Portuguese Kale Soup

I grew up on what's known as the Outer Cape on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  I lived on Bound Brook Island in Wellfleet with my father and first one, then another stepmother, and with my mother and stepfather in Truro, in a delightful little cottage where I spent many happy hours either on the beach, fifteen minutes away on the bay, or waiting for my stepfather's boat to come in with the rest of the Provincetown fishing fleet.  Whether Wellfleet or Provincetown, I loved sitting on the wharf, listening to the seagulls and the rumble of the boats as they came in.  I ate a lot of very fresh fish ( which made me very picky about my fish forever), and lots of Portuguese Kale Soup - a Cape Codder's version of chicken soup.  There was a large population of Portuguese in Provincetown, and my stepfather and his family were very much part of it.  Kale soup was on every menu in early Provincetown restaurants, and I have to assume all my parents were all adept at their own versions, because for me, it is home.  

Kale soup is centered around a traditional Portuguese pork sausage known as linguica.  It has hints of tomato, and spices, but it's not nearly as hot as chorizo, another Portuguese sausage, often too spicy for my taste.  The best linguica comes from Gaspar's, available, thankfully, even here in New Hampshire at Shaw's supermarkets.  It's packaged as a coil, much as kielbasa, sometimes as small sausages or crumbled, but the large coil is by far the most flavorful.  Most packets run a little over or under a pound.  if you can't find Gaspar's linguica, you can substitute a thick slice of smoked ham.

This recipe makes about 8 bowls of soup, which freezes very well.

You will need:

1 medium chopped onion
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 T. olive oil
3 cups ( about 1 lb) linguica, uncoiled, cut into 5 inch lengths, then quartered lengthwise and cut into a large dice
4-5 medium red skinned potatoes, skin on, cut in large dice
hefty pinch red pepper flakes
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups water, more or less
2 cups diced plum tomatoes, canned, along with their juices
6+ cups packed torn kale leaves, stems discarded
1/2 t. dried thyme
2 T. unsalted butter, stirred in at the end, optional
1 can cannellini or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed, stirred in at the end
3 T. good salsa , hot or not, stirred in at the end
salt and pepper to taste ( light on the salt, as it seems saltier as it sits)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Add the olive oil to a large pot and heat.  Add the onion and garlic and stir, cook for 5 minutes.
Add the linguica, the potatoes, the red pepper flakes, and the chicken stock and water and simmer until the potatoes are tender - about 25 minutes.
Add the kale and the diced tomatoes, thyme, and beans and cook another 20 minutes.
Add the red wine vinegar.
Stir in the salsa and optional butter and take off heat.  Let sit a bit before serving with good crusty bread and butter.

More kale soup recipes:

Sausage and Kale Soup
Caldo Verde:  Portuguese Potato Kale Soup

sunday soup day

A welcome chill in the air means one thing to me: Portuguese Kale Soup! I'm heading out for the Sunday papers and a long walk and then my favorite soup for lunch. Enjoy your Sunday ♥

rain, fog, snow, ice: a day for kale & linguica soup with pasta

What a foggy morning! We are having rain on top of packed snow, so when the warm air hits the snow you get a thick blanket of fog. Hasty change of plans from a day in the nearest city to a cozy home day.

I had this idea that today I was going to re-construct Portuguese Kale Soup with linguica into a pasta dish with all those healthy and delicious ingredients. After an hour of steaming pots and draining kale and pasta, I had a taste. It was a puny little flavor, nothing like what I'd imagined it. So I reconstructed it instead, to my traditional kale soup with pasta. Instead of dark red kidney beans, which are traditional in this soup, I added Italian plum tomatoes for a little zing. Since there's so much food, it's time to invite the neighbors over! If you just want pasta and kale, you can find a recipe for that here.

To make:

1 lb or more of Gaspar's linguica, sliced into 1 inch ish pieces

1 large onion, roughly diced

a bunch of kale ( a big bowl full) leaves torn carefully from stems. (Discard stems)

1 1/2 cups Italian plum tomatoes, cut in quarters

2-3 cups cubed red skinned potatoes, unpeeled

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Water to cover

2 cloves fat garlic, minced or pressed

hot pepper flakes

3 T. olive oil

salt and freshly cracked pepper

Cooked pasta ( I used thin spagetti here)

Place the linguica, onion, kale, tomatoes, potatoes and chicken stock in the pot.

Turn up the heat to medium-high and add enough water to just reach the top of the vegetables and linguica. The kale cooks down by about 75%.

Add the red pepper flakes, garlic and the olive oil.

Cook until the potatoes are tender, keeping an eye on the liquid, adding more stock or water if necessary to keep soup from scorching.

While the soup is cooking, make a batch of pasta, drain, and toss with olive oil. Cover and set aside.

Taste the soup and add salt and pepper as needed.

Using two forks, fill the soup bowls halfway with pasta, then ladle the kale soup on top, making sure each person gets several pieces of the linguica. Ummmmmm - good, good, good!

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What I'm reading: Robert Parker's classic " Potshot". I'll miss him dearly.

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portuguese kale soup with linguica

Have you ever seen such a beautiful soup? Chunky with linguica, which is a Portuguese pork sausage that is lean and tasty with spices, and loaded with that beautiful ( and healthy!) kale, throw in some potatoes and a few kidney beans and you have a lovely meal.
I grew up on Cape Cod, and my stepfather was Portuguese - put those two together and you'll understand why this soup was a familiar and eagerly anticipated meal.
If you've never heard of linguica, it's a lean pork dry sausage with lots of spices and herbs. Unlike its cousin, chorizo, it is not hot, as in way too spicy for me. I'm lucky enough to find it at my local supermarket, but if you can't find it, just go to Gaspar's Sausage (http://www.gasparssausage.com/) and you can order some online.

To make:

1 coil of linguica ( it's sold that way)
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 T. olive oil
about 6-8 cups chopped kale, stems removed
6 red or white potatoes, large dice
1 can kidney beans, drained
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups beef stock
pinch of dried thyme
1/2 large can italian plum tomatoes, with juice, chopped
2 T. medium salsa, Green Mountain Gringo preferred

Place olive oil in large pot and heat. Add onions and garlic and stir until a little browned.
Add chicken and beef stocks to pot.
Cut linguica into 1 inch pieces and add to pot.
Add large diced potatoes to pot.
Add thyme to pot.

Bring pot to a simmer and cook for a half hour. (You can add water to pot if the stock doesn't cover the potatoes and linguica)

Add kale.
Add tomatoes.
Add salsa and kidney beans.

Add more water or stock if necessary.

Cook another half hour. Serve with rustic bread and butter, for dunking !

If you prefer a slightly spicier soup, add hot pepper sauce or pepper flakes.

This soup improves as it ages.

This is my entry into the Tastes to Remember blog event:
http://sarah-cooking.blogspot.com/2008/04/tastes-to-remember-blogging-event.html