C is for Collards

Collards is considered such a southern vegetable but to me it is  very much like the Spring Greens my mother used to cook when I was a child. Apparently the name collard is a corruption of the original name colewort. From the list given by Wiki, it appears they grow mostly in warmer climates. One can buy them in the stores elsewhere but then that basically applies to most foods these days. In the south they tend to cook them for an extremely long time and to add ham hocks whilst cooking them. For my personal taste I prefer to cook them a different way, either with olive oil and lots of garlic or with a tomato based sauce also containing garlic mind you.

Here is a famous Portuguese soup which includes a pork sausage. My impression is that this linguica is interchangeable with chorizo. We can certainly buy chorizo around here. Kale can be used for this soup as well as collards.

Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)

 
"This soup is a Portuguese favorite of mine. It is a creamy soup with the wonderful use of kale, giving it the green soup look. Enjoy it with a thick slice from your favorite loaf of bread!".

Ingredients

recipe makes 6 servings
 

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  
• 1 onion, minced
  
• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
• 6 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
  
• 2 quarts cold water
  

• 6 ounces linguica sausage, thinly sliced
  
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
  
• ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1 pound collards, rinsed and julienned
  

 

Directions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons olive oil for 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes and cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes more. Pour in water, bring to a boil, and let boil gently for 20 minutes, until potatoes are mushy.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-low heat, cook sausage until it has released most of its fat, 10 minutes. Drain.
3. Mash potatoes or puree the potato mixture with a blender or food processor. Stir the sausage, salt and pepper into the soup and return to medium heat. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.
4. Just before serving, stir kale into soup and simmer, 5 minutes, until kale is tender and jade green. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and serve at once.

Have a great day