Wednesday, March 03, 2010

portuguese green soup

Wow. Wowee. Wow. I had an idea in my head to make a soup with spicy sausage, white beans, and some sort of greens and rice. What I found was Portuguese Green Soup. Some of the ingredients aren't what I originally planned on, but it turned out even better than I expected. Of course I was starving, so that might have made it better, but I think it was objectively amazing.

Here's the original recipe:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch collard greens, center stems cut away, leaves thinly sliced
1 pound fully cooked spicy sausage (such as linguiça, andouille, or hot links), cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
5 3/4 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 3/4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Heat olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is soft and golden , about 5 minutes. Add collard greens and sauté until wilted, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and sauté 5 minutes. Add broth and potatoes. Simmer soup uncovered until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer 2 cups soup (without sausage) to processor. Blend until smooth; return to pot of soup and bring to simmer. Mix in crushed red pepper. Season with salt and black pepper.
 
Courtesy of Epicurious.com
 
I made a few adjustments, mostly because I wasn't feeling either garlic-y or chicken-ish. In case I want to try to replicate this in the future, here are the exact-ish measurements I used.
 
1 half onion, diced
3/4 bunch of collard greens, chiffonade
2 links hot italian sausage, Niman Ranch, sliced
2 potatoes, diced
1 box Kitchen Essentials vegetable broth
 
I then followed the recipe as directed. The final boil took almost 35 minutes, but it was well worth the wait.
 
For just five ingredients this was incredibly tasty. Can't wait to try it tomorrow once all the flavors have had a chance to meld.

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