SPRING VEGGIES

Thank goodness its that time of the year to start collecting the CSA, today I collected my first weekly share of  veggies from my local organic Farmer, they all looked so fresh and delicious, I made a salad with lettuce and tomato with a simple olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing for lunch. I will be steaming  bok choi tomorrow for dinner.

My CSA vegetables

A simple salad with a drizzle of good olive oil and balsamic vinegar

kale soup (caldo verde)

KALE SOUP (caldo verde)

Kale soup is one of those soups that is not only good for you,  it is versatile.  Today I will make the traditional  caldo verde with linguica with my own adaptation of adding carrots, You can omit the linguica and make this soup vegetarian just simply add additional olive oil and garlic for extra flavor..

The measured  ingredients for this soup are not crucial its all more or less. you can adjust to your taste by
adding more potatoes and carrots to make the soup thicker.

kale or collard greens are interchangeable for this soup

Cut collard greens, traditionally they are cut in very thin even  thinner strips then what you see here.

Portuguese sausage (chourico) 

INGREDIENT'S:

1-2 lb of  collard greens or kale.
1 large yellow onion pealed and left whole
3-4 large white potatoes pealed and left whole
3-4 large carrots pealed and left whole, (not used traditionally) optional
3-5 garlic cloves pealed and smashed
1/2 lb-1lb of linguica or chourico (Portuguese sausage)
4 quart of fresh water
2 -3 tbsp sea salt to taste
1/4-1/2 cup of olive oil

                                       

I wash my kale in large bowl and let it sit in the water 5 to 10 minutes to make sure all particles and sand are loosen and removed, and I rinse it a couple of times.
I add to a large pot the fresh water,the whole onion, whole garlic, whole potatoes,the whole carrots, salt and the whole linguica sausage, and let it come to a boil, at this time add the kale chopped in a chiffonade style.
Let all vegetables cook till tender, remove potatoes, carrots onion garlic to a food processor or blender and pure, add this pure back into pot. remove linguica and cut in thin slices leave kale in the pot, add the thinly sliced  linguica to the pot with the olive oil and adjust for salt. let cook only minute or two soup is done. This soup lasts in the refrigerator for up to 6 days.

Sweet Bread (Massa Sovada)

From the time I can remember sweet bread was part of most of our holidays. Weather it was my mother, a family member or  the neighbor next door, we knew it was time to celebrate some religious occasion, like the holy spirit festivities. or Christmas and of course Easter with eggs decorating on top,  these sweet bread recipes are passed down from generation to generation, people take great pride, and keeping their recipes a closely guarded secret.
Here is my simplified recipe, it is a large recipe as I always share with my family and friends, you may want to cut it in half.

 Sweet Bread   (Massa Sovada)

 

Free form sweet breads

                                             

Ingredient's:

 3 Cups milk
 1 Lemon or lime rind
 2 1/2  Sticks of butter
 6 Tsp fresh yeast
 5 Tsp salt
 5 Lb unbleached white flour
 12 Large beaten eggs
 3 Cups sugar
 1/2  Cups warm water  about 115°F
 2 Sticks cinnamon  (Optional)
1/2 Stick of butter to butter the sweet breads after they have baked while hot out of the oven.
1 egg white beat with tbsp of water. (egg wash)

In a Saucepan add milk, lemon peal, and let come to simmer,
 and take off stove add the butter, Let cool.
On a small  bowl add warm water and yeast and let it bloom.
On another large bowl add the  4.1/2lb of flour  if you need the remainder last 1/2 lb you can add it towards the end, make a whole in center and add the beaten eggs with sugar,salt and the infused flavored milk, mix a bit and then add the bloomed yeast and mix everything well. (this will be messy) gather the dough a few
times. Start needing and punching the dough for about 15-30 minutes or so, and make
a nice smooth ball, cover and let it rest and rise double its size it may take anywhere from 2-5 hours. After its risen devide dough in about 5-6 breads and add them to generously buttered pans, or make them free form, and let it rise for 3 to 5 hours. Rising times varies Check see if ready for the oven by poking with your finger on the dough. if an indentation stays. for more then 1 minute  it means its ready to bake if indentation comes
right back to its original state it could wait longer.
Heat oven at 200 degrees, add sweet breads brushed with egg wash and bake for 10 minutes increase  to 300 bake 35-40  minutes more or less according to size of the sweet breads.The size of the sweet bread is up to you I normally get 5-6 large sweet breads or 30 individual small bolos, for the small sweet breads the oven time has to be adjusted to 12-18 minutes at 300 degrees  more or less this all depends on your oven. if your sweet breads are getting too dark cover them with a sheet of foil paper while finishing to bake.