Turkey Sausage and Gnocchi Soup

Ooooh my goodness I made this forever ago and started the post about three weeks ago and completely failed to post it. Lately life seems to be keeping me hopping!!!

The weather is finally starting to cool down here in Houston and this has quickly become one of my favorite soups!! A dear friend of my introduced me to the original Cooking Light recipe but I obviously changed it up because goodness knows how much I love salt. This is also originally served with grated Parmesan cheese which I had available for the hubs but I thought it was delicious without it!

This was an easy after work dinner to make and I had plenty of leftovers to get me through the week which is always a good thing! You could easily cut this in half and mess with the amounts o


Turkey Sausage and Gnocchi Soup
by Cooking Light
Printable Version

Ingredients

• 1 pkg of turkey sausage, about 6 links
• 12 cups of beef broth (I like broth!)
• 1 16oz package fresh gnocchi 
• 2 14.5 can of diced tomatoes
• 4 sprigs of thyme
• fresh grated Parmesan cheese 
• salt and pepper

Preparation

• 1. Remove the sausage from the casings and cook in a large pot over medium-high heat. Stirring the sausage constantly to crumble it for about 5 minutes. Cook until browned

2. Add the beef broth, tomatoes, gnocchi and thyme. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes to blend the flavor. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Remove the sprig of thyme and ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired!!

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

The Cajun cuisine attempts continue..... This was less intimidating that the gumbo for sure but it was still something I wasn't sure if I could pull off. It worked though!!! With delicious results. My sister-in-law and my hubs are both super spice freaks ( I am not ) and added Tabasco and more crushed red pepper at the table.


You can easily make this with shrimp as well and there are instructions for that in the original recipe from Cooking Light. My hubs does not like seafood and that is why none of my dishes contain any! I will need to change that though... The link is under the name of the recipe as per usual! I doubled the recipe because I wanted a lot of leftovers and there certainly was plenty! It also reheats marvelously and would be an easy dish to make ahead of time if you are having company. One thing I really liked about this is there is no need for a side dish to go with it. This is also a man approved dish!!


I changed it up again as per usual and added more vegetables because I love me some veggie deliciousness. I also followed the advice of many reviewers on the original recipe and cooked the rice before I added it to the jambalaya. I cooked it significantly longer than the recipe recommended as well. I wanted the flavors to have time to really blend together and, in my opinion, it helped the rice to soak up the juices and become your typical jambalaya texture. 


Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
Cooking Light
Printable Version

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 teaspoons Tony Chacheres or salt and pepper
• 2 cups chopped smoked sausage
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cups chopped green bell pepper
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 3 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups uncooked rice (I used boil in a bag brown rice from Kroger)
• 5 cups fat-free chicken broth
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 2 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• Tabasco sauce

Preparation:

• 1. Cook rice to your liking and set aside. I undercooked it a little bit so it would finish up in the broth.
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• 2. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with Tony's or salt and black pepper. Brown the chicken for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and remove from the dutch oven and set aside. Then in the same dutch oven brown the sausage for about five minutes.

3. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cover and reduce heat to medium and cook until vegetables are tender. About ten minutes. 

4. Add broth, paprika, thyme, red pepper, tomatoes and chicken. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 30 minutes, skimming the fat off the top as it rises. Towards the end of these 30 minutes is a good time to start seasoning it to your taste with Tony Chachere's, salt and pepper, and Tabasco.

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5. Add the rice and simmer for another 15 minutes. Just keep an eye on it and when it starts to look like it's thickened up. 

6. Before serving stir in green onions and keep a few on the side to garnish each dish! I put hot sauce on the table for my beloved little heat seekers.

• Enjoy!

ME

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo!

Gumbo has always scared me. It's amazing, delicious goodness could never be achievable with my amateur skills... WRONG! But I must warn you there is absolutely nothing healthy about this dish except for the appetite you will develop for it after the savory tastiness hits your lips. With football season coming up this is the perfect dish to serve for those games you accidentally invited 20 people over for! Also, this is not a dump and run dish. You will have an hour and then an hour and a half to get things done ( I went for a walk in the park for part of it) but it definitely needs to be tended to otherwise! I would plan on this taking up about four hours of your time but for two and a half of it you will have freedom.


The best piece of advice I can give you is this: Don't even bother trying to make your own roux. There is absolutely no reason to put yourself through that kind of pain and frustration. I thought, 'Oooooh it can't be that hard. The reviews make it sound like lots of people can do it...' Welp. I'm not one of them! I will post pictures of my failure after the recipe of perfection in your mouth. Fortunately, there are enough people like myself and you can buy roux in a jar! Here I thought it was this mystical magical combination but it is literally just oil and flour. Nothing to it. I've heard you can make it in the oven... I will have to investigate that!


I made this for a Labor Day potluck pool volleyball party with at least 30 people there and it was the absolute first thing to go! I made it with chicken and sausage because my husband hates seafood with a passion. But you can easily make this with seafood you just need to add the seafood of your choice (shrimp, scallops, oysters, crab meat) and simmer for about 15 minutes before you're ready to serve it. In the recipes I've seen in a quick google keep the sausage though it adds a lot of flavor. Maybe one day I will attempt halfsies for the man and me! 


Chicken and Sausage Gumbo - Printable Version
By: Emeril Lagasse on FoodNetwork.com


Ingredients: 
1 pound of smoked sausage (I used smoked pork sausage) cut across into 1/2-inch thick pieces
4 pounds of chicken thighs, skin removed
2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil
1/2 jar of roux, I used Bootsie's
3 tablespoons of Creole seasoning (I used Tony Cachere's... we use it on pretty much everything)
9 cups of chicken broth
3 bay leaves
2 cups of chopped onion ( I used one large yellow onion)
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of chopped green bell peppers ( I used one large one as well, it overflowed a little bit I like bell pepper)
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup of chopped green onions
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon of file powder (pronounced fee-lay, I used one by Bayou Magic)
Tabasco sauce
white rice

Directions:


1. Heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the one pound of smoked sausage and cook until browned. Remove the sausage and drain on paper towels. Leave it on the side for a wee bit.

2. Season the chicken thighs with two tablespoons of creole seasoning and cook them in the same Dutch oven until browned, about five to six minutes. After they are browned put them in a container and back in the fridge, you won't need them for about an hour and they will not be cooked through.

3. In the same Dutch oven boil the 9 cups of chicken broth and once it is boiling slowly stir in half a jar of roux... about a cup maybe a little more. Once it has dissolved turn it down to a simmer.


4. In a large frying pan heat one tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat and add the onions, celery and bell peppers. Cook for about five minutes until they start to get soft. Add the browned sausage and cayenne pepper and cook for about two minutes.


5. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper and sausage concoction into the simmering chicken stock and roux.  Also add three bay leaves. Simmer this over medium low heat for one hour stirring occasionally.

6. After one hour, add the browned chicken thighs and simmer over medium low heat for an hour and a half. Skim the fat that rises to the top.

7. After an hour and a half remove the chicken thighs with a slotted spoon and shred them, removing the bones as you go. Then stir the chicken back into the gumbo.

8. Stir in the two tablespoons of parsley, half cup of chopped green onion and the tablespoon of file powder. Add the last tablespoon of creole seasoning and a few dashes of hot sauce as well until your delicious new meal has reached your desired heat level!

9. Cook white rice to your liking. I used the boil in a bag rice Kroger so thoughtfully made easy for me. About a half a cup per person should be about right.


10. Spoon the rice into a bowl and ladle the gumbo over it! Eat it piping hot and ENJOY!!!!

ME


PS. As promised here is my failure. To make roux you cook half a cup of vegetable oil and a cup of flour over medium high heat stirring constantly for 20-25 minutes. It was going SO well! Nice and chocolaty brown and oh so smooth... then the recipe called for stirring in the vegetables and that is when it turned into charcoal. Please learn from my mistakes and don't try this at home. My poor hubs thought I caught the kitchen on fire and we had to open all the windows and doors and brought our fans down from our roof deck to clear out the first floor!