Caldo Verde

Tonight I made a soup that has become one of my cold weather favourites: caldo verde. Its Portugese meaning, and I'm guessing here, Green Pot. Or Pot of Green. It's a guess. Anyhow, it's one of the easiest soups to make in the world, is cheap and can be meaty or veg. It's traditionally served with cornbread, but I find it quite filling on its own.

CALDO VERDE
5-6 russet potatoes
a bunch of kale
portugese sausage
(optional. You could use cooked chorizo, I guess, though I've never tried.)
water
olive oil
fresh ground pepper
salt

Wash and cut the potatoes into large chunks. For a traditional soup, peel the potatoes. I leave the skins on because they say that's where all the nutritional content is. Put the potato chunks into a large pot and add water. Water level should come to 2 inches above the top of the potatoes. Put the pot with water and potatoes on the stove and bring to a boil.

Cook potatoes until soft but not mushy. IMPORTANT: drain the water out of the pot and keep the taters in. I've done it the other way around --taking the taters out of the pot and leaving the water in -- but this way works better down the line. You need to reserve the cooking water.

Mash the potatoes. A coarse mash. We're not talking whipped potatoes here, we're talking chunky, hearty homestyle potatoes. Add olive oil to mashed potatoes. Start with 1/4 cup. If you like something a little richer, add more, but start small. Freshly grind in some black pepper. Mix all this together and let it sit for a couple minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, wash KALE in cold water. Take the leaves off the stems and slice super thin with a sharp knife. Slice the sausage thinly as well.

After the potatoes have rested, return them to the pot (or the pot to the stove, if you never took them out) and slowly start to stir in the water over a medium heat. Continue to add water until soup takes on a consistency you like. Add sliced sausage. Add sliced kale. Bring soup back to a boil (careful as potato soup is like napalm -- in that it will stick to you and burn -- when it spits) for a couple minutes -- long enough to cook the kale, and the sausage (if you used the Portugese variety).

That is that. This recipe makes a LARGE pot of soup and it freezes remarkably well.