Sopas

By BBAUNTIE

Portuguese Soup that is made for festa.Best to double this recipe because it is that good.

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chuck roast shopping list
• 2 soup bones
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 TBS whole cumin
• 1 tsp whole allspice
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1-1/2 TBS worcestershire sauce
• 12 cups water
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 head cabbage cut into four wedges
• 2 sprigs of mint
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 loaf French bread (plain — not sweet or sourdough)

Preparation

Step 1

Cut meat into 3-by-3 inch pieces.
Place whole spices — cumin, allspice and cloves — in a cloth bag. (Brand-new, white baby socks can be used as the cloth bag. Just put the spices in and tie the sock in a knot.)
Boil meat with soup bones, onion, garlic, spices in cloth bag, wine, Worcestershire sauce and tomato sauce until meat is tender.
Add cabbage wedges to pot and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Skim fat from top of liquid.
In bowl, place thick sliced day old French bread with mint on top. Over this, pour hot juice from pot.
In a bowl, pour sopa over thick sliced bread.
(Note: Worcestershire sauce is not used in all festa sopas; unlike this recipe, chicken base is used. These two differences make for more brothy-colored sopas, which is more like the sopas served in the Azores.)