By Request Betty Shimabukuro

Hearty soup builds stamina in busy season

It's easy to be overwhelmed at this time of year, when all things -- and time itself -- seem to be in hyperdrive. It's a good time for soup. Warm, comforting soup.

Almost as though reading our need, Kakaako Kitchen held a Portuguese bean soup cook-off last month to raise money for the Girls Scouts of Hawai'i ($1,391 was collected).

Contestants were eight corporate teams offering such soups as Witch It Up a Notch (Advantage Webco Hawaii) and The Freitas Family Likes My Portuguese Bean Soup (Business Insurance Services).

The winner -- That's My Soup! -- came from Bank of Hawaii Insurance Services and head soup-pot-tender Lei Furtado.

"The recipe was actually taught to me by my mother," Furtado says, "and over the years I've sort of made it my own by trying different sausages, different types of tomatoes and really tried cooking by adding ingredients in certain orders and this seems to be the perfect soup."

The base of the stock is beef soup bones and ham hocks.

The key to the flavor, she says, is the ham hocks. "The fatty part of the ham hock after it is boiled for that long gives it that awesome taste."

Here's her recipe, but note that she advises tasting the soup and adjusting seasonings as you go. If you want the soup slightly spicy, she suggests, add the Portuguese sausage earlier.

THAT'S MY SOUP!
4 beef shank soup bones
1 pound boneless beef short ribs, cubed
2 medium onions
3 tablespoons Hawaiian salt, or to taste
3 cups cubed ham
1 ham bone
3 ham hocks
3 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes
10 stalks celery
2 large carrots
1 medium head cabbage
4 large potatoes
3 15-ounce cans dark red kidney beans, drained
1-1/2 cups small elbow macaroni
4 links Portuguese sausage (Gouvea brand preferred), sliced
Cut the meat from the soup bones (about 2 cups). In a large pot, brown this meat with cubed short-ribs and onions.

Add salt (to taste). Stir in cubed ham, soup bones, ham bone and ham hocks. Fill pot with enough water to cover and simmer 1 hour. Add more water and salt if needed.

Add tomatoes and 3 cans water, let simmer for another hour.

Chop celery, carrots, cabbage and potatoes; add to soup in that order. Simmer 30 minutes.

Add kidney beans, macaroni and sausage. Simmer 15 more minutes, until macaroni is cooked. Serves 20 (or more).

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 420 calories, 16 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,600 mg sodium, 35 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 36 g protein.