Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup

Here’s a soup for a crowd.  Traditionally made with real meat chorizo, variations of this recipe are easy to find. I found this interpretation in Twelve Months of Monastery Soups by Brother Victor D’Avila Latourrette. Brother Victor calls for the soup to cook two hours, but you know me, the pressure cooker is the way to go—dinner will be on the table in less than an hour, provided you have planned and soaked the beans beforehand. Lacinato kale was on sale last week so that is what I bought. Rumor has it that Lacinato or dinosaur kale is the most nutritious of kales.

Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup

1 cup white beans, either the larger Northern or the smaller Navy bean

2 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

9 cups water

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut in ½-inch cubes

1 pound Lacinato kale, stems removed and discarded

12 to 16 ounces chorizo style vegetarian “sausage”, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 ½ to 2 teaspoons sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Put the beans in a bowl, cover with plenty of water, and let soak overnight.

Heat the first 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pressure cooker; cook and stir the onions over medium flame, until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook a few minutes more. Pour in the water and stir in the tomato paste. Rinse the soaked beans and add them to the pot along with the potatoes. Chop the kale leaves and add them. Lock the lid in place, and over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 9 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally for 10 minutes; then quick release as directed by your pressure cooker.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Cook and stir the “sausage” until the pieces are lightly brown on the sides. Add the browned “sausage”, the vinegar and salt and pepper. Taste, adding more salt as needed.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

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Cream of ‘Mess o’ Greens’ Soup

More than a dozen years ago, Deer Valley co-hosted a fundraising event for Red Butte Garden,  a part of the University of Utah. Rotating through Snow Park Lodge’s banquet rooms, turned into classrooms set with portable demo kitchens complete with mirrors and gas stoves, guests enjoyed 3 Deer Valley chefs cooking 3 separate menus, all featuring fresh herbs.

I was one of the “Chefs for All Seasonings” teaching the half-hour classes—and keeping with the herb theme, I made oatmeal rosemary scones, peppercorn and pear tart, and basil ice creams, both plain and chocolate. Another chef followed his Southern heritage and taught pan-fried catfish with cornmeal and thyme, red beans and rice and mess o’ greens. Even though I’d lived in the North Carolina mountains for 2 years, I think that was the first time I heard that term used to describe a bitter-tangy-sweet mixture of greens, like collards, mustard greens, kale etc. If you come from the South, your mother probably made mess o’ greens flavored with salt pork or bacon, cooked for hours on end.

Well I love my greens, and I always make them on New Years Day to insure a profitable year, but I cook them without meat and only until they are just tender, about 15 minutes.

Here is a warming soup to welcome the first real freeze of the fall, and to use several of our CSA veggies of the week: potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, jalapeño pepper and Ranui mess o’ greens. It’s also a vegan recipe, with cashew milk instead of milk or cream. Serve with corn muffins–I recommend the recipe from my cookbook if you don’t have a favorite corn muffin or cornbread recipe.

Cream of Mess o’ Greens Soup

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup plus 4 cups vegetable broth

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 leeks, white part mostly, cleaned and sliced into rings

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, seeds and veins removed, chopped

2 medium potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice

5 cups mess o’ greens, with the stems stripped and discarded

1 teaspoon Real Salt

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, optional

In a blender, whir the cashews and 1 cup of the vegetable broth until smooth, about a minute.

In a large soup pot or pressure cooker over medium flame, heat the olive oil. Cook and stir the leeks for a minute; add the onions and cook and stir another minute or so. Add the garlic and jalapeño pepper, the remaining 4 cups of vegetable broth, the potatoes and the mess o’ greens. Add the salt. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Alternately–if you use a pressure cooker, lock the lid in place, and over high heat, bring to high pressure. Lower the heat just enough to maintain high pressure and cook for 6 minutes. Allow the pressure to come down naturally or use a quick-release method.

Stir in the reserved cashew “milk.” Remove from the heat. Puree the soup with an immersion blender directly in the pot, or in the regular blender (in batches.).

Season to taste with salt and the optional lemon juice—to intensify the flavor.

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