Sausage Soup with Mixed Greens

Sausage soup with mixed greens and cornmeal dumplings. An easy, hearty, comforting soup. The best news is that it will warm any chills right out of your bones.

Please excuse my posts if they have been a little sporadic lately. I have been fighting one of those weird colds where you don’t feel sick but you need to be on medicine (so I’m all doped up for lack of better words).

This is my first attempt to post a weekly recipe from a non-internet source. What’s the point in having all these cookbooks and magazines if I’m not making use of them, right? However, as I mentioned previously, I’m on medicine so that’s going to be my excuse for the abomination of this recipe that took place in the course of its preparation.

Either way, this sausage soup turned out yummy.

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Sausage Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings and Mixed Greens

From Bon Appetit January 2011
Ingredients
For the Dumplings

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

For the Soup

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 4 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 4 Turkish bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 pound Andouille sausages, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 6 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 12-ounce bag mixed turnip, mustard, and collard greens, any thick stems cut away (about 12 cups packed)**

Preparation:
Dumplings
•    Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Stir in milk and butter, then green onions. Let stand at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours. Using wet hands, shape mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, into 18 dumplings, arranging on sheet. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.
Soup
•    Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Sauté until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add sausage; sauté until fat renders, 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes with juice, hot sauce, and allspice; bring to simmer, stirring occasionally. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Return to simmer before continuing.
•    Add greens to simmering soup. Cook greens uncovered 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drop in dumplings. Cover; reduce heat to low. Simmer until dumplings are tender and cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper. Ladle soup and dumplings into bowls.

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What I did differently with this sausage soup recipe:

• I didn’t make the dumplings (I’d made a bread earlier in the day that I wanted to use instead) but for some reason I decided to throw in some frozen tortellini I had in the freezer. Everything’s better with cheese right?
• I substituted the mixed greens with kale. Handsome doesn’t really care for any greens that may in the slightest be bitter (actually, he pretty much only likes spinach) but we do both enjoy kale, so in it went.
• I used chipotle Tabasco for the hot sauce.

I would say that if Andouille isn’t common where you live, don’t go out of your way to find it. I think any hot sausage would do in this dish and really didn’t feel the Andouille made much of a difference (rather, I thought its flavors were kind of wasted in this soup). All in all, this was a nice hearty soup made with perfect timing as I have no voice as I type this sipping on the broth.