Caldo Verde
by John Villa
Recipe adapted by Irene Sax
Serves 6 to 8
Considered by many to be Portugal’s national dish, caldo verde is found everywhere — in the dining rooms of Lisbon’s most luxurious hotels to the humblest of country homes. It’s a versatile dish: Serve it as a one-course meal at lunch or as a light supper in the evening. What’s crucial when preparing it is that the kale is cut into extremely fine slices; that’s what creates the soup’s distinctive character.—John Villa
convert Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
10 ounces chouriço, diced
6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
8 cups cold water
1 pound kale or collard greens, cut into very fine julienne
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are translucent. Add the garlic and half the chouriço and cook for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cover everything with the water, bring to a boil and lower the heat, simmering until the potatoes are almost done, about 15 minutes.
2. When the soup is cool enough to handle, purée it in the food processor and return to the pot. Add the greens, bring everything back to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, ladle into bowls, and garnish with the remaining cubes of chouriço.
Recipe © 2001 John Villa. All rights reserved.
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Good recipe but do the following to make it great:
1. Cut the onion amount in half and double the garlic.
2. Pan fry all of the saugage and add the onions and garlic and saute them until translucent.
3. Split the water amount and boil the potatoes in one pot. In the second pot, add the saute to the water and keep on a low simmer setting.
4. Once the potatoes are cooked you will need to puree then (do not discard the water you boiled the potatoes in).
5. Combine all material into the larger pot and add salt and pepper to taste. Add your chopped Kale to the soup and simmer for five minutes. Enjoy!
PK, thanks for your comment. Everyone, here’s another way to add great flavor to an already flavorful soup.
Hi David,
Thanks for the great website. Traditionally (at least, where I grew up in Toronto), I ate Caldo Verde with a slice of this very dense corn bread we would get at any number of portuguese bakeries in the city. I searched on your website for a recipe for this bread but couldn’t find what I was looking for. I’ve never seen an equivalent type of cornbread (as you might know it differs greatly from mexican corn bread).
Any ideas as to where to find a recipe for that?
Oh. and I agree in part with PK, although I kept the same amount of onions and tripled the garlic, not doubled it. But I did that not because this recipe isn’t good as is (because it is)… I just happen to like garlic!
Thank you for posting this traditional dish. I saw other versions of it that called for kidney beans and knew it wasn’t the same kind of ‘authentic” dish that I grew up loving.
-Chris
Chris, there’s a recipe on the site for Portuguese corn bread, called broa. I also have one in my cookbook, The New Portuguese Table
Also, kale soup with kidney beans is actually an Azorean soup called sopa de couve. It’s a more rustic soup–a kind of country cousin to the more sophisticated caldo verde.
Great recipe! I’m on a low-carb diet so I substituted cauliflower florets for the potatoes. It’s super delish!
What a great idea! Cauliflower is such a wonderful substitute for potatoes on those low-carb diets. My favorite is mock mashed potatoes- so yummy.