Chorizo Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

The days of eating a solitary lunch are over. Nowadays I have family to feed. A big plus, especially I like the present company!  But I have to constantly rack my brains for something substantial and sustaining. What could be better than soup. We all love most soups, the perfect food for cool, snowy days. A bowl of steaming goodness with a chunk of ciabatta or sourdough is heaven. No need for anything more. Well.. maybe some fruit. 

I forage in the fridge and come up with a forlorn half-consumed package of kale. I spy some chorizo. And a container of home made chicken stock. Wow! All the making for a caldo verde, of course made my way! 

This is spicy, deep orange broth with bit of cooked chorizo, kale slivers, sweet potato bits, onions and lots of garlic. It's not a hearty winter soup, more a light broth-like version, chock full of healthy greens not cooked to death. There's a nice interplay between spicy sausage and sweet starch. It's one nutritious mouthful. Everyone sings praises of kale and sweet potatoes. They are superfoods to be eaten in earnest doses. Well here it is, a bowl of slurpable good-for-you veggies, swimming in a spicy broth!

CHORIZO, KALE AND SWEET POTATO SOUP

Makes 4 servings
DF, GF, WF, EF

1 lb fresh Mexican Chorizo Sausage

1 teaspoon Canola oil

2 Sweet potatoes

1 large Onion

6 cloves Garlic

2 cups Kale

2 tablespoons Olive oil

A pinch of Chile flakes

5 cups Chicken stock

1 teaspoon Red wine Vinegar

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked Black pepper

Heat 1 teaspoon of canola oil in a nonstick pan.

Slit the chorizo and remove sausage meat from casings.

Add sausage to pan and sauté, breaking up the sausage as it cooks. Cook till brown and crusty.

Keep aside to cool. 

Peel, halve lengthwise and slice sweet potatoes into thin slivers.

Peel onion. cut in half and slice into thin half moons.

Trim and peel garlic.

Wash and cut kale into thin shreds.

Heat olive oil in a deep saucepan over medium heat.

Drop garlic into oil and let them turn a light brown.

Add onions and sauté till onions start browning. 

Pour in the stock and let it come to a boil.

Add the shredded kale, sweet potatoes and chile flakes and let the veggies cook for 7 to 10 minutes.

Add vinegar, salt and pepper. Stir to mix.

Add 2 cups of chorizo. (Save the rest for another use. See NOTES below) 

Let soup simmer for 5 minutes and serve hot with some crusty bread.

NOTES

The chorizo can be browned ahead of time and kept in the fridge. 

If you cannot find chorizo, any sausage could be sauteed till brown.

Leftover chorizo can be used for quesadillas, in salad or in a taco filling.

We sit down to steaming bowls of soup. Toasty ciabatta rounds out lunch. Healthy food followed by some crunchy apples. Let me count the ways this soup pleases. It's fast, easy and immensely satisfying! And good for you too! 

Pin It