Caldo Verde Recipe by Jude Peixoto MacNair, Customer Service, West Coast Seeds.
Caldo Verde is a traditional Portuguese soup made with couves (kale), batata doce (sweet potato) for the broth, and diced chouriço / linguiça sausage. It's delicious, immune-boosting and hearty while being simple and affordable to make. If you have even one small garden bed, you can grow all the ingredients for this soup, aside from the sausage. Caldo Verde brings to mind a deep connection with land subsistence and backyard farming, and many Portuguese households growing kale and potatoes in the garden make this soup at least once a week, as we do in our household here in Canada. I prefer the Darkibor Kale or the Beira Tronchuda, which is a variety bred from wild mustards in Portugal, but you can use any kale variety.
Serves: 8
Total time: 30 minutes
For this recipe, you will need:
- 5 to 8 leaves of kale
- 2-3 links chouriço sausage
- several medium sized potatoes
- 1 large sweet potato
- olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1 onion minced
- Salinas de Aveiro - Atlantic sea salt to taste
- ginger root, grated
- sprig of rosemary & bay leaf for broth
Tips:
You can also add tofu or other meat alternatives to sausage to make this recipe vegan!
A large pot and an immersion blender is key!
To begin:
- In a pan with olive oil, sauté your diced sausage, ginger, garlic and onion until golden brown - 10 minutes
- Make the broth by boiling halved, peeled potatoes, diced sweet potato and your rosemary and bay leaf, keep the pot lid on - 15 minutes
- Once potatoes are soft, remove bay leaf and/or rosemary sprig and add kale leaves, removing the stem from each, simmer another 5 minutes
- Remove from heat. With your immersion blender, blend until smooth green colour appears and no large chunks are left
- Add your chouriço and onions and other herbs and spices.
Serve with kalamata olives on the side, and a good Green Wine. Then of course you need your Papo Secos, Focaccia, or your choice of dipping bread, and enjoy!