Caldo Verde

2020

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Spicy sausages, sliced
• Garlic, smashed or chopped
• Potatoes, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• Broth or water
• Black pepper & salt
• Kale, chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces

Method:

• Add enough olive oil to a soup pot to coat the bottom; heat over medium.
• Add sausage and black pepper and cook until sausage is browned, stirring occasionally.
• Add potato, more black pepper, and garlic, if using, and continue to cook for at least five minutes, longer if you'd like to see more browning. Stir occasionally.
• Add enough stock or water to cover by 1 inch, salt, and more black pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to maintain a simmer.
• Cook, testing a piece of potato for doneness every 5—10 minutes, until potatoes are cooked through but not falling apart.
• Stir in the kale and more black pepper and, depending on how cooked you like your greens, either cook for 5 more minutes or allow the soup to rest for 5—10 minutes with the heat off.
• Serve alone, or with crusty bread, pungent cheese, and apple on the side, or with a nice wine or cider.

Notes:

• This recipe is adapted from The Winter Harvest Cookbook by Lane Morgan.
• Measurements: Amounts are intentionally left vague. To make a large batch, I will typically use around six sausages, two to three times that amount of potatoes, and one or two bunches of kale. Alter the proportions depending if you want it to be more meat-heavy, potato-heavy, or greens-heavy.
• Chopping: People have different preferences about what sizes of food they want to put on their spoons and in their mouths. I've made this with the potatoes in 1" hunks all the way down to smaller dice. Just make sure they're all the same size so they'll cook at the same rate.
• Sausage: Most caldo verde recipes call for linguica, which has lots of garlic and paprika. I've used Basque chorizo and spicy Louisiana sausages because it's what I can find. Whatever you choose has to be spicy and garlicky.
• Potatoes: Both starchy Russet and buttery Yukon Gold types are nice in this. I would probably not use purple potatoes, but you could totally try purple potatoes and purple kale and tell me how it turns out.
• Garlic: Lane Morgan's version also calls for one leek, and an allium of some kind is welcome.
• Kale: I prefer the sturdier Lacinato/Tuscan kales for this rather than the Russian types. I have seen other versions online add other greens such as cabbage, collards, or chard.