This version of a Portuguese soup, caldo verde, features the traditional potato and shredded cabbage, boosted with the delicious flavours of garlic, dill, smoky chorizo sausage and olive oil.
ingredients
serves: 4
1 1/4 pound floury potatoes
2 cloves garlic
3/4 pound green cabbage, curly kale or spring greens
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
4 ounce chorizo sausage
Salt and black pepper
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
to serve:
crusty bread or toast
method
1. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes and put into a large saucepan. Cover with 2 pints of cold water and bring to the boil. Peel and slice the garlic and add to pan.
2. When the water reaches boiling point, skim off the white froth and lower the heat, then partially cover the pan and gently boil the potatoes for 7 - 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, trim the greens, removing any coarse stalks, then rinse and shred the leaves into strips, about 1/2 inch wide.
4. When the potatoes are nearly cooked, remove the pan from the heat and mash them in the water to break them up as much as possible.
5. Add the greens and dried dill to the potatoes, bring back to the boil then reduce the heat and cook for a further 4 - 7 minutes (depending on the variety of greens).
6. While the potatoes and greens are cooking, cut the chorizo sausage into wafer thin slices.
7. Take the pan off the heat and mash the potatoes again to reduce them to more of a puree and to help to break down the cooked greens into the soup, though they should still retain their colour and shape.
8. Season the soup generously with salt and black pepper, then ladle it into the soup plates.
9. Garnish with slices of sausage. Trickle olive oil in a zigzag pattern over each serving and grind on more black pepper. Serve with crusty bread or toast.
