Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)

by | Mar 24, 2021 | Recipes, Soups

Our first winter garden has been producing well, and with two varieties of kale and temperatures in the 30’s, I decided to make some Caldo Verde, Green Portuguese Soup! I also had some cilantro and Italian parsley growing, to make up the three basic “greens” to get started. I needed a recipe to pair with our Wine of the Month at Charles R Winery, 2017 Bobcat Red, a blend of Zinfandel and Sangiovese, and the linguica in the soup was the perfect match.

Both of our paternal grandparents were of Portuguese descent or to be more precise–Azorean descent. Sadly, our Portuguese grandmother died before we were born and our grandfather did not cook, so we didn’t have any Portuguese recipes passed down to us. However, we did grow up eating linguica, a Portuguese sausage. This is a recipe that I found online and have adapted over the past few years. Vamos comer! (Let’s eat!)

~Nancy

CALDO VERDE (Portuguese Green Soup)

Ingredients

  • 1 jalapeno pepper
  • 2 large Meyer lemons, halved
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 8 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 teaspoon coriander
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1-pound linguica, or 3 links sliced into ¼ inch rounds
  • 1 cup Charles R Bobcat Red
  • 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 2 bunches kale, destemmed and chopped
  • 1 bunch cilantro and parsley, chopped, ¼ cup reserved for garnish
  • 4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat a grill or cast-iron pan. Place jalapeno and lemon halves on the grill cut side down. Remove lemon and jalapeno when flesh is blistered. Rub the skin off jalapeno, remove seeds, and small dice. Heat oil to medium in a large pot, add onions and cook 3-5 minutes, add garlic and spices and continue to brown for another 3-5 minutes. Add linguica and jalapeno and cook for another 5 minutes. Rough chop the tomatoes, or crush by hand into the pot. Add the wine and tomato juice and cook down for 5 minutes. Add chicken broth, kale, cilantro, parsley, lemon halves and potatoes. Salt and pepper to taste and simmer gently for 30 to 45 minutes until flavors have blended. Remove and discard lemon halves. Garnish with remaining herbs. Serve with grilled bread and a glass Charles R Bobcat Red.

Serves 8