Caldo Verde (Portuguese Kale Soup)
Potato and kale soup from the Minho — the cheapest good bowl in Portugal.
Caldo verde is Portugal's kale soup: potatoes blended into a smooth base, with very finely shredded kale or collard stirred in at the end so it stays green. A slice or two of chouriço goes in for fat and smoke. It is a thirty-five minute soup made from three cheap things, and it is eaten everywhere from festivals to weekday tascas.
Ingredients
- 600g potatoes
- 1 onion
- 200g kale or collards, shredded very fine
- 100g chourico
- Olive oil, salt
Method
- 1
Simmer potatoes and onion in 1.2L salted water until collapsing.
- 2
Blend smooth with a generous glug of olive oil.
- 3
Return to the boil and add the finely shredded greens.
- 4
Cook 4 minutes only, so they stay bright.
- 5
Top with slices of chourico crisped in a dry pan.
Leave out the chourico and it still works — this is a two-euro pot.
The Portuguese comfort trio
- Feijoada à Transmontana — The bean and pork stew from the same cold-weather table.
- Bacalhau à Brás — Salt cod, eggs and potato — the other tasca standby.
Tasca Days
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Fourteen Portuguese recipes, and the language, law and labels of the Portuguese table.
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- A regional compass that says plainly which dishes have documented origins and which do not
- The Portuguese words you need on a menu and in a market
- Dining and consumer guidance, including couvert
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