After coming home from the Hub City Farmer’s Market this past Saturday morning, looking at the beautiful “3 Kale Mix” from Gotreaux’s Family Farm, I knew instantly what I wanted to do…cool January Day and a quiet house – Soup Day!!!  Not just any soup – the Portuguese Kale and White Bean Soup that I have made a couple of times before…yes,  I had just the recipe.

Robert, my husband, just happened to have cooked a big pot of white beans on Thursday, so I knew they would be great with the Kale…and I always keep a package of Savoies Pork Sausage in my fridge (what good Cajun girl doesn’t?)!  Fresh tomatoes from my “front porch garden” – thought that they would never turn red!  But, they did…and I  just had to use those precious “3” in something that would really be wonderful – If you ever watched “3” (yes, only 3!) tomatoes slowly grow, and slowly turn light pink, then red…and then your plant is done – you know what I mean!!!  To top off all of these ingredients – my herbs are still doing great and thriving on the porch – and those fresh herbs are sooo important in the flavor of this soup.  But, don’t ever not cook this soup if you don’t have fresh herbs…you can, now, buy them at almost every market or use dry herbs.

Looked like I had all of the ingredients for this wonderful special soup…

Ingredients:

Kale – 1 bunch chopped

3 fresh tomatoes – chopped or 1 can of whole tomatoes chopped

(Just look at those precious tomatoes!)

1 package of dried white beans – cooked or 2 cans of cannellini or any type of canned white beans

2 quarts of homemade chicken stock or 2 quarts of chicken stock made from dry or concentrated chicken stock

1 pound of Savoies Smoked Pork Sausage or any other type of smoked sausage you can find – chopped into bite size, small pieces

3 medium potatoes – chopped into small pieces

2 Onions – finely chopped

1 Bell Pepper – finely chopped

3 cloves garlic – chopped

Bouquet Garni – 6 stems of fresh parsley, 6 stems of fresh lemon thyme and 4 fresh sage leaves tied together and removed after soup in cooked or use 1 tsp of each herb dried

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp black pepper

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Heat olive oil in medium size soup pot or dutch oven on medium heat

Add chopped sausage and stir frequently until browned

Add kale, onions and bell peppers and continue to cook on a medium low heat until all veggies are soft

Stir in tomatoes and potatoes – cook for 15 minutes, stirring often

Add chicken stock and white beans –  blend all ingredients well

Stir in Bouquet Garni or dried herbs and pepper – you shouldn’t need any additional salt, because the sausage contains a lot of salt

Bring to a boil, then simmer for an additional 30 minutes

Turn off heat and let soup sit for at least 30 more minutes

Serve with any good fresh “crusty” bread…enjoy!!!!

My oldest daughter, Kimberly, came by and loved it so much, that she took some home for supper and asked if I could freeze some for nights when she wanted something warm to eat…which, of course, I was thrilled to do!! Then, brought some to my precious Anne Marie, who just had her first baby (and I miss her like crazy, at work!).  I even had enough to freeze a few containers to keep…Imagine!

So, if you want to know if a Cajun girl can cook a “Portuguese Soup”…of course we can!!!  Works for everyone I know!