Portuguese Kale Soup

• 1 cup white beans
• 10 cups water, more if needed
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 pound kale, chopped
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 6-ounce can tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• chorizo chunks (or Linguica, if you want a milder flavor)
• salt and pepper to taste


1. Soak beans overnight. Rinse in cold water.
2. Briefly saute all ingredients in a bit of olive oil. Add water to the same pot and bring to a boil. After it comes to a boil, lower heat to medium and cook slowly for two hours. Add more water if necessary. Stir from time to time so the soup does not burn to the bottom of the pot.
3. When soup is done add the seasonings and stir the soup well. Turn off heat, cover the soup pot, and let it stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot.

This recipe is adapted from: Twelve Months of Monastery Soups
Brother Victor-Antoine d'Avila-Latourrette

Simple Garlic Scape Pesto

We'll start off with something simple.

• 6-7 garlic scapes, chopped
• approx. 1 c. olive oil
• 1 c. grated pecorino romanao or asiago cheese* (The latter tastes best.)

On our first batch we skipped the cheese, we chopped the scapes in a mini food processor and added olive oil as needed, then we filled some little canning jars and put them into the freezer, mixed with a bit more oil it makes a great dipping sauce.
If you want to make an actual pesto, mix in the grated cheese by hand after the scapes are chopped up.