Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)

For this week I chose my favorite soup. It's from Portugal, but very famous in Brazil. The main ingredients are potatoes and kale and it's very easy to make. The original recipe you can use sausage and bacon, but I used smoked tofu because I am a vegetarian. I've included a photo of the Tofu Version (to the right) and the Sausage Version (further down).

Ingredients:

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 ½ teaspoons salt

ground black pepper to taste

Steps:

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.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-low heat, cook sausage until it has released most of its fat, 10 minutes. Drain.

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.

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.