Knowing only the basics -- potatoes, kale, really good chorizo -- I winged it on this, and the result turned out pretty damn good. Don't know if it qualifies as authentic, then, but I'll take deliciousness over authenticity any day.
It's a multi-step process, but worth the trouble.
To start, peel and dice 3 parsnips and 4 small (or 3 medium, or 2 large) red onions. (You could use carrots and/or white or yellow onions as substitutes -- but I like the flavor of these). Saute those in olive oil in a big soup pot. As they're sauteing, stir in a few big pinches of salt (don't be shy with it), fresh ground pepper (maybe 3 or 3 turns on your grinder), and 2 or 3 big teaspoons of pimenton. (Pimenton is also called "Spanish paprika" -- but don't be fooled into thinking it's the same as "Hungarian paprika," because that's a damn lie. The thing about Spanish paprika is that it's smoked -- so if you can't find it but you can find something like smoked chipotle powder, that would be a closer fit.) Saute all that till the onions are translucent, and the parsnips are going soft.
While that's cooking, prep your potatoes. Here, I worked on the infallible assumption that anywhere you can use potatoes, you can usually use sweet potatoes to better effect (except, oddly, in hash browns -- but that's another post). Especially with the parsnips and red onions, I thought the sweetness of the sweet potatoes would add something nice, and their color is always welcome. So I'd started out with 8 small white potatoes (the little waxy ones, not Idahos -- Yukon Golds would work fine) and 3 medium sweet potatoes.
Here's where it starts to get tricky. Wash and peel all 3 sweet potatoes and 4 of the white potatoes. Wash but don't bother to peel the other 4 potatoes. Dice the 4 peeled white potatoes, and set them aside. Dice the 3 sweet potatoes and the other 4 skin-on white potatoes, and put them into a smaller pot. Add the peeled white potatoes to the sauteing onions and parsnips, and cover all that with just enough water to cover, then add about half as much water again. Add just enough water to the other pot of diced potatoes as well, and throw in a pinch or two of salt. Cook both till the potatoes are pleasantly tender.
While that's doing, take a big bag of kale from the grocery store (or some in its natural state -- but what the hell, it's just for soup), wash it, and chop the leaves up as fine as you can stand. I always do this with greens in soup, especially tougher ones like kale -- no one likes gnawing on a leaf half the size of their head. Put that finely chopped kale into yet another small pot, add a little bit of water, and steam until the kale is tender.
Ok, so now everything is cooked. Here's where the fun starts. When the potatoes in the secondary pot are finished, drain them over the big soup pot so that it catches the secondary-potato cooking water. Put those cooked potatoes back into their secondary pot for the time being, then do the same thing with the kale -- drain its steaming water into the big soup pot. All this is going to contribute to the broth, which is why you don't want to send all that flavor down the drain. Put the drained kale back into its cooking pot, and set it aside.
Why all the trouble? Cause now you're going to add some heft to that broth by pureeing the goodies that are swimming around in it. We don't want just a pureed soup, though, which is why we've left the other potatoes and the kale out for now. So get to it. If you've got a stick-blender, so much the better. Whatever you use to do it, blend together everything that's in the big soup pot at this point -- the result should be a broth with something of a creamy consistency, thanks to the white potatoes you blended in with it. Once that's blended, then add in the kale and the other potatoes. Now you're starting to get a stew going.
The real glory of this soup, though, is the chorizo. Use the best you can find. (If you're in London, that means the stuff they're selling at Brindisa -- locations in Exmouth Market and Borough.) Here you want cooking chorizo (ideally Spanish or Portuguese, rather than Mexican, which is a little different) -- basically the more sausage-looking chorizo, not the more salami-looking chorizo. For each bowl of soup you're going to serve, grill or fry 1 sausage, then dice it into bite size pieces, and add it to the bowls. Ladle the soup over this, and serve.
A little bit more work, perhaps, than some boring old minestrone. But good for what ails you on a cold London autumn night.
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