01-10-2011, 01:16 PM
i know we were talking about kale soup somewhere, and i just nicked this from Yankee Magazine. i've never tried it with the bean soup. but i know kale soup is warming and delicious~ bless this little old lady's heart! 
edit to add...i made this soup and it is FANTASTIC! it smelled wonderful and my sons are inhaling it! i added salt pork to mine along with the linguica. a LOT of kale looks like it won't fit into pot, i had a huge bunch, but it does, it cooks down quickly.
Ruth O'Donnell is standing in her kitchen, shredding kale for her special Portuguese soup, which she's made … how many times? "I can't count that high," she says. "I'm 96, and I've been making it since I was a girl. I make it all the time."
Her nieces are in the next room. They're visiting, and last night a big pot of this soup, which they call "Portuguese penicillin," vanished before Ruth's eyes. So she's making more. A petite, lively, brown-skinned lady with bright eyes, Ruth has cooked in this particular kitchen for 72 years, the path between sink and stove well worn.
It's been a long, good life, but not without adversity. Her mother was left on a doorstep in Portugal; a benevolent family took her in and brought her over to live with them after they settled in America. "My mother was poor, poor, poor," Ruth says. "I learned to cook from her as soon as I was big enough to stand beside her. She'd have something on the stove, and she'd be showing me how to do it as she went along. That's how I learned. We never had recipes. We'd just do it."
A widow of 44 years, Ruth is never alone. She has three daughters and "I can't tell you how many grandchildren I have!" In fact, she has great-grandchildren, and her refrigerator door is covered with their faces. She may not be able to count them all (photos of family gatherings look like conventions or town meetings), but she can tell you all about each one of them.
Living where she does, in the heart of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Ruth has pretty much seen it all. She worked as a waitress for much of her life: 21 years at the Provincetown Inn and 20 more at Ciro and Sal's, both widely known Provincetown eateries, which has made Ruth widely known, too. Aside from her soup, she's famous for her "flippers," a kind of Portuguese fried dough, similar to fritters.
Ruth learned to make this soup from her mother, who in turn learned it from her adoptive mother. "My mother always used white beans or dark beans, whatever she had," Ruth explains, "but probably 50 years ago, I started adding the 'Bean with Bacon' soup instead of beans. It's what gives this soup its flavor." In addition, what makes this recipe distinctly Portuguese is the linguica–a spicy sausage available in markets on Cape Cod, on the South Shore, and around Boston, but sometimes hard to find elsewhere. If linguica isn't available in your area, use hot sausage or kielbasa.
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 medium-size onions, chopped
1 pound linguica, sliced, slices halved
4 cups chicken broth
1 pound fresh kale, washed, stems discarded, shredded into small pieces
1 can Campbell's "Bean with Bacon" soup plus 1 can water (or substitute 1 can white beans plus
2 cups chicken broth)
2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed (russets or your preference)
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, add oil and cook garlic, onions, and linguica slices until onions are soft. Add 4 cups chicken broth and kale. Cover, and let kale cook down, stirring occasionally.
Add bean soup and water (or substitute beans and broth); simmer about 5 minutes. (Add more water if the mixture's not dilute enough.) Add cubed potatoes. Simmer, covered, 20-30 minutes longer, till potatoes are soft.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with crusty bread.
edit to add...i made this soup and it is FANTASTIC! it smelled wonderful and my sons are inhaling it! i added salt pork to mine along with the linguica. a LOT of kale looks like it won't fit into pot, i had a huge bunch, but it does, it cooks down quickly.
Ruth O'Donnell is standing in her kitchen, shredding kale for her special Portuguese soup, which she's made … how many times? "I can't count that high," she says. "I'm 96, and I've been making it since I was a girl. I make it all the time."
Her nieces are in the next room. They're visiting, and last night a big pot of this soup, which they call "Portuguese penicillin," vanished before Ruth's eyes. So she's making more. A petite, lively, brown-skinned lady with bright eyes, Ruth has cooked in this particular kitchen for 72 years, the path between sink and stove well worn.
It's been a long, good life, but not without adversity. Her mother was left on a doorstep in Portugal; a benevolent family took her in and brought her over to live with them after they settled in America. "My mother was poor, poor, poor," Ruth says. "I learned to cook from her as soon as I was big enough to stand beside her. She'd have something on the stove, and she'd be showing me how to do it as she went along. That's how I learned. We never had recipes. We'd just do it."
A widow of 44 years, Ruth is never alone. She has three daughters and "I can't tell you how many grandchildren I have!" In fact, she has great-grandchildren, and her refrigerator door is covered with their faces. She may not be able to count them all (photos of family gatherings look like conventions or town meetings), but she can tell you all about each one of them.
Living where she does, in the heart of Provincetown, Massachusetts, Ruth has pretty much seen it all. She worked as a waitress for much of her life: 21 years at the Provincetown Inn and 20 more at Ciro and Sal's, both widely known Provincetown eateries, which has made Ruth widely known, too. Aside from her soup, she's famous for her "flippers," a kind of Portuguese fried dough, similar to fritters.
Ruth learned to make this soup from her mother, who in turn learned it from her adoptive mother. "My mother always used white beans or dark beans, whatever she had," Ruth explains, "but probably 50 years ago, I started adding the 'Bean with Bacon' soup instead of beans. It's what gives this soup its flavor." In addition, what makes this recipe distinctly Portuguese is the linguica–a spicy sausage available in markets on Cape Cod, on the South Shore, and around Boston, but sometimes hard to find elsewhere. If linguica isn't available in your area, use hot sausage or kielbasa.
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 medium-size onions, chopped
1 pound linguica, sliced, slices halved
4 cups chicken broth
1 pound fresh kale, washed, stems discarded, shredded into small pieces
1 can Campbell's "Bean with Bacon" soup plus 1 can water (or substitute 1 can white beans plus
2 cups chicken broth)
2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed (russets or your preference)
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, add oil and cook garlic, onions, and linguica slices until onions are soft. Add 4 cups chicken broth and kale. Cover, and let kale cook down, stirring occasionally.
Add bean soup and water (or substitute beans and broth); simmer about 5 minutes. (Add more water if the mixture's not dilute enough.) Add cubed potatoes. Simmer, covered, 20-30 minutes longer, till potatoes are soft.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot with crusty bread.