Daily Archives: February 3, 2012

Kale, Potato and Linguica Soup

My husband makes this soup for me when I’m getting sick, just like his vovo, grandmother, used to make for him as a boy in Brazil, where it is called calde verde. It is so warm and filled with love, I can’t wait to make it for my family for our Saturday lunch. I published this version of the soup in Bon Appetit magazine in 2004. Here it is from epicurious.com:

Portuguese Green Soup (Kale, Potato and Linguica Soup)
Bon Appétit | November 2004

by Diane Brown Savahge

“One piece of advice I always share with my students is to keep the ingredients list short — you don’t need to empty out your refrigerator to make a great meal. You just need a few quality ingredients with bold flavors.”

Yield: Makes 4 main-course servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, center stems cut away, leaves thinly sliced
1 pound fully cooked linguica sausage, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
5 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 3/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is soft and golden , about 5 minutes. Add kale and sauté until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and sauté 5 minutes. Add broth and potatoes. Simmer soup uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer 2 cups soup (without sausage) to processor. Blend until smooth; return to pot of soup and bring to simmer. Mix in crushed red pepper. Season with salt and black pepper.

Farm Box Day

Today’s box had some new treats, like ruby red strawberries and my favorite, Tanaka Farms strawberry jam. We got lovely heads of cauliflower, butter lettuce and broccoli, brilliant bunches of carrots, cilantro and kale, a few russet potatoes, oranges and clementines.

My plan is to make a Kale, Linguica Sausage and Potato Soup, a classic called calde verde, or “hot green” in my husband’s country of Brazil. It will be perfect for the cooler weather forcasted for the weekend.  I’m looking forward to roasting the carrots and potatoes along with a Simple Roasted Chicken, which will carry us through a few meals, then chicken bones will become stock for an upcoming soup. I’ll roast the Cauliflower with Capers and Red Chile, to serve with day two of roasted chicken. I’ll serve the broccoli simply steamed, along with my daughter’s favorite panko-crusted tilapia, some brown rice, and as strange as it may sound, Japanese mayo to dip them all in. She loves the stuff like some other kids like ketchup.  

At this point, I have a ton of oranges and tangerines from the last two deliveries that I want to purpose beyond the lunchbox. First, I’m going to use the zest from the skins to make a Citrus Herb Butter that I can freeze and use later, then I’m going to juice them to make a Tangerine Granita, an easy fruit and simple syrup ice. Along with all of the cooking I plan to do this weekend, I can’t wait to get a few of these recipes up on the blog. Hope you are all enjoying your farm-fresh produce and a super Superbowl weekend.