Chicken & Smoked Sausage Soup
By: Annette Gallagher
Published: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 4:24pm

Ingredients




1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes
1 pound smoked sausage or turkey smoked sausage, cut into bite s
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil or other vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped finely
3 smalls ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, scrubbed well (don't peel them!) and sliced thinly
1 cup dry sherry
12 cups water
4 chicken stock cubes - I use Knorr Low Sodium
2 beef stock cubes - also Knorr
1 small large or 2  bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (or to taste)
Several grinds of fresh black pepper

1/2 cup par-boiled rice (Uncle Ben's)
1 cup orzo or other tiny pasta
3 tablespoons tomato paste

Preparation

1 Heat the oil or butter in a large heavy bottomed pot. 2 When it is hot, add the chicken in batches and brown it on all sides, removing each batch as it browns - crowding too much in the pot will make the chicken steam instead of brown. 3 When the chicken is all browned, add the sausage, onions, celery and carrots to the pot, along with the chicken. 4 Saute for about five minutes, stirring constantly. 5 Add the sherry and let cook on high until it is reduced by half, about five minutes. 6 Add the water and stock cubes, thyme, bay leaves and all three peppers. Stir well, let come to a boil. 7 Reduce heat to medium and let simmer about 30 minutes. Stir it every so often. 8 After 30 minutes, add the rice and stir well again. Let cook another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. 9 Add the pasta and the tomato paste and stir well to dissolve the tomato paste. 10 Let cook another 10 minutes and serve with lots of hot bread and a bottle of Crystal or Tobasco for those who like it HOT!

About


I was going to make jambalaya for dinner, but it was rainy and people all around me were fighting colds, so I made soup instead. This doesn't have the spice of jambalaya, but is flavored similarly with thyme, bay leaves and just a little cayenne pepper. I run the veggies through my food processor, and using boneless skinless chicken breast drastically shorten the cooking time. FYI, this is NOT gumbo because it does not contain either okra or file powder, one of which must be used to thicken real gumbo.
Don't let the list of ingredients intimidate you! Once it's all thrown together, it just simmers on the stove and you have to stir it every once in a while.
Tip: If you can get it, you can swap andouille sausage for the smoked sausage for a more New Orleans flavor. Of course you omit the sausage entirely and use just chicken, or chicken and ham (diced into 1/2 inch cubes) or chicken and shrimp - just like for gumbo!