1. Place the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are just tender but not completely cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain. Once cool enough to handle, cut or slice the potatoes into desired shape/size.
2. Meanwhile, add the chorizo and the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat and cook until the chorizo is crispy. Remove the chorizo from the pan and place on a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.
3. To the drippings, add the butter and once melted, add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes and then add the garlic, thyme, dried herbs, and red pepper flakes. Cook for another few minutes and then stream in the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer.
4. Add the kale, corn, and reserved chorizo and potatoes to the pot and partially cover. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the kale is wilted and the corn and potatoes are cooked through.
5. Add the half-and-half and warm through. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

NOTE:

1. I chose to use precooked, cured chorizo for this soup so that the end product would have big chunks of the sausage throughout. If you prefer, you can start with uncooked bulk chorizo and crisp is up like regular sausage (casings removed and cooked until browned and completely rendered). Make sure to drain off some of the drippings if you use this method, otherwise your soup will end up a little oily. Your resulting soup will have smaller bits of chorizo floating throughout, rather than the larger, meatier chunks you see pictured in this post.