Saturday, January 19, 2013

Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup


Thursday 3 January
Our inspiration was this, but we fussed with it enough that it became a whole different recipe.
De-skin and crumble 3 fresh linguiça sausages, about a pound total (ours were from Kroger Bros. in Findlay Market).  Cook in ca. 2 tablespoons oil in heavy soup pot over medium-high heat, stirring often, until browned. Set aside, leaving any extra fat in the pan; and don't give me that stuff about blotting the sausages or pouring off the fat, because as any fule kno, you can use it to cook the vegetables, and also to impart sausage flavor to everything else.
Chop 2 medium onions and 2 large cloves of garlic; add to pot and cook until translucent, stirring, about 5 minutes. In the meantime, peel and dice 3 lbs. sweet potatoes; if you don't have enough, flesh them out with some Yukon golds.  Stir as you add each diced potato to the pot, until they're all in.
Add about 4 cups broth or water (we used half water, half turkey broth), to cover; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits.  If you've got some green stuff, as we did, put it in according to how tough it is: our amazing little chard leaves picked from the freezing garden went in just after the potatoes, but spinach would take only 5 minutes.
Return sausage to pot, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are soft, about 20-30 more minutes.  Mash some of the potatoes in the pot until it's as thick as you like it (I used my ancestral potato bat).  Season with salt and pepper.


It's sweet (from the sweet potatoes), savory (sausage), and earthy (chard) all in one bowl.  The original recipe says it makes 8 servings, but really it's a dinner for two, plus a small bowl each for later.

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