Portuguese Soup with Hearty Kale

This recipe was inspired by a recipe for Caldo Verde in the Williams-Sonoma appetizer book. If you like soups, I highly recommend this book because it's filled with many delicious and hearty soups and many interesting recipes. This recipe is similar to the one in the book, with some changes to reduce fat and calories.

The site http://www.everynutrient.coml/ says that "Kale provides an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotene's, and manganese. Kale is also a very good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E, fiber, iron, copper, and calcium. Kale provides an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotene's, and manganese. Kale is also a very good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E, fiber, iron, copper, and calcium. "


Ingredients
12 oz Turkey Kielbasa sausage
3/4 pound kale
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced 1/4 inch pieces
4 medium russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic minced
3 cups organic chicken stock
3 cups filtered water
2-1/2 teaspoons salt
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

I purchased Turkey Kielbasa at Whole Foods. It's a smaller link that traditional kielbasa and the flavor is incredible! It added a great flavor to the soup. Slice up kielbasa into small pieces and set aside.

Rinse and dry kale and remove large stems. Slice across leaf into fairly thin ribbon like pieces.

In a large stock pot or sauce pan, heat up olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender and translucent. About 10 minutes. Add potatoes and garlic. (I left skins on my potatoes but they do tend to peel off once potatoes are cooked.) Saute until potatoes begin to become translucent. Be careful not to overcook or burn garlic, it will turn bitter.

Add water, stock and salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Scoop out 1-1/2 cups of potatoes into a small bowl and with a potato masher or immersion blender, puree or mash potato. I prefer mine for rustic, so I just used an ordinary pastry blender to break it up. Return to pot. Add kale and kielbasa and stir. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until kale has wilted.

The Williams-Sonoma cookbook noted not to overcook the kale, that is should be slightly crunchy. When I made this recipe the kale was still pretty tough after ten minutes. I found it needed to cook longer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.