Portuguese Kale Soup

I don't know how authentic this is, but I remember this soup
made by a chef at a small restaurant named Dagwoods in Bardstown Kentucky, John Hall.
John and his wife owned the restaurant. Great people, even better food.
I waited tables there at the time. Fond memories.

Ingredients:


1lb kale
8 or more cups of chicken stock
2 lbs chorizo (or other sausage)
4 cans of white northern beans
1 or 2 cups of cooked long grain wild rice
6 cloves of garlic
1 red onion
salt
pepper
Dave's Essence (my father's upgrade from Emeril's essence)
6 drops of hot sauce with chili lime
2 tbs olive oil


Preparation:


Heat oil in a heavy bottomed dutch oven.
Add sausage, I actually used kielbasa.

*this can be made vegetarian, use vegetable stock and no meat.
*Chicken would be a great substitute, italian sausage would be great.

Remove sausage.
Add onions and garlic to the pot. Saute until translucent.
Add chicken stock/broth.
Bring to a solid simmer.
Add kale (might seem like a lot but don't worry it will cook down, I used 2/3 of a pound and was good with that,
I could see using the whole pound easily)
Add wild rice
Simmer until kale softens
Add beans and meat.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add Dave's essence.
Add hot sauce
(I used less that what most people would, I wanted only a little heat)
(More can be added to individual servings.)

Cover and simmer on low for 20-30 minutes.

there's nothing like a hearty bowl of soup on a cool autumn day.


yeh.