Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green) Soup

I have always wanted to make this soup since I first saw Chef Emeril make it way back in the day...As I was out shopping at Famous Foods, I found some Portuguese Chourico sausage so knew it was time.

I also picked up some organic kale too, but at another store (Nesters) ran into some organic collard greens so decided to use those instead.  I read a lot of recipes and apparently collard greens are the tradition, lost to kale in the translation to English...

So, of course, I had to try an Emeril recipe, so I went with this one and generally followed it with minor tweaks.  I loved his update of the fresh herbs at the end.  I put a lot of care into this soup today as I was really excited to make it.  What I used:

• 2 Portuguese chourico sausages, one diced, one cut in round thin slices
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• Big pinch of red chili flakes
• 1 bunch of organic collard greens, stems removed, rolled up like a cigar and thinly sliced in shreds
• 2 large leaves of kale, stems removed, rolled up and thinly sliced in shreds.
• 2 lbs of russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 boxes of Kirkland organic chicken broth, no salt added
• About 4 sprigs of thyme (I tied them with twine)
• About 2 tablespoons of fresh mint cut in chiffonade
• About 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley cut in chiffonade
• About 2 tablespoons of fresh cilantro cut in chiffonade
• Fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt

I peeled the potatoes first and let them sit in a bowl of cold water.  Next, I did my usual of getting the rest of the Mise en place ready.  This whole soup is based on chopping/slicing/dicing and it felt that way too - so when I'm not stressed, I become very methodical about it and just do it all in stages (sips of wine in between).  I decided when I finished with the collard greens, I would add a couple of kale leaves too since the bowl wasn't full (as below).

I started by sauteing the onion, garlic, diced sausage, chili flakes and S&P.  While this was going on, I diced the potatoes.  These russets have to be done last minute as they will brown quickly if left sitting (yes, I could have diced them earlier and put them back in cold water, but I didn't).

I threw in the broth: the taters, the thyme bundle and more S&P and brought to a boil.  I simmered these (lid on) for about 25 minutes.  Just make sure the spuds are tender...

Then I pulled the thyme out, took a potato masher and mashed it leaving some chunks but do it however you like, some recipes called to blend it till smooth at this point.  The only reason I didn't was because I had those diced sausages in there.  I added in the greens and and sliced sausage rounds and simmered (lid on) for another 20 minutes.

At that time I tossed in the herbs, simmered for another minute and served.  

I compared this to the Caldo Verde I had in an authentic Portuguese restaurant by my house and I think this was just as good.  However, I would need much practice to re-create their piri piri chicken or codfish cakes at an equivalent level.

Caldo Verde soup supposedly gets better the next day, so I am very looking forward to lunch tomorrow.  This soup more than met my expectations and I loved it.  I also expect that since I've found "collard greens" now I will make some more dishes featuring them...