A long time ago in a post far, far away … @ManjiB asked me to share my recipe for Caldo Verde which translates to green soup. It’s a traditional Portuguese soup served at parties, as entrees and as street food. Having a night out on the lash? Forget kebabs, have a bowl of Caldo Verde instead. Like much traditional street food, there are one-hundred and one ways of doing it, here’s how I do it, including pictures. (Excuse my messy kitchen). I can’t be fuffed listing ingredients &c. You’ll see them all in the pictures.
Grab yourself an onion, not a glass onion as they are unpleasant to eat. I use a mandolin for slicing finely as I’m unsure bits of my finger in food adds anything to the dish. And …
Ta-da! Instant sliced onion. Next, roughly chop some garlic as seen below.
Put onion and garlic with a good dose of olive oil into a saucepan. Add a pinch of salt and some pepper. Stir until onion is all glassy, not unlike the glass onion we avoided using. I am cooking this in a Ninja because 
@Bobbi and I are trained . Lower the heat or turn it off at this point while you prepare …
The spuds. Choose ones you aren’t planning to grow in the garden, like what you see with mine. Give them a brief wash but not too much because that soil adds lovely umami to the soup 
. Just kidding.
Roughly chop to an even size, this helps them cook all at the same time. Pluck out any eyes, you don’t want them to see what is in store for them.
Turn the heat back up and add them to your pot, give them a good stir for a few minutes while you produce your stock liquor. I do this by boiling the kettle and adding a cube of vegetable stock to a jug.
I am not being sponsored by Kallø, I get given these from time to time and I have never asked why. Add the stock liquor to the pot and bring to the boil.
Speaking of liquor, now might be a good time to have a sip of stout while waiting.
I’m no Floyd, but I do enjoy a glass of the dark stuff while slaving away in the kitchen. If you don’t drink, take this opportunity to grab your collard green of choice.
Traditionally, a type of Portuguese kale is used. I usually substitute with Russian kale or curly kale. However, today I am using a savoy cabbage. It’s preferable to use a dark green because your average cabbage is a bit stinky and can overwhelm the soup. A collard green that goes well in a salad is good, but, heck, if you live your life solely for the consumption of Radicchio which is not a brassica, then crack on. 
Whatever you are using, it needs to be sliced finely. I use the mandolin to get a finer slice. Preferably as close to twine or ribbon strips as you can manage. If you have a paper shredder in the attic, this might be a good time to dust it down and power it up.
Once the tatties are pliable, you need to blend them. I use a hand blender called a Masha but you can also tip the soup into a blender and then return to the pot. Alternately, a manual potato masher will do. I only used a manual masher for years up until a year ago.
We are almost done now. A note on the spuds. I don’t bother peeling spuds or any vegetable for that matter, apart from onions and garlic. Some people don’t enjoy the skin, I do. I’m not going to tell you how to eat your food … however …
I am of the opinion that Portugal produces the best olive oil in the world. That’s right, the whole world. It comes down to the way they harvest the olives, giving it a rich, robust flavour. From my past experience, I think some Greek and Turkish olive oil ranks close. I don’t rate Italian, French or Spanish, mostly too refined. Having now aired that snobbish opinion, Portuguese olive oil is difficult to get but Lidl stocks it during their Iberian season. I usually buy about six bottles at that time and use Rapeseed oil for everything else. So, back to the recipe, add a good drizzle of olive oil back to the pot and bring to a simmer.
Final steps. Toss the collard green into the pot and cook for about five minutes or less. No longer! The collard green should have a bit of bite to it.
The end of this story involves accessorising the bowl. I like to put cheese in the bowl, here I am using two types of cheese, feta and Brie. Some people like to add a meat, fried chorizo slices, sausage &c. I wouldn’t recommend popping candy as I think that is one step too far.
Now, ladle in the soup. Give it another swirl of olive oil, pepper and salt to taste. That’s Caldo Verde in a bowl, you can have it with crusty bread or just on its own, you can have it in a bowl or in a cup, you can have it for breakfast or as a nightcap, you can eat it or drink it, you can slurp it, shovel the spoon from the far side of the bowl or the near side, you can share some with a friend or have it on your own. It’s a very versatile dish.
