The polar vortex of 2014 continues to clamp down on us, and I continue to fight back with pots of soup and stew. Tonight I was figuring out what to do with a package of Italian sausages I had, and found this soup I collected from Fred Peters of Maryland back in ’92 or ’93, on Fidonet (which is where a huge number of my collected recipes came from).
Fiesta Chicken and Sausage Soup
Recipe By : Bon Appetit, January 1992
Serving Size : 8 Preparation Time : 1:45
Cuisine: Portuguese
Categories : Chicken, Soups
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 16 ounces Linguiça, or hot Italian sausage 1½ pounds Chicken breasts, skinned and boned 1 bunch Cilantro, hard stems removed 4 Garlic cloves, halved 1 Jalapeño, deveined and quartered ½ cup Oil, plus 2 tablespoons 1 tablespoon Ground cumin 1½ teaspoons Dried orégano, crumbled 15 ounces Yellow hominy, drained Seasoned flour (for dredging) 1 pound Onions, coarsely chopped 1 Yellow bell pepper, diced 1 Red bell pepper, diced 6 cups Reduced-sodium chicken broth 1 Avocado, diced
Cut linguiça or Italian sausage diagonally into 2-inch-thick slices. Cut chicken into ¾ inch pieces. Finely chop the fresh cilantro, garlic cloves and seeded jalapeño in processor using on/off turns. Drizzle in ½ cup of vegetable oil, ground cumin and dried oregano and blend for 10 seconds. Transfer the pesto to a measuring cup. Return half of the pesto to food processor; set the remainder aside. Add ¾ cup golden hominy to the processor and blend until hominy is finely chopped. Set hominy-pesto aside.
Cook the sausage in a heavy large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat until fat is rendered and sausage darkens slightly, about 6 minutes. (You may need to add 2 tablespoons of bacon dripping or oil if the sausage is very lean.) Using a slotted spoon, lift out the sausage pieces and set aside in a bowl.
Dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour. Add to the drippings in skillet and sauté in batches over medium-high heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes per batch. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to another bowl.
Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and diced bell peppers and sauté for five minutes. Add the hominy-pesto mixture, remaining whole hominy and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
Mix in the chicken and about three tablespoons of plain pesto. Add sausage and stir to combine. (The recipe can be prepared one day ahead to this point. Cover and refrigerate soup and plain pesto. Bring soup to a simmer before continuing.)
Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with diced avocado. Serve soup, passing remaining plain pesto separately or use as a garnish.
Original poster : Fred Peters, Fidonet Cooking echo
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Per Serving : 486 Calories; 35g Fat (64.7% calories from fat); 24g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 71mg Cholesterol; 864mg Sodium. Exchanges: ½ Grain(Starch); 2½ Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 4½ Fat.
This soup … was fucking amazing, and crazy-rich tasting. The pesto’s oil gives a wonderful, rich unctuousness to the stock, and the food-processed hominy thickens it excellent well. The sausage, chicken, and whole hominy give it staying power. As always, the amount of salt is a problem, but zomg for this kind of taste I’ll make adjustments elsewhere. It’s tempting to scarf down a quart of it at a sitting, but at the same time the richness means you don’t have to do so to feel satisfied. This is a definite win.
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