CALDO VERDE
Last week, after a gloriously summery weekend, we found ourselves drenched in what felt like unending rainfall for the rest of the week. Naturally this meant a) that I avoided leaving The Farm at all costs, and b) soup.
Soup was always a regular feature at the dining table when I was a child. When eating Chinese food, no family meal was complete without a generous serving of soup. I grew up consuming mostly broth-type soups (as most Chinese soups are), abundant with veggies, pork bones and a slew of herbal/fungal/whatever-else-you-can-think-of ingredients. Soup was a mandatory component of the meal - but it was always a component, and never the main attraction. The concept of having soup alone as a meal, and nothing else, always felt foreign to me. No pun intended. Furthermore, it took a while for me to become accustomed to heavier, thicker soups - and I have to be honest, the majority of these did not appeal to me.
Then one day, when I was looking for a new recipe that involved kale (I told you there’d be more), I came across a recipe for a Portuguese soup called Caldo Verde. Literally “green soup” or “green broth”. It had greens, potatoes (my favourite vegetable) and chorizo - all hearty ingredients, but the soup itself didn’t look thick and heavy. My understanding is that collard greens are traditionally used, but this particular recipe that I found from Leite’s Culinaria used kale instead - and I’ve been making it that way ever since.
The rain made for a good excuse to whip up a batch of Caldo Verde - the other excuse being that we had all the ingredients on hand so I didn’t have to leave the house (bonus). One of the great things about this soup is that you can adjust the texture to your liking. I can’t say I know what the actual texture of this soup is supposed to be since Portuguese cuisine is not one of my strong suits - but while I’m generally an advocate for authenticity when it comes to traditional recipes, I’m also a big fan of doing whatever you need to do to make it taste good for yourself. The experience and enjoyment of eating is both a universal and highly subjective thing, so you do you. Ultimately, the most important question you should ask when you eat something is, “Does it taste good? Does it make you feel good?” The answer should always be yes. So make it taste good! If you like a thicker soup, add more potatoes. If not, scale back on them or add more broth or water at the end to thin it out. Likewise with the kale - thicker slices for a chunkier texture, thinner ribbons if you prefer it a little more delicate.
The other great thing about Caldo Verde is its simplicity - it only has 6 ingredients! (Excluding pantry staples like olive oil and…water.) Another thing I’m a big fan of: big flavour, small grocery list. (Or no grocery list in this particular instance.)
One of the reasons this soup is so flavourful is because of the chorizo, and not just because of its mere presence. First, the onions are cooked down IN the chorizo fat and drippings. Then, near the end of the cooking process, half of the chorizo gets BLENDED into the soup. That’s right - meat paste. I know it doesn’t sound overly appetizing, but you won’t even know it’s in there, except for when the flavour bomb hits your tongue.
A word about the blending: you can use either wand/stick blender or a traditional blender to do the job, but if you’re going to use a regular blender, then make sure you let the soup cool a little before blending, and do it in batches. As I previously learned the hard way, a full blender + hot contents = a potential trip to the burn unit (I was lucky, didn’t have to make that dreaded trip). My personal klutzy tendencies aside, the other reason I prefer the wand blender basically comes down to time management. I don’t have to wait for the soup to cool before blending (even though I probably should) and I can do the whole batch in one go instead of ladling out portions into the upright blender.
Another efficiency tip for this soup: cut your potatoes into smaller chunks, or even a large dice. Hardly a pro tip, but the smaller pieces will mean that they cook a little more quickly, cutting down on the wait time.
The ingredient that really makes this dish, however, is one that may seem unexpected: white pepper. It’s used generously in this recipe, and I always sprinkle on a little more to garnish each bowl when done. White pepper has a distinct flavour that really can’t be substituted, and you can definitely tell with this soup when there isn’t enough of it. I was accustomed to seasoning with white pepper when it came to Chinese food, but hadn’t really ever seen it used before in Western cooking.
And so this soup came to be more than just soup. Not only did it change the way I felt about non-Asian soup, but it incorporated a much-loved and formerly assumed Asian-only ingredient with the white pepper. I realize I’m getting all sentimental about soup, but as something of a Third Culture Kid myself, this soup is a lovely bridging of cultural ingredients in my mind, blending a familiar flavour with an unfamiliar format.
And it answers the most important questions of all: Does it taste good? Yes. Does it make me feel good? Hell yes.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4-6 medium potatoes
1 large onion, diced
300g chorizo, sliced about 5mm or 1/4'“ thick
1 bunch kale, de-stemmed and thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves (original recipe calls for 2 but I love garlic), sliced
1 litre chicken stock
1 litre cold water
Salt & white pepper to taste
Method:
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat, then add the chorizo slices. Brown both side, about 5 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chorizo and drain on a plate lined with paper towel. Don’t discard the fat in the pot!!
2. Add the onions into the pot and cook until softened and golden, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes or so.
3. Add the potatoes, give everything a stir to mix well, then pour in the chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 20-30 minutes.
4. Once the potatoes are cooked through, remove the pot from heat and add in half of the chorizo. If using an upright blender, allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes, then blend in batches. Otherwise, use the wand blender to puree the contents of the pot.
5. Add in the sliced kale and return the pot to heat - bring everything to a boil then lower heat and simmer until the kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. At this point you can add some broth/water if you prefer your soup a little thinner. Add the remaining chorizo to the pot, then season generously with salt and white pepper. Serve hot, and sprinkle on some additional white pepper if you wish.