Last night, I ate a light hearty savory Portuguese soup called Caldo Verde made with mashed onions, chorizo, and kale. The same soup is often made with collard greens instead of kale. Caldo Verde makes the perfect late night supper, because it's incredibly satisfying without overwhelming your stomach. Moreover, it's soothing.
There are several ways of making Caldo Verde. The one I ate last night had tomatoes and kidney beans, which are not in the traditional recipe. It can also include dried split peas. The soup tastes even more hearty with kielbasa, Polish sausage. This gorgeous green soup is a great way to stay warm and healthy during the winter time.
In Portugal, Caldo Verde is often eaten with slices of broa, a Portuguese type of cornbread. And, instead of using Spanish chorizo, they use Portuguese chouriço. The soup comes from the Minho region in northern Portugal, but it's popular all over the country and eaten during festivities, celebrations, and weddings. Keep reading to find a few different recipes for Caldo Verde.
Each Friday afternoon, I gather up an assortment of links from around the food webs for your pre-weekend enjoyment. Here's some of what's caught my eye recently.
I bought a big bunch of kale last weekend at the farmers market. I haven't gotten around to cooking it yet, but I've got my eye on this recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes.
Looking for a weekend baking project that will knock the socks straight off your loved ones? What about the Feather Boa Doughnuts that Erin made recently! Based on a recipe from 101 Cookbooks, they are a little lighter than fried doughnuts but I imagine no less delicious.
Who ever said Easter feasts required big, slow-roasted birds? The creative folks behind What the hell does a vegan eat, anyway? featured a gorgeous seitan roulade for their holiday entree.
Like good vegans, they made their own seitan, the old-fashioned way - no store-bought stuff for them! If you're feeling ambitious (and have some time on your hands), the seitan recipe is here.
After making and rolling out the seitan, it was filled with mushrooms and kale, rolled up, and baked for 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. The best part? Instead of twine, they used these cute reusable silicone ties to secure the roulade while it baked. They added some mushroom gravy at the end, which looked great, but I'm sure it tastes delicious plain, as well. Although if you're not gonna eat gravy with Easter dinner, when are you gonna eat gravy? Just sayin', is all.
My dream is that these lovely people will welcome me into their home and adopt me and offer to cook for me every night. But until that happens, I'll just keep featuring their awesome recipes.
Jeannette, a Slashfood Flickr user - who also happens to write a fantastic blog, Everybody likes Sandwiches - shared her recipe for colcannon, traditional Irish comfort food made of cabbage or kale, mashed potatoes, and a healthy dose of butter or cream. Jeannette added leeks to hers (onions or chives are often added, as well).
Colcannon can be eaten anytime, obviously, but it's typically enjoyed around Halloween, and some families hide charms or coins in the mixture. The idea is that whomever finds it has luck for the coming year. There's actually an adorable scene that illustrates this concept in In America, a film about an Irish family who immigrates to America.
Earlier this week I discovered something new about my mother. My blogging for Slashfood has had an unintended, but positive, consequence in her life. It has opened her up to the world of recipes on the internet and now she's off and running. Several days ago, she punched in a short list of ingredients into Google, looking for a little inspiration. She found herself on Chez Megane and proceeded to make Megane's Vegetable Soup...With Meatballs.
She walked me through the changes she made to the recipe, which included doubling the amount of kale, punching up the broth with a shot of Bragg's Liquid Aminos and used ground turkey for the meatballs. Whether you make it just as it was written or adopt some of my mom's changes, it sounds like a tasty and easy soup, perfect for these chilly, dark evenings.
I am a sucker for risotto. There's nothing like the creamy toothsomeness of cooked arborio rice to really set my heart afluttering with joy. I'm also a huge fan of butternut squash and kale. Happily, I just stumbled across a recipe that all those items into a single, hunger-inducing dish.
This recipe is over at GastroKid, so it's designed as a way for parents to help their kids eat and enjoy their veggies. However, I don't think anyone is going to get mad at me if I make it with nary a kid in sight.
I love kale. There, I said it. It's one of those vegetables that often gets a bad rap, more frequently found as a green garnish around the edge of a salad bar than cooked and on your plate. However, I've found it to be one of the most forgiving and easy to cook of the leafy green family. It's also great to serve to guests, because it doesn't shrink down into a pile of nothing the way that spinach or chard does.
The only trick with kale is making sure you clean it sufficiently, as all those curly corners can trap dirt and grit, unpleasant things to bite down into. The first time I cooked kale, I didn't know just how rigorously it needed to be washed and had to throw the whole, aromatic, garlic-infused pan of bright green veg into the trash. I was not a happy camper that day.
Another super-tasty Irish dish to enjoy on St
Patrick's Day and according to the magazine in which I found it (March issue of Fresh magazine) it is rich in
nutrients, folic acid, vitamin c and fibre.
For the Pancakes
450g peeled
potatoes diced
60g plain flour
200ml milk
For the Filling
225g diced back bacon
85g unsalted butter
450g Kale or other greens finely
shredded
Put the potatoes and flour in a food processor or blender with enough milk to make a batter.
Let it rest while preparing the filling.
Dry-fry the bacon, add a third of the butter. Add the kale or veg
and a few tablespoons of water. Boil vigorously for five minutes and then drain. Heat the rest of the butter in a
frying pan and use about a quarter of the batter mixture to make a slim pancake. Cook until golden brown on the bottom.
Top with a quarter of the filling fold over and serve. Should make 4 pancakes.
My only question is - should
the potatoes be boiled first?
Start your year with 
I am a sucker for risotto. There's nothing like the creamy toothsomeness of cooked arborio rice to really set my heart afluttering with joy. I'm also a huge fan of butternut squash and kale. Happily, I just stumbled across 
Another super-tasty Irish dish to enjoy on St
Patrick's Day and according to the magazine in which I found it (March issue of Fresh magazine) it is rich in
nutrients, folic acid, vitamin c and fibre.
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