Recipe: Portuguese Green Soup (Caldo Verde)

Portuguese Green Soup

Portuguese soups tend to be very hearty affairs, as we discovered when we went to the Island of Madeira a couple of years ago. This is a very simple but effective version of their cabbage soup. you could serve it as a starter, or a main course in its own right.

2 1/4 lb Potatoes Peeled and Chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic Roughly Chopped
1 lb (450 g ) Savoy Cabbage Finely Shredded
2 3/4 Pints (1.5 L) Water
1 Tablespoon Fresh Coriander Chopped
Olive Oil

Use potatoes you would normally use to make mashed potatoes with. Peel them and cut into smallish pieces, and put them in a pan with the garlic and water. Bring to the boil and simmer. You can if you wish use chicken stock instead of water

The most time consuming part of this soup is shredding the cabbage, but it is worth taking care over this. Start by separating off the cabbage leaves, and then cutting out the stalks from the leaves.

Roll the leaves into tubes and then slice them across as finely as you can. The finer you can shred the cabbage, the better.

When the potatoes are cooked, which should take about 15 to 20 minutes, mash them with a potato masher in the pan.

Add the shredded cabbage, bring back to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Season with salt to taste.

To serve, pour the soup into individual bowls, and swirl a small amount of olive oil on the top. Then sprinkle with the chopped coriander.