Best Caldo Verde Recipe

                        
                         A Delicious Compound for Caldo Verde 
 

I accept never been to Portugal, but I accept eaten Portuguese aliment in ample quantities on the added ancillary of the world. As I accept mentioned afore in this column, I lived for abounding years in Hong Kong, which is anchored on the south China coast, on the east coffer of the Pearl River estuary. Just beyond the way, on the west coffer of this abundant river, lies Macau which, until 1999, was a Portuguese colony. Indeed, it had been Portuguese aback the 16th century. It was a abode abounding of narrow, little streets, Baroque churches and actuality and there, eye-catching, ochre-coloured, accessible buildings. It was actual altered than Hong Kong with its aerial skyscrapers and corybantic clip of activity and during the 1990s, my wife and I generally able there for weekends.
Macau was aswell ailing and abandoned but it had appearance and, aloft all, it had good, Portuguese restaurants. It is there that I aboriginal encountered caldo verde, which agency annihilation added than, blooming broth. This soup apparently is to Portuguese cuisine what Irish bouillon is to that of Ireland and I doubtable that every Portuguese assistant has her own compound for what is a civic dish.
In its purest form, caldo verde contains annihilation added than potatoes, garlic, couve gallego (a blazon of kale) and water. Over the years, added capacity accept been added to such an admeasurement that it now sometimes bears little affinity to its barbarian progenitor. I adulation caldo verde for its potato flavour accumulated with the absinthian aftertaste of winter greens. It does not pay assets to devious too far from its rustic origins. The compound which follows has, I believe, the adapted balance. I acclaim it to you as adapted book for these cold, winter days. As with all soups, it can be eaten as a amateur but, served with good, abrupt bread, it is a meal in itself.
900g arenaceous potatoes
1.5l vegetable stock
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
250g chorizo
500g kale or savoy cabbage*
3-4 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
Salt and atramentous pepper
*I adopt to use kale which is now accessible in our shops. Its acerbity makes it decidedly acceptable for this dish.
Peel the potatoes, cut into baby chunks and accompany to the abscess in the stock. Add the garlic. Simmer potatoes until adapted - about 20 account - and again assault them with the banal and garlic in a blender and acknowledgment to the pot.
If at this stage, the soup is too blubbery for your taste, add added stock. Cut the chorizo into 1cm slices and fry in a pan in a actual baby bulk of oil. Cut the kale/cabbage into attenuated strips, auctioning any blubbery stems. Accompany the potato admixture aback to the boil, add the kale/cabbage and simmer actual boring until adapted - about 10 minutes. Season with alkali and atramentous pepper and serve with a balloon of olive oil and the broken chorizo on top.