Is there anything more comforting than a heaping bowlful of homemade Portuguese red bean soup?
Ingredients:
2 large Bermuda onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp good olive oil
1 lb chouriço sausage, skinned and chopped
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups dry red wine (Rioja is great)
4 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 19-oz cans of red kidney beans
1 lb fresh kale, trimmed, rinsed well and chopped finely (or 2 packages frozen if you can’t get fresh)
1 bay leaf
Cayenne pepper
2 tsp sugar
Directions:
In a heavy-bottomed pot large enough to hold all of the ingredients, sauté the onions and chouriço in the olive oil until the onions are softened and glazed. Pour off most of the fat. Stir in potatoes and sweat them for a few minutes with the lid on. Add the wine and scrape up any clinging bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the chicken broth, beans, kale, bay leaf, cayenne and sugar.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or longer, until the vegetables are tender. Skim fat occasionally. Remove bay leaf before serving hot with some crusty bread and butter.
