Still Soup Season: Caldo Verde
The green soup that has me dreaming of Portugal
Issue 05: From Sara Kate’s kitchen
If you’re lucky enough to live in a warm climate, congratulations and I’m jealous. The winter is slogging on here in New York City, with temps bouncing around between 35 and 70ºF during the day this last week. As much as the word March suggests in many ways a certain progress through and out the other side of winter, there are still some chilly weeks to contend with, so I still declare it soup season.
Caldo Verde (green soup) is a classic Portuguese dish made with potatoes, lots of greens like collards or kale (this time I threw in some baby spinach that was on its last legs), and a healthy splash of olive oil. The meat is optional but for carnivores, sausage disks flavor the broth in a deep way. (We love teaching the eye-opening trick that thrills many adults: place the sausage in the freezer prior to slicing to get perfectly shaped coins.)
Vegetarians can still get a lot of flavor from extra garlic and a good quality vegetable broth (maybe even one made with Parmesan rinds, or just toss a rind in the pot as you cook!) plus that final drizzle of olive oil.
Listen, don’t skimp on that last step; the olive oil is important! And if you have some really high quality stuff, save it for the drizzle and use the less precious oil for cooking.
Caldo Verde is traditionally eaten with a Portuguese corn bread called broa, but we love sopping up the broth with freshly made garlic bread or just straight up as a one-bowl meal.
Perhaps because I still feel tied down to these darker, colder days, lately I’ve been cooking a lot to Fado music, traditional Portuguese bar/pub music, often wistful and emotive. It’s always sung with classical guitar, so it has a grit and rhythm that works for me in the kitchen and helps pull my spirit out of total darkness, toward some spring joy.
Speaking of gorgeous music sung in Portuguese, I really hope you know about Caesaria Evora. She was a singer-songwriter from Cape Verde, a small island nation off the western coast of Africa in the central Atlantic that gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Her music is some of my favorite cooking music.
Check out the video below of Caesaria Evora live in Paris and the album Café Atlantico (one of my favorites!)
Put some music on and make soup!
Caldo Verde
Serves 4-6
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
3/4 pound fresh chorizo or sweet Italian sausage, held in freezer for 15 minutes
1 small yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cups diced red, new or Yukon Gold potatoes
1 cup peeled and diced russet potatoes
6 cups stemmed and finely shredded kale or collard greens
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Slice the sausage into 1/4-inch thick coins.
In a 5-quart or larger stockpot with a lid, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium, then add the sliced sausage pieces, allowing them to brown, without moving them, in a single layer, about 2 minutes. Flip them and brown the other sides, then move them around the pan for another minute just to get the fat distributed and any other edges crispy. Add the onion, salt and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes until the onion is softened, then add the garlic and cook an additional minute, taking care not to burn it.
Add the potatoes and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the kale and stir until it is wilted. Add the stock.
Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to low and simmer, partially covered, about 20 minutes, until the red potatoes, when pierced with a fork, slide off. Take the soup off the heat and using the fork gently smash as many of the russet potato pieces as you can find against the side of the pot, then stir.
Serve in soup bowls drizzled with about a teaspoon of olive oil each.