Galician Soup Recipes

GALICIAN SOUP (POTE GALLEGO)

Steps:

• Rinse beans and discard any damaged or odd looking beans. Put in large pot with 1 tablespoon of salt and cover by 4 inches. Leave to soak overnight or at least 8 hours.
• In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, add salt pork, beef shank,marrow bone, chorizo and ham hock. Cover all with cold water by three inches and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim any gray foam that comes to the surface with a spoon. Add drained and rinsed beans, onion and peppercorns, and bring back to a boil. Cover and turn heat down to low or medium/low - pot should be at a strong simmer for two hours.
• Prepare cabbage by stripping the outer, dark green leaves. Remove core of leaves, chop roughly and set aside. Quarter the light green inner cabbage and remove core. Halve each piece again and chop into chunks.
• Over the two hours, check pot every 30 minutes or so and spoon off any gray 'scum' that bubbles at the top - this is from the meat. When the broth is thickening and the beans are almost tender, add the morcilla, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, potatoes and chopped dark green outer cabbage leaves. Bring back to the boil, then cover and lower heat to a simmer again for about 20 minutes.
• Taste for salt again and add the rest of the cabbage. Cover and cook until cabbage is very tender, at least 40 minutes. Test for salt and adjust.
• To serve, remove meats and chop (except chorizo and morcilla). Remove bones and fat and put meats back into soup. Slice chorizo and morcilla and add to the bottom of each bowl before serving, Top with soup and serve.

CALDO GALLEGO

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Cook and stir onion in the hot oil until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Stir chorizo and ham into onion mixture and cook until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Mix potatoes and turnips into chorizo mixture; pour in chicken stock. Bring stock to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover stockpot, and simmer until potatoes and turnips are tender, about 20 minutes.
• Increase heat to medium and stir cannellini beans and turnip greens into soup; cook until greens are desired tenderness, at least 3 minutes.

CALDO GALLEGO (GALICIAN BEAN, MEAT AND BIG LEAF SOUP)

Steps:

• Soak white beans overnight. Next day, drain and refill with cold water to cover by 4cms.
• In a large pot add a little EVOO, med heat up, and add pancetta slab and bone. Cook until bone and slab look like they are rendering juices and starting to brown a bit.
• Add bay leaves, ham knuckle, and fill with water to cover the smoked knuckle. Bring to boil and leave on rolling boil/simmer for about 75mins or less (check ham knuckle to make sure it stays submerged, add more water if needed).
• In the meantime bring to boil the white beans and cook on moderate heat for just 15mins. Drain and set aside (This is to give the beans a helping start as they won't cook quickly later when added to the salty/meaty broth that will become from above).
• Back at the big pot (after about 75mins), remove all the meats and bone and set aside.
• Add the white beans to the big broth pot, bring to the boil and simmer at a medium-high flame. How long to cook? This is the most important step! The beans must be cooked to nearing al-dente. Any further they will turn to mush, too early and they will remain bullets. Judge well because the final step will be to add the vegetables/potatoes and chorizos at the right time because there are 30 more minutes left of cooking. So keep checking!
• Whilst the beans are simmering grab a frying pan, add some EVOO and start frying the onion/leek slices, add the ñora peppers and after 10mins add the chopped garlic, turn down heat and continue cooking on low heat until onion/leeks are nearing to brown, but not there yet. Turn off heat, allow to cool then stir in the paprika. Remove ñora peppers, pull off stems. In a blender add the ñoras and a cup of the broth from large pot (cooled) and whizz up into a thick sauce. Add this back into the frying pan and stir to mix.
• When the removed meats have cooled slice off any excess meat, chop up into bite sized pieces and leave aside for the mo.
• When the beans are nearing al-dente, add the chopped carrots, the fried onion or leek/garlic/ñora/paprika sauce from the frying pan, and the whole chorizos to the big pot. Cook on moderate heat. After 10 mins add potato chunks. Add the turnips (if using) 5 mins later then after another 5 mins add chopped greens and the chopped meats and continue to cook until potatoes, and turnips (if musing) are cooked, but not falling apart.
• Check the beans, are they now cooked? If so turn heat to a bare minimum uncovered and hook out the chorizos. When cool enough to handle chop into chunks and add back into the pot for a few mins.
• Ladle into individual bowls and serve with country bread

GALICIAN SOUP ( CALDO GALLEGO )

Steps:

• Cut Veal and Ham Steaks into Chunks.
• Mince Onion and Garlic
• Peel and Cut Potatoes into Cubes.
• Skin and cut Choizo into 1/4 inch round slices.
• In a Large Soup pot
• Add the beans with their liquid.
• Then place all remaining ingredients.
• Mix well and let Cook over low flame for about 3 hours.
• Serve in Soup Bowls with Toated Italian Bread for dunking on the side.