Portuguese Recipe : Sopa de Couves - Kale Soup
Serves 8 to 10 in 3 hours
Posted by Ana Patuleia Ortins

Portuguese cooking is patly the basics for the traditional Malaysian
Nonya Cooking.
The Portuguese settlers in Melacca-Malaysia were the ones that
substituted the hardly available cows-milk with coconut-milk : now a
real basic ingredient for the Malaysian cuisine.

This month, we go back to the Portuguese roots of malaysian cooking
with some recipes of Portuguese Chef in America ;
Ana Patuleia Ortins.
She is a famous chef and author of Portuguese Homestyle Cooking : A
thick recipe book with recipes collected over the years from relatives
and friends ; presented
as they would be prepared in a Portuguese home.

For more delicious Portuguese Recipes :
check out the posted recipes or
buy the book : Portuguese Homestyle Cooking
http://www.theskinnycook.com/shop.html



INGREDIENTS
Salpicao is trhe Portuguese equivalent of the better known
Spanish chorizo - the Spanish sausage which is spicy and has a
strong red color from paprika and hot peppers.
* 1 pound (450gr) dried red kidney beans soaked
overnight in water to cover by 2 inches (5 cm)
* 3 pounds (1.35 kg) beef shin bone or lamb
shanks,trimmed of excess fat
* 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
* 1 bay leaf
* 3 quarts (2.8 liter) water
* 1 1/2 cups (120 gr) yellow turnip, cut in 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes)
* 3/4 pound (350 gr) chourico or salpicao sausage
* 3 medium Main, Red Bliss or new potatoes, peeled and cut into
1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes
* 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch (0.6cm) rounds
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed dried chili pepper
* 1/4 cup small pasta, like elbows
* 1 bunch(1-1/2 pounds) (675 gr) fresh collard greens,rinsed trimmed
of center rib and torn into 1-
to 2- inch (2.5 to 5 cm) pieces
* 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
* 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

PREPARATION
1. Drain and rinse the beans. Place the beans, onions garlic and bay
leaf together with the shin bone in to a large soup pot. Pour in
about 3 quarts of water or enough to cover the beef shin by
1-inch. Cover, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
Simmer the beef and beans while occasionally skimming any
impurities from the broth, about 1 1/2 hours.
2. When the beans are very tender, remove about 1 cup to a small
dish and mash them with a fork, adding some of the broth. Return
the mashed beans to the pot.
(You can also mash all the beans through a foodmill if you do not
like the texture of whole beans or
bean skins.
3. Add the turnip if using and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. If you are using salpicao sausage, remove any clips clamped on the
end of the casing. Add the
sausages with the potatoes, carrots and crushed red pepper.
Continue to simmer until the vegetabes
are almost cooked, about 20 minutes.
5. Through in the pasta, kale, olive oil, salt and pepper. Simmer for
15 minutes. Soup is ready when
the pasta is done and the kale is tender.
6. Remove all the meat and sausages from the pot. Trim away and
discard any gristle, fat and bone.
7. Cut the meat and sausages in to pieces. For the salpicao, remove
and discard the casing before
cutting into pieces. Return the meat to the pot or on the side as a
separate course. Serve the soup
with lots of crusty bread

Bon proveito,

Stef
http://www.theskinnycook.com