Portuguese Kale Soup

I don't post recipes here, and I seldom give my recipes out, but when a blogger like Amy Welborn asks, well, I am more than happy to oblige.

So, here is is my recipe for Portuguese Kale Soup. One thing to keep in mind is that this recipe has been handed down through many generations of large families. If you follow this recipe perfectly, you will get a lot of soup. Enough to feed a family of 10.

Ingredients:
18 cups of water
1 1/2 lbs or more of beef shank center cut meat (with bone)
2 cans of red kidney beans
1 small cabbage
1 large bunch of kale or collard greens (I use collards)
5 large potatoes
1 lb chourico or linguica sausage (2 links of chourico or 1 link of linguica)
3 tsp black pepper
1 tbs salt
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Place water in 8 qt pan
add beef shank
heat to boiling and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours

Peel potatoes and cut into small cubes
chop cabbage and kale into pieces small enough to eat

add kidney beans, salt, kale, cabbage, potatoes, chourico, salt and pepper to the water and beef shank.

Let boil for 1/2 an hour. Longer if potatoes are still hard.

If you want to make traditional Holy Ghost Soup add pieces of portuguese bread (Italian bread also works well for this) to the soup and flavor the soup with a sprig of mint. Don't leave the sprig in the soup because the flavor will become strong quickly.

Note: Portuguese Holy Ghost soup is traditionally served in parish halls following the final (Mordomia) Holy Ghost crowning which I will write about at another time.

Another note: I realize that most of you live in areas where Chourico and Linguica are not easily available. I don't know how you survive, but you don't have do be deprived any longer.

You can purchase this wonderful sausage here:



I know that 5 lbs might seem like a lot, but there are so many uses. Chourico can be boiled with potatoes for a delicious sausage meal, it can also be ground and fried with onions and green peppers for a wonderful sandwich filling. I also bake chourico and cook chourico with my roast beef. Chourico is also my favorite pizza topping. In essence, there are very few recipes that can't be made tasier with a little chourico.