GALICIAN SOUP (POTE GALLEGO)

Galician Soup (Pote Gallego) image

My grandfather was from Galicia, the province in Northern Spain located over Portugal. This is the soup from his homeland as dictated to me by my mother. It is a simple, peasant dish - just meat, potatoes and cabbage - no fancy herbs or spices. Prep time is overnight soaking time for the beans, actual prep time is 10 minutes or less.

Provided by Raquel Grinnell

Time 12h

Yield 1 pot, 10-12 serving(s)

Number Of Ingredients 13

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Ingredients

1 lb cannellini beans, dried (or Great Northern)
3/4 lb salt pork
1 lb beef shank (with bone)
1 beef bone with marrow
3 chicken legs
1 chorizo sausage, Spanish (NOT Mexican!)
1 ham hock, cured NOT smoked
1 blood sausage (morcilla, from Spain, the one with onions is better for flavor rather than the one blended with rice)
1 onion, peeled
1 napa cabbage, large
1 lb red potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

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.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 508.4, Fat 37.9, SaturatedFat 13.2, Cholesterol 93.8, Sodium 770, Carbohydrate 15, Fiber 3.4, Sugar 1.9, Protein 25.5