Caldo verde soup
Author: 
Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Portuguese
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Caldo verde has sometimes been called the national dish of Portugal. A rustic, homely soup of cabbage, potato, chorizo and stock gently simmered together, this makes a satisfying one-pot meal.
Ingredients
  • 65ml extra-virgin olive oil
  • 120g chorizo, sliced into ½ cm rounds
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced;
  • 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 6 cups vegetable stock
  • about 500g cabbage
  • 2 bay leaves
  • smoked paprika and extra virgin olive oil to serve
Instructions
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add the chorizo and cook until it releases its flavoursome red oil and is beginning to brown (3-5 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to remove chorizo from the pot and set aside for later
  2. Add the onions to the pot with the oil and sauté until they are soft but not browned. Add the garlic when the onions are nearly done and cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the potatoes, bay leaves and stock and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to a simmer and cook gently till the potato cubes can be crushed with a fork (about 20 minutes).
  4. In the meantime, prepare your cabbage, Separate and rinse the leaves.  Remove any particularly thick ribs.  Roll each leaf up as tightly as you can and then slice into strips as thinly as possibly with a very sharp knive.  If your cabbage is a little... vintage and tough, blanch the sliced leaves in boiling water for a minute or two and drain.
  5. When the potato cubes are cooked, remove the pot from the heat, remove the bay leaves and puree the soup - I tend to use a potato masher rather than a stick blender as I want the soup to retain some texture, but the choice is up to you.
  6. Return the soup to the heat, add the chorizo and the cabbage and bring everything back to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste (although my stock made mine plenty salty enough - so don't just add blindly!).
  7. Ladle the hot soup into bowls. To garnish you can either add a couple more slices of chorizo, or do as we did and make a paste out of paprika and olive oil and add a dollop to the soup for dinner guests to stir in at their leisure.  Serve immediately.
Recipe by Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography at https://www.cooksister.com/2015/03/caldo-verde-soup.html