The frugality implied in the words “cabbage soup” appeals to me just as much as the fanciful descriptions of Michelin-starred menus. The words evoke a rich simplicity where nothing unnecessary intrudes. This is indeed a soup of extraordinary solace, gratifying in its purity. The stark fact that this was a meal formed in poverty is there for all to see. Portugal has a cabbage soup, perhaps the best known of all, caldo verde. It is made with couve gallego, a yellow-flowered kale, whose leaves are flatter and less plumelike than the kale we generally buy in the market. The other ingredients are from the pantry, but should include a few slices of chorizo if the soup is to have any authenticity. This soup works with any coarse-textured greens and eminently, I think, with Savoy cabbage.
Recipe information
Yield
enough for 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Peel the onion and garlic and slice them thinly. Warm a glug or two of olive oil in a large, deep saucepan, then let the onion and garlic soften in it over low heat.
Step 2
Peel the potatoes—I sometimes don’t—then cut them into medium-sized pieces. Combine with the onion and let cook for five minutes before adding about 4 cups (a liter) of water. Season with salt, black pepper, and the bay leaves and let simmer for about twenty-five minutes, until the potatoes are ready to collapse.
Step 3
With a fork or a potato masher, crush the potatoes so that they thicken the soup but remain quite lumpy here and there. Cut the chorizo into thick chunks and fry in a nonstick pan until the fat runs.
Step 4
Shred the cabbage finely, then stir it into the soup and simmer for three or four minutes, until tender. Stir in the fried chorizo. I like to pass this soup round in rough, earthenware bowls.
