Hairy Bikers caldo verde starts with 200g of chorizo fried alone in a dry pan, so its orange fat becomes the cooking oil for everything after. Waxy potatoes, onions and a big bag of shredded greens follow it into a litre of stock. Four bowls take 45 minutes at around 340 calories each.
They have published this dish twice. Their very first book carried a caldo verde, and they write in Meat Feasts that it was the first recipe they ever cooked on their travels, calling this later one a much improved version.
Potatoes are what separates the two. The original mashed them into the broth to make a thick chowder, while this one slices waxy Charlottes into rounds and leaves them whole, so you get pieces of potato sitting in a clear soup.
Hairy Bikers Caldo Verde
Description
There is no oil, butter or cream on the shopping list for this one. The chorizo provides all the fat, the potatoes provide the body, and the greens go in for four minutes at the very end. This Hairy Bikers caldo verde serves four.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fry the chorizo: Put the chorizo slices in the bottom of a large saucepan over a fairly gentle heat. Fry until lightly browned on both sides and the orange fat has run out. Watch it closely, because chorizo burns easily and black specks will spoil the pan.
- Lift it out: Remove the chorizo to a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat behind. You want about a tablespoon in the pan, so spoon off any extra.
- Soften the onions: Add the onions and cook gently until softened without browning. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.
- Add the potatoes: Tip in the potato rounds and stir to coat them in the fat, then pour in the stock or water. Tuck in the bay leaves and season with salt and white pepper.
- Simmer: Bring to the boil, turn the heat down, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the potatoes are just cooked through.
- Add the greens: Pile the shredded greens into the pan, cover again and simmer for no more than 4 to 5 minutes, so they stay tender and vibrant green.
- Serve: Tip the chorizo back into the soup and serve immediately.
FAQs
Which chorizo should I buy?
Cooking chorizo, not the cured slicing kind, and 200g of it. The book suggests the hot spicy sort labelled picante, or the milder sweeter chorizo dulce, and leaves the choice to you.
Portugal would use chouriço or linguiça, its own smoked sausages, and Si and Dave admit in their first book that chorizo is their twist on the traditional. Spanish chorizo is the closest thing you will find here. Mexican chorizo is a different product entirely and will not work in this soup.
Why waxy potatoes rather than floury?
Because this version wants pieces, not purée. Waxy potatoes like Charlotte hold their shape through the simmer, so you end up with rounds of potato sitting in a clear broth.
Most caldo verde recipes go the other way, using floury potatoes and mashing or blending them into a thick green soup. Their golden vegetable soup takes that route to the extreme, blending everything until completely smooth.
What greens are traditional?
Couve galega, a dark Portuguese leafy green much closer to collard greens than to kale. It is shredded whisker-thin, and that shredding is where the soup gets its name and its texture.
British supermarkets do not stock it, so the book lists spring greens, kale, cavolo nero or chard and tells you to take your pick. Shred them as finely as you can manage. In their first book they described cutting them finer than a hummingbird’s toenail clippings, and bought a cabbage-shredding machine in Portugal to do the job. Their chicken yassa is another dish they carried home from filming abroad.
Why is there no olive oil?
Because 200g of chorizo releases all the fat you need. The recipe has you frying it first in a dry pan, then pouring off anything beyond a tablespoon before the onions go in.
This is the clearest change from their original, which added four tablespoons of olive oil on top of the sausage and finished with a paprika oil swirled over the surface. Cutting both is what makes the later version taste cleaner.
How is this different from their other chorizo soups?
There are three, and they share almost nothing beyond the sausage. This one is potatoes and greens cooked in chorizo fat, with no tomato anywhere in it.
Mediterranean Adventure has a chorizo and chestnut soup, blended almost smooth with tomatoes, cumin and three separate chorizos. Their winter vegetable soup drops 125g of chorizo into a tomato and lentil base with root vegetables. Choose by the base rather than the sausage.
