Portuguese Kale and Linguica Soup

Here's another favorite soup from my cooking-at-the-Still-Life days. With the sausage, potatoes, kale, and tomatoes it works great as a dinner. I'm not good at serving sides with soup (unless a grilled cheese sandwich or buttered toast count, but I think they don't) so I love it when my green veggies for the meal are already in there. Linguica is a spicy, smoky Portuguese sausage that gives this soup so much flavor. If you can't find linguica, substitute kielbasa or even spicy Italian sausage. As I'm writing this the wind is knocking over garbage cans and the rain is sneaking its way down my chimney into my basement - a perfect night for something warming and stress-free.

Portuguese Kale and Linguica Soup
serves 6 to 8, we freeze the leftovers

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T tomato paste
1 cup red wine
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 pound Linguica (or other sausage*), cut into thin coins
1 bunch kale (after washing and chopping it's about 4 cups)
6 medium red potatoes, cut bite-sized
8 to 10 cups stock
1 t paprika (hot and smoked if you can find it)
1 T thyme
1 T mustard powder (substitute dijon mustard if you have to)
2 bay leaves
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of cinnamon

• This starts the way almost everything I make starts - saute the onion in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until it just starts to brown, then add the garlic and saute until it just starts to brown.
• Add the paprika and tomato paste and cook them until they're stuck to the bottom of the pan and just starting to brown. Then dump in the wine so nothing burns.
• Reduce the wine for about 5 minutes, just to cook off the alcohol. Then add everything except the kale (hold back a little on the stock so you can decide how thick you want it). 
• Simmer for at least 45 minutes. You can eat it as soon as the potatoes are done, but I like to give the sausage more time to flavor everything. 
• About 10 minutes before serving, add the kale.

*Linguica and kielbasa are already cooked. If you're substituting a fresh sausage like hot Italian, cook it before cutting into coins.

Barley, Wild Rice, and Currant Pilaf

Lately I've been working on a new sort-of-blog called Remember These Recipes. It's a place to post images of old family recipe cards that I've found. Because it's not just the dishes themselves that I love, it's the handwriting of my relatives (many who aren't here anymore), the drips on the sides, the little notes people scribbled on the back. Looking through these images I have, of course, been craving some family dinners. This pilaf recipe is one that my grandma made at many many Christmas dinners. I don't have an old card with her handwriting for this. Instead I had to interpret my own bad handwriting and terrible shortcutted directions that I jotted down at her kitchen counter. We ate it with garlic pork chops to try to get close to the garlic pork loin she usually served with it (there's a recipe I'd love to have). I took a bite and immediately remembered sitting on her long couch in the condo with a plate balanced on my lap, a puzzle in progress on the coffee table, Grandpa watching the game from the LayZboy, and family all around. Also, it's delicious.

Barley, Wild Rice, and Currant Pilaf
serves 2 as a generous side

2 T butter
1/2 an onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/ 2 cup wild rice
1/2 cup barley
1/2 cup diced celery and carrots
1/3 cup currants (or raisins in a pinch)
1 bay leaf
1 t dried sage, or 2 fresh leaves, minced
1 t thyme
2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
salt and pepper to taste

• In a small saucepan, saute the onion in the butter until it is starting to turn translucent. Add the garlic and saute about 2 minutes more. If you ever feel like the butter is starting to get too brown, dash in a little olive oil.
• Add the wild rice and saute until the onions and garlic are light brown - about five minutes more.
• Add the barley, currants, herbs, pepper to taste, and stock. 
• Bring it to a low simmer with the lid. Stir occasionally to check if it's sticking. If it seems to be drying out too quickly, add about 1/2 cup more water.
• Check the tenderness of the barley and rice, and the liquid level after 45 minutes. If there is too much liquid near the end, simmer for the last 10 minutes more with the lid off, stirring a little more frequently.

The Dinner Sandwich with Kale, Gouda, and Roasted Sweet Potato

Whenever John is away on a night that I work late I end up eating a white sandwich (toasted sourdough bread, mayonnaise, sharp cheddar cheese, that's it) for dinner. Not only do I love a cheese sandwich, but I also don't really cook for myself. Cook is something I do for other people. But he's going to be away more on these late evenings, so I came up with the Dinner Sandwich. It's a variation on something I made when I cooked for The Essential Baking Company. If you don't have a panini press (because, really, why do I have a panini press), just make this in a frying pan with butter on the outside of the bread - like an old-fashioned grilled cheese.

The Dinner Sandwich
serves 4, but I used the leftovers for other meals

1 red garnet yam (which is really a sweet potato)
1 bunch of kale (or spinach or chard)
1 head of garlic
4 slices Gouda
2 slices of good, hearty bread
olive oil, salt, and pepper
sliced turkey - very optional

• Peel the sweet potato and slice into thin coins. This will make more than you need, but it's great as a snack, on another sandwich tomorrow, or cut up and sprinkled on a salad.
• Toss the sweet potato slices in olive oil and salt and pepper and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees.
• Cut the top off of the garlic head and set on top of a square of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and close up the foil so the garlic is sealed in a little bag. Put this in the oven under the sweet potatoes and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. The cloves will be browned and soft. You can just squeeze them out of the papery skin and use as a spread.
• Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil into a frying pan on medium high heat. Rinse the kale and shake off the water (but don't worry about getting it dry). Tear pieces of the leaves off the woody stem and drop them right into the pan.
• Stir the torn kale getting it all coated in the oil for about 5 minutes. Put the lid on and let it wilt for about five minutes more (you can skip this if you're using spinach or chard). You're going for cooked, but not mush.
• You can either refrigerate everything now and use it cold later, or go right on to assembling the sandwich.
• The main trick to great paninis (or grilled cheese) is to be sure that the cheese is the thing touching both sides of the bread. So for this sandwich I built it in this order: bread, cheese, roasted garlic squished around, sweet potato slices, kale, turkey, a little more garlic, cheese, bread again. 
• Get it all toasty and melty and you're done. You don't even need a side dish!