Caldo Verde by Accident

Halfway through this recipe utilizing what I had on hand, I realized that there was something familiar about it. It wasn’t until it was finished that I realized I had made a variation of Caldo Verde, the classic Portuguese kale and potato soup. Did this happen because of a genetic predisposition to do so, or universal consciousness? There is only one recipe from our Portuguese side of the family tree, but this wasn’t it. I had only tasted Caldo Verde once on my first trip to Portugal and it had been a buried memory until now.

Ingredients:

1 large bunch kale (6C perhaps) 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes 3T extra virgin olive oil 1 large yellow onion 3 mild Anahiem peppers 6 cloves garlic 2 porcini bouillon cubes 2oz. dried porcini mushrooms 12 qt water 3T polenta (optional)

Directions:

  

Finely dice the onion and saute it in the olive oil over medium heat, add the diced peppers and continue sauteeing until they have wilted. Add the water and raise the heat to high so the soup boils, then add chopped kale and stir until it wilts. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Lower the heat to a simmer and add the dried porcini mushrooms and stir. Cover the pot and start peeling and dicing the potatoes. Add them to the soup along with the bouillon. Cook until the potatoes are no longer raw. If the soup is too thin, you may add the polenta to thicken it up.

Note: In soups I generally use Yukon gold potatoes because they hold up well and don’t fall apart like a Russet. A waxy potato is best. And I often use the polenta as a thickener.

Italian Sausage, Ceci and Cavolo Nero Soup

What do you do when you have cooked 2 pounds of garbanzo beans, and ended up with 10 or more cups of beans? You get the prize if you guessed “make soup”.

Ingredients:

5C cooked ceci beans 8C water 1 lg bunch dinosaur kale (cavolo nero) 1 lg yellow onion 4 fat cloves garlic 1T dried thyme 3 bouillon cubes (I used chicken) 5 sweet Italian sausages extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

First thing is to put enough olive oil to cover the bottom of  the pot. For a 6 quart pot it’s about 3-4T. Chop the onions and saute until translucent, then mince the garlic and saute them for about a minute, adding the dried thyme.

Add 3 cups of the beans, the water, bouillon cubes and simmer for half an hour. Next use an emersion blender to make a creamy consistency.

Cut the sausage into small slices and roll them into small balls, then add them to the soup. Add the last 2 cups of ceci and finely slice the kale, adding it to the pot also.

Cover and simmer for an additional half hour. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and you’re done.

Linguica, Garbanzo, Porcini Soup

It’s true, 2 pounds of dried garbanzos make 12 cups of cooked beans. This recipe only uses 4 cups, but I’m now down to 3 cups, a more manageable quantity. The rest of the inspiration came from cleaning out the freezer so I would have a place to store the leftover soup.

Ingredients:

2 smoked linguica sausages 4C garbanzo beans (ceci) 1C wild rice 1 lg yellow onion 1T crushed garlic paste 4T extra virgin olive oil  2T sea salt 1/2t powdered bay leaves 1t powdered cumin 1T cumin seeds 2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms 3T polenta 10C water

Directions:

Chop the onion and saute them in the olive oil in your soup pot over a low heat. Now is the time to add the bay, cumin and cumin seeds, to bring out their flavor. Finely chop the sausage and add to the pot. Saute another 3 or so minutes.

Add the rice, water, garbanzo beans, garlic and salt, then bring to a boil and stir for a few minutes. Cover the pot and simmer over low heat for half an hour. Stir occasionally. Check on the soup and taste, add more salt if necessary and stir in the porcini mushrooms.

The rice will not be cooked through yet, so take the lid off and raise the heat to medium. If you want to thicken the soup, add the cornmeal and cook the soup until the rice is done.

Black Bean and Pork Loin Soup

Simply put, this soup was inspired by our friend Kim Hanson for whom I had promised to make soup. He’s such a great cook that I wanted to make something not only nourishing, but delicious and original. He thinks we compete, but I insist that we inspire one another.

Ingredients: 

1 pkg. black beans 12 oz. pork loin 1 large yellow onion 1T dried thyme 1T cumin seeds 1t powdered cumin 1/2t powdered bay leaves  1 long green pepper 3T extra virgin olive oil 1C long grain white rice 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes 2 chicken bouillon cubes cilantro to garnish

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight and drain. Cook them over a medium heat until they are al dente using enough water to cover them by 3”. Drain and set aside.

I’ve learned through trial and error that beans do not cook fast with the addition of salt or tomatoes, so I now cook them almost all the way through before adding those ingredients. Place the olive oil into the soup pot and heat over a low flame while you dice the onion, add it, the cumin seeds and herbs into the pot and saute them together over a medium heat. Cut the pork into small cubes and saute them in the pot with the other ingredients, taking care that the onions do not burn as you try to caramelize the meat.

Add the diced green pepper and continue to saute.

 

Add the beans, cover with 1” of water and continue cooking until the beans are fully cooked.

 

Add the crushed tomatoes and bouillon cubes, stir, and raise the heat to medium high until the soup boils.

Add the rice and stir, then lower the heat to a simmer. On this first batch, the water was getting low, so I added 4 cups, since I needed at least 2 for the rice to cook and still leave me with soup, not porridge.

 

Adjust seasonings so there is enough salt for your taste. You can do this by adding another bouillon cube or sea salt.

Plate and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Tortilla and Vegetable Soup

This has to be the easiest soup I’ve ever made. It’s practically all canned or frozen ingredients and I developed it for a quick, satisfying and easy meal. I once did the math and realized that it was only 60 calories per cup. Because I didn't copy the recipe, I do not recall the number of tortillas, so this could be higher in calories now.

 

Ingredients:

1 large can of Swanson’s Chicken Broth (use a mushroom or vegetable broth if you want this to be a vegetarian soup) 1medium yellow onion 2T extra virgin olive oil  1 small bag of frozen mixed vegetables 1 can of S&W chili beans in sauce 1 can of diced tomatoes 1 can of corn 1t powdered cumin 1t garlic powder 1T Schilling Mexican Seasoning

Directions:

Chop the onions and saute them over medium heat in the olive oil, then when they are translucent add the broth and all the other ingredients except the tortillas.

Bring the soup to a boil. Cut the corn tortillas into strips about an inch wide, then into squares and add them to the soup. Bring the heat down to a simmer and cook until the tortillas are soft and have thickened the soup.

A word of caution: buy a very simple corn tortilla made from corn, water and lime. The more processed the tortilla, the less it will hold up in the soup and you’ll end up with a soup thickener but no tortilla, as it will break down completely. Out of the 20 or so tortillas at the supermarket, the one I used was the least offensive, at least it didn’t have flour in it, but it was tasteless. I will not make that mistake again.