Welcome Back Post: Portuguese Kale Soup

Well after a little summer hiatus, I am back to blogging.  Nothing like easing into Fall with some comfort food, even if it is still 80 degrees outside.  So for my first blog of the new season, I have a special treat.  I'm bringing in my second guest souper chef to help me learn more about soup making.

My boyfriend has been talking about his famous Portuguese soup for over a year now.  Finally, I got him to make it for me.  Even though this recipe is a throwback to Old World Portugal, its main ingredient happens to be the trendiest green among the health conscious right now: KALE.  Mmmmmm. People just can't get enough kale right now.  To tell you the truth, I haven't jumped on that bandwagon and this kale-heavy recipe is just a coincidence, but if it helps me get a few extra hits, all the better.

I don't have much of a shopping story this time as the ingredients are fairly easy to find, and many can be found in the canned veggie isle of your market.  But a note about the kale.  I first learned about this soup when my boyfriend showed me this big green plant in his dad's garden.  He said it was Portuguese kale and made for a delicious soup.  After some research I learned that the kale my boyfriend's family grows in their garden is called Tronchuda Beira and is a flatter, sweeter kale that is very heat-tolerant and works very well in soup.  For this recipe, we only had access to the traditional, crinkly kale, but it came pre-cut and washed in a bag, so that made up for any disappointment for not having the traditional ingredient.

Portuguese kale, Photo from www.ReneesGarden.com

No onto the simple directions.  We sauteed chopped onion and potato in a little oil until warm.

Potatoes & onions

Next we added the garlic, bay leaves and kale, seasoned with pepper, covered and let wilt for about 2 minutes.  We added the chicken broth, a few extra cups of water and additional ingredients and brought to a boil.

Kale

As you see, we used the regular, curly kale.  Maybe we got a sweater one, but it was not bitter at all.  Past soups I've made with kale were not very good as leftovers because they got too bitter and overpowering, but somehow we got lucky this time.  Still, I'd love to try this recipe again with the Portuguese kale.

Linguica

My boyfriend did the grocery shopping this time since this was his special recipe.  He chose a spicy linguica since he knows I like the heat.  The flavors from the spicy sausage really added to the broth so that the soup does not need many additional spices.  We don't like to cook with salt, so the sausage also added a salted flavor without adding additional salt.  But, warning, HOT linguisa means HOT linguisa, so if you are sensitive to spicy foods, opt for a milder sausage.  And if you like the heat, you are in for a treat!

All ingredients

Last step, we covered the soup and let cook on medium heat until the potatoes were cooked (about 15 minutes).  We ate the soup with a yummy sourdough baguette.  I usually pass on the butter, but the boyfriend insisted I add butter and dip into the broth.  Yummmmy!!!  The soup was both spicy and earthy, filling but healthy.  Delicious.  We both had 2 bowls and a bowl for lunch the next day.

Portuguese kale soup

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons Olive oil / from home
3 medium potatoes / $2.06 / Lucky's
4 cups chicken broth / $3.99 / Lucky's
2 bay leaves / from home
1 diced medium onion / $1.49 / Lucky's
4 garlic cloves garlic, finely chopped / $2.59 /Lucky's
1 lb kale, chopped, stems removed / $2.99 / Lucky's
1 lb linguisa sausage  / $4.99 / Lucky's
1 can (14 oz) garbanzo beans, drained / $1.49 / Lucky's
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained / $0.98 / Lucky's
2 bay leaves / from home
pepper / from home

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8
Taste: 5 stars
Prep: easy!
Cost:  $20.58 ($2.57/ serving) 

Week 1: White Bean Soup with Chorizo & Kale

For my first soup of the year, I choose to make White Bean Soup with Chorizo and Kale. I choose this recipe not only because it is the first in the Winter section of the cookbook, but I was excited about the familiar flavor of chorizo mixed with the new flavors of white beans and kale, two ingredients I have never cooked before.

First off, collecting the ingredients was somewhat of a challenge. Though my freezer is stocked full of Mexican Chorizo, I did not know where to find the Spanish cousin. After some Yelping, I found Goulart Sausage Company not far from my office. I drove there on my lunch break and I was in and out in minutes.

Next challenge: Salt pork. Since I didn't really even know what this is and where I could buy it, I did some general Googling. Turns out it's similar to uncut bacon and very salted. Substitutes include bacon, ham and panchetta, but I choose to at least try and find it. I figured if I couldn't find it or it was way too expensive, I would substitute it for the bacon I already had in my fridge. I made a few calls to the fancy grocery stores along my route home. Turns out that the Nob Hill by my house had a ton and it only cost me $2! (Whole Foods was out, by the way). After a trip to Trader Joe's and Real Produce, it was time to go home and cook!

Preparation & Cooking

The first step was to clean and soak the beans. Though I 'm used to soaking my beans for several hours or overnight, i crossed my fingers that this method of quick soaking would do the trick. I tried to follow the directions and ingredients closely, even though I'm always tempted to put my own spin on food. But I figured I'd stick to the book for at least the first recipe. In retrospect, I would soak the beans the way I'm used to next time, since they ended up taking quite a while to cook. Nevertheless, I cleaned the beans, placed them in a heat resistant bowl and covered them with 8 cups boiling water for 1 hour.

While the beans soaked, I sauteed the onions, carrots, and celery with the olive oil and then added the garlic after the veggies were softened. I rinsed and cut the salt pork in 4 pieces. Since I only needed a fourth of the salt pork, I cut it in smaller pieces and froze the rest for another recipe.

After the beans soaked, I drained and rinsed the beans and added the beans and salt pork to the vegetables. I stirred in thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and 10 cups broth. The recipe actually called for chicken stock, but I went with Trader Joes's Low-sodium chicken broth instead.

I let the pot simmer for 1 hour, covered. I tasted the soup at this point, and sadly, was not impressed. I then wished I had used the stock which would have given the broth more flavor. I didn't give up though; there was still a few ingredients missing.

I let the pot simmer fo another hour with the chorizo. The recipe called for "30 minutes, until beans were tender" but the were definately not tender after 30 minutes. Maybe if I had soaked them longer... but who knows. This is my first time cooking white beans. Once I was satisfied with the beans, I removed the salt pork and threw it away. The recipe up to this point can be made a day or two ahead, so I tooka advantage of that. I let the pot cool and refrigerated it until the next day. Oh, and the broth had become much tastier after the addition of the chorizo. I also added more salt and pepper before refrigerating.

The next day, I reheated the pot over medium heat and added the kale to the simmering soup, cooking for about 3 minutes until wilted. And that was that. I served the soup with Parmesan cheese and Pilsbury Crescent rolls.


Eating

Overall, this recipe was pretty easy to make and it came out pretty good. The family enjoyed it, and they had a ton of questions about the chorizo. I wasn't too excited about the flavor of the kale, and I think spinach leaves would have also been yummy. But the flavor of the chorizo in the broth was quite yummy and gave the soup a little kick (along with the red pepper flakes). Not sure I'm in a hurry to make this again, but I will enjoy the leftovers.

Summary

White Bean Soup with Chorizo and Kale
Prep time: 1 hour (to soak beans and chop veggies)
Cook time: 2 hours on night 1, 20 min on day 2
Servings: 6
Taste: 3 stars (1 = yuck, 4 = yum)
Preparation: easy
Cost: $26.82
Stores: 4
Ingredients:
1 lb dried great Northern beans / $1.34 / Nob Hill
1 4-ounce piece of salt pork / $2.69/lb = $2.02 / Nob Hill
3 tablespoons olive oil / from home
2 cups shredded carrots / $0.69/lb = $0.69 / Real Produce
2 cups chopped celery / $1.19 / Nob Hill
2 cups chopped onion / $1.79/lb = $1.56 / Real Produce
freshly ground black pepper / from home
1 tablespoon dried thyme / $1.99 / Trader Joe's
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes / from home
5 large garlic cloves peeled and chopped / from home
10 - 12 cups chicken stock / 3 @ $1.99 = $5.97 / Trader Joe's
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more if needed / $1.79 / Nob Hill
8 ounce Spanish chorizo / $5.00 / Goulart Sausage Company
5 cups loosely packed, chopped kale, stems removed / $0.99 / Real Produce
Parmesan cheese (for garnish) / $3.29 /Trader Joe's