Kale Chorizo Soup

This recipe was made by special request of Feesh (my co-gardener across the city), who got extremely excited when kale appeared in my CSA box and immediately requested kale-chorizo soup. And, who am I to deny something that sounds so delicious?

The stuff:
1 onion, chopped
~3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 lbs white potatoes, thinly sliced
8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (I used half and half)
.5 lb Spanish chorizo (spicy cured pork sausage), cut into 1 cm cubes*
a big bunch of kale, washed, with spines cut out, leaves roughly chopped

What to do with it:
In a large soup pot, start the onions, and add the chorizo. Once the chorizo is pretty much cooked, add the potatoes. Then add the liquid, and cook until the potatoes are tender- break some of them up to release the starch and thicken the soup. When everything seems ready, add the kale and just let it get soft. Then, serve!



*Ok, so here is the dilly with the chorizo. Basically, chorizo is not just chorizo- there is Spanish chorizo (which this recipe actually called for) and Mexican chorizo (which we used, because we are in LA, and you can't swing a stick in the sausage section of the grocery store without hitting some Mexican chorizo) and soy chorizo, which you could sub here, but I believe it is closer to the Mexican variety. What is the difference, you ask? Well, I'm not going to claim to be a chorizo expert and I'm certainly not interested in thinking too deeply about exactly what is in it, but I have learned this... Spanish, or Portuguese chorizo is firmer, and can be more easily chopped while Mexican chorizo is ground, has a softer texture and is spicier. Theoretically, you can't normally cross- substitute them (although, I did learn that in a pinch, you can actually chop up ham and season it with smoked paprika to approximate Spanish chorizo). However, in this recipe I'm here to tell you that the Mexican version worked just fine (which I assume means the soy version would also work just fine), so... do what you will!