Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Portuguese Kale Soup w/ Beans

Since I had some turkey sausage and some frozen kale I hadn't used yet, I made a basic Caldo Verde without the potatoes. Instead of potatoes, I used one can of Great Northern beans and one can of dark red kidney beans.

Here are the ingredients:

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 shallot, chopped

1 quart (32 oz.) of vegetable stock

2 quarts of chicken stock

8 oz. of sausage, cut into half medallions

1 can of Great Northern beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed

1 can of dark red kidney beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed

7 handfuls of frozen kale

Large smidge of Herbes de Provence

Medium smidge of Boquet Garni

Small smidge smoke paprika

Cracked black pepper

Salt to taste

I first put some olive oil into the stock pot and sweated down the chopped onions, garlic, and shallot. After about 10 minutes, I added the stock, brought it to a boil, and then put it down to a simmer.

In a cast iron skillet, I browned the sausage until they had a slight char on both sides and then put them into the pot. I then ladled out some of the stock into the hot skillet to scrap off the goodness at the bottom of the pan and then put the new and improved stock into the pot.

Add the beans, kale, and seasonings and simmer for about 20 minutes.