Char says: "The following recipe is ethnically what our family makes for the holiday season, more for New Year's than Xmas. The recipe was handed down through the generations and requires probably more work than most would want to put into it, but it's worth the effort if somebody is interested in ethnic Portguese dishes.

"One of those early memory 'comfort foods'. You will need either homemade chorise or store bought chorise or linguica and the Portguese Allspice powder for this recipe. This is like brunswick stew, you make a HUGE pot of it, and it lasts for days. It actually tastes better on the second day than when fresh made."

Meat (roasting chicken, ox tails, beef stew meat. I've used many combinations, the more meat bones you use the better the flavor, and the more you mix um up, the better it tastes)
1 onion chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped

Place in large stock pot, cover with water and cook slowly for about 2 hours.

While it's cooking, in separate pan cook:
split green peas (1 small bag soaked overnight until tender)

In another pan cook:
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 carrots peeled and sliced into 1" pieces

In another pan cook:
1/2 C pasta of your choice

When meat and/or bones are done, remove from pot and let cool. When cool, pick off pieces of meat to return to soup.

Add the cooked split green peas and mash slightly into the broth to thicken it. Add the cooked potatoes and carrots, pasta and meat.

Add 1 head of curly cabbage (you can use nappa cabbage or chinese curly cabbage). Cook for about 10 more minutes.

Then add: ½ tsp chorise powder (see Chorise recipe on where to find this)
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. oil
tomato paste or sauce (add to the color you desire)

Cook an additional 5-10 more minutes, then serve.