Rus wasn’t feeling well this weekend, so after a long/bad day at work…I decided I’d put all my stress on something I enjoy–cooking. I decided nothing could help him get better than a Cuban soup (or as they say in Spanish, “sopa”).
Being raised Cuban, anytime you or anyone in your family fell ill, a soup was made. Usually, a Cuban chicken noodle soup (which I’ve got to make soon because it’s a great FLAVORFUL soup), but I decided to do something different for a change. I decided to make a Caldo Gallego.
Caldo Gallego is a very hearty white bean soup.
I didn’t have time to soak beans, so I used canned beans. I poured two cans of white beans (Great Northern) which I poured into a pot. I did not drain the beans, but I cooked them with the water they came in and added two more canfuls of water.
I then added a ham hock
2 bay leaves
a dash of Cumin
ground pepper
3 cloves of garlic (crushed and finely chopped)
a bacon flavor cube
chopped ham (amazingly enough, spam can be used as a substitute)
white onion
green pepper
red potato
chorizo (i used chorizo that was not in a casing, which is why the soup is a red color…it dissolved into the soup. the traditional soup has the chorizo in the casing)
kale (add this towards the end)
I let this bowl simmer for about 2 hours and added the potatoes about 15 mins before serving and then added the kale 5 minutes before serving.
This yielded 4 servings. It was extremely flavorful…but I warn you, don’t add salt because some of the boiling ingredients are already salty. Use your best judgment and taste the soup often while cooking!
Filed under: Cooking, Cuban cooking, Dinner, Food, Great Northern Beans, Recipes, beans, boiled, garlic, potatoes, soup, stews
