A Taste of Portugal, Caldo Verde Recipe
Portugal is a wonderful country to throw caution to the wind and enjoy the national cuisine.
Don’t expect to enjoy ‘haute cuisine” fare first thing in the day however, the portuguese often skip a full breakfast , normally going for a continental style breakfast. In truth you will usually see locals enjoying a light snack in a cafe on their way to work.
Lunchtime and Evening meals are a quite different and hugely pleasing experience.
The locals really love their cooking, and you can expect to be offered large portions when dining. The midday meal might be a pleasant, but time consuming business, usually enjoyed between 1.00pm and 3.00pm, and regardless of the weather, the local inhabitants eat cooked food in cafes or restaurants. The evening meal is enjoyed between 7pm and 9pm, and again, normally is a hot meal.
The charm of Portuguese cuisine is often described as ‘simple ingredients, perfectly prepared’.
Portuguese cooking is in general based on superb quality, fresh regional produce, usually featuring fish, meat, olive oil, tomatoes and spices.
A good portuguese meal should start with a soup.
The best known portuguese soup, is caldo verde, a wholesome, spicy soup made from shredded kale, potatoes and chourio or linguica sausage. Caldo Verde comes from the Minho region, but is widely available anywhere in Portugal, from lisbon to the algarve holiday resorts.
Here is a Recipe for caldo verde that will let you bring the taste of portugal back home with you
Portuguese kale soup recipe
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1 pound beef, stewing (cut into one inch chunks)
1/2 lb. (227g) linguica or chorico (chopped into slivers)
1.5 quart water
Pinch of low sodium salt
3 lg. potatoes, cubed
three carrots, chopped into 1″ cubes
1.5 lb kale, chopped, or 1 pack frozen kale, defrosted
1/2 cabbage (finely chopped)
1/2 pkg. macaroni (preferably elbow)
1 can white kidney beans (any white beans will do)
1 chili pepper, (remove seeds), chopped
1/3 tsp paprika
1 tsp Olive Oil
Method:
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Peel and cut up the root vegetables.
Fill a large saucepan with the water and add the cubed beef, portuguese sausage and sea salt.
Bring to a rolling boil and keep covered until meat and portuguese sausage are barely tender.
Add the the hot pepper, carrots, beans, (if using them), paprika, chopped cabbage & kale and stir the pan well.
Recover and cook for 3/4 of an hour or until chopped kale is cooked.
When the chopped kale is ready, add the olive oil chopped potatoes & macaroni.
Keep stirring the kale soup to make sure that the chopped potatoes and macaroni don’t end up stuck to the base of the pot.
Cook slowly (keeping the saucepan lid on) until potatoes & macaroni pasta are ready to eat.
Caldo verde can be served as a first course or as a filling main course.
About the Author
Roger Wakefield is a staff writer at: Villas in the Algarve, (http://www.villaretreats.com/villas-algarve.asp) offering a range of villas in the Algarve, Portugal and other European and Caribbean destinations
Food, Fine Wine and Friends – Le Moulin
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