Dinner Tonight: Caldo Gallego
Halfway through making this Galician soup, I started to have second thoughts. The recipe came from Spain...on the Road Again, the Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Claudia Bassols public television show where they drive around Spain in Mercedes Benzes with cameras trained on them eating. Sure, it tasted great in the hills of Spain, but here all I had was a little sautéed bacon, some cubed potatoes and turnips, an onion, a can of white beans, and water in a pot. As my kitchen filled with the unmistakable smell of boiled vegetables, I wondered where this soup was headed. Do I even like turnips? I don't seem to like their smell. I put my faith in the Spanish chorizo still to come and the hearty greens that would wilt in the last minutes of cooking.
Of course, it all came together beautifully. I never would have thought to put a cured sausage into a soup, but it flavored the broth with a porky spiciness that imbued all the humble vegetables with bright flavor and color. The result is filling and healthy, a peasant soup to feed an army for nothing. In fact, I halved the recipe on the show's blog (the original supposedly feeds 4-6) and my recipe still yielded three dinners for two.
About the author: Blake Royer lives in Brooklyn and spends most of his free time cooking and writing about it here at Serious Eats and on The Paupered Chef. From 9 to 5 weekdays, he works as an assistant book editor in Manhattan.
Caldo Gallego
- serves 4 to 6 -
Adapted from Spain...On The Road Again
Ingredients
1/4 pound thickly sliced pancetta or slab bacon, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 14-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large turnip, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/4 pound Spanish chorizo, casings removed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 pound turnip greens (or other dark leafy green, such as kale or spinach), stemmed and coarsely chopped
Procedure
1. In a large soup pot, cook the pancetta or bacon over medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fat is rendered.
2. In the meantime, peel and dice the potato, turnip, and onion. Add them to the pot along with enough water to cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes until almost soft but not falling apart.
3. Add the beans, chorizo, and greens and continue simmering until the greens are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread.
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9 Comments:
This is very similar to the traditional portuguese Caldo Verde, so I'm not surprised that it is good. I'll have to try this.
kaszeta at 4:56PM on 10/23/08
hilarious: "Do I like turnips?" I laughed out loud. Keep trying those recipes out for us.
i8alot at 11:32PM on 10/23/08
I'm of the opinion that you can't possibly fail once Spanish chorizo enters the picture. You could add it to a bowl of ball bearings and they'd come out delicious (though perhaps still a little crunchy).
Barry Foy at 9:59AM on 10/24/08
I made this yesterday using slab bacon, spinach, and Palacios Spanish chorizo. I had just received an order from iGourmet that included the chorizo and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to sample my first taste of the Spanish variety. WOW! Quite a difference from the domestic stuff I've been getting from the local supermarket. The only change that I'd make to this recipe is to slice the chorizo a bit thinner than the 1/4" instruction and, perhaps, use more of it.
grampart at 10:48AM on 10/26/08
Blake,
Thought I can not stand the show (w/ Gwyneth and Mario, though I am a big Batali fan), I will trust you, and make this simple, peasant soup.
Good Spanish chorizo flavors everything beautifully!
Thanks, Stacey
Stacey Snacks at 11:08AM on 10/29/08
Do you think using chicken stock would add to the flavor or does it not need it?
cb1414 at 11:39AM on 10/29/08
@cb1414 - As long as you're using the Spanish chorizo, I'd say you'll have plenty of flavor using just water.
grampart at 1:03PM on 10/29/08
This was wonderful! I didn't add enough water at the start, so had to add more to incorporate the beans & greens. But we totally loved it. And, as my husband said, everything is better with more chorizo.
skeeball at 7:40PM on 10/30/08
We've made this several times now, it's fantastic. The chorizo we have access to is fairly large in diameter, so we now cut it smaller so that there's chorizo in every bite or every other bite.
Also, we've taken to scooping off some of the beans/turnip/potato mixture, and pureeing it with a stick blender. This gives the soup a little more body and made for a slightly more modern variation.
The first time we made this we were lucky enough to actually have some turnip greens, which were pretty amazing-- they stayed bright green and had a distinct lemony flavor, adding another layer of flavor. In contrast, chard (which we also tried) tasted OK but turned dark green and was less interesting. We've had trouble finding turnip greens subsequently, but we discovered that sorrel (if you can find it!) makes a fine substitute, because it too has a lemony flavor.
This pairs (somewhat obviously, I guess) with a nice Spanish Red wine. Finding a really nice loaf of crusty bread is worth the effort.
dprice at 3:40AM on 11/16/08