Hi All!
It’s taken me a while to do this next recipe, because I’m more or less still living out of a suitcase and boxes. I’m fortunate enough to have a roof over my head, but at the moment we are still in search of our “roof,” so to speak. We are hoping to have a place of our own to call home in the next few weeks, and I can start unpacking!
With that said, this recipe is from my Grandmother, Teodora, and it is a soup that I remember her making very often while growing up. It’s funny writing down the ingredients and directions to these recipes as my Grandmother and aunts recite them to me, and to find out that there actually aren’t that many ingredients and it’s not that difficult to make. However, that is a testament as to how amazing cooks and bakers they are! They are able to create some delicious food with, at times, few ingredients. Of course this makes perfect sense when you remember that they were usually feeding 5-10 people all day long. When that’s the case, you can’t make these recipes complicated! Now of course, other recipes take more time, consideration, and skill, but this soup is not necessarily one of them.
Caldo Verde is quick to make, yummy, and takes me home.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. xoxo
Yields: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
8 cups water
6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 pound collard greens or kale, trimmed and julienned
2 linguiça sausage links, sliced thin
Note: To prepare the collard greens, remove the hard inner stem from each leaf and roll up the long strips of collard green leaves into a tight roll. Slice thinly into strips.
Directions:
1) In a large pot or Dutch Oven, bring water to a boil. Add potatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and onion. Simmer and cook until potatoes are cooked through and soft, about 10-12 minutes.
2) Using a food processor, add potatoes and onions to a food processor, and pulse until smooth and creamy. Add potatoes back into pot with water and stir.
3) Over medium heat, add the remaining olive oil, salt, pepper, collard greens (see note for how to prepare), and linguiça . Stir and cook uncovered for approximately 25-30 minutes.
The Five Marias 