stand out, and the olive oil at the end gives it a hint of flavor. And of course the kale adds a good fiber source to the finished product and turning the soup green.Ron Sambrano Blogger
           
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