Chicken and Spinach with Noodles Soup

It's a matter of fact in the South that when you are sick you eat chicken soup.  Usually it's a basic chicken noodle soup but sometimes it's a little different.  The past couple of weeks the good wife and I have been trying to fight off some bug that's going around.  Being a large semidomesticated animal I ended up with just a sinus infection and a cough.  The good wife got hit a bit harder.  When she gets sick I cook according to how she's feeling.

A few days ago I'd asked her what she wanted for supper and she said chicken soup, with spinach.  Naturally I made it happen.  It was tasty and easy to bring together.

I used my pressure cooker but the same thing can be done with a stock pot and more time.  The recipe will be written as I did it in the pressure cooker so adjust as necessary.

Chicken and Spinach with Noodles Soup

4 chicken leg quarters
1 box chicken broth
4 oz spaghetti noodles
2 cups spinach, rough chopped
salt
pepper

Place the leg quarters in the pressure cooker with a little water and cook under pressure for 20 - 25 minutes.  The meat should easily pull from the bones.  Pull the meat from the bones and roughly chop and return to the pressure cooker.  Add the box of chicken broth and stir.  Break the spaghetti noodles in half and add to the pressure cooker.  Pressure cook the chicken and noodles for 8 minutes.  Stir in the roughly chopped spinach until it is wilted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  This will serve 4.

A fresh pot of soup ready to go

Once the timer goes off on the pressure cooking for the chicken you can let it naturally release pressure or you can manually release.  When it finishes after adding the spaghetti manually release the pressure.  When manually releasing pressure follow the manufacturer's guidelines and be safe about it.

We had cornbread leftover so some of it was reheated to accompany the soup.  They went very well together.

A filling and healing supper

Alternate methods to achieve this are varied.  One would be simmering a whole chicken until falling off the bone tender and using the resulting broth for the soup.  Another would be shredding a rotisserie chicken from the store.  Homemade broth is always best but a good quality boxed broth is good as well.

Whether you're feeling poorly or just want soup because it's cold, give this one a try and let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Pork Belly Soup

Is there anything so glorious as the pig?  OK, maybe not so glorious while they are running around as a pig can be quite contrary.  However, once they are converted into pork, they are indeed glorious.  The old saying that the only thing you can't use on a pig is the oink is very true.


Most people now days are only familiar with pork chops, ham, bacon, and maybe pork shoulder for pulled pork.  While fresh pork belly is gaining popularity with chefs most people are still not using it.  There is always a fair bit left after I square up the belly to cure for bacon.  That trim gets used to make some very flavorful meals. 


Yesterday was a dreary drookit day and the good wife was in a mood for soup to drive out the chill.  She'd had the fire going most of the day and even I was wishing I'd brought a heavier jacket when I left work.  Of course, good soup takes time and we had errands to run before it could be started but the pressure cooker made up for the late start.


I used pork broth from the freezer for this soup but I've never seen pork broth available commercially.  I think beef or chicken broth would work just fine with beef being slightly more preferred.  My broths are cooked down to be fairly strong so as to save freezer space since you can always add water.  I used about 3 cups worth of frozen pork broth and added 4 cups of water and still had a rich flavorful broth as the soup base.


One other item you won't have on hand is Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning.  A good substitute would be to make up some quatre épices to season the pork belly.

A good bowl of Pork Belly Soup

Pork Belly Soup


1 lb pork belly
6 - 8 cups broth
3 medium potatoes, 1/2 inch dice
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped 1/2 inch
1 cup barley
1 - 2 Tbs salt
2 tsp pepper
1.5 tsp roasted ground cumin
1.5 Tbs Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning
3 bay leaves


Cut the pork belly into small bite size pieces and season with Uncle T's Pork and Poultry Seasoning, or with salt and quatre épices.  Brown the pork belly either in the pressure cooker or a skillet.  Put the broth, potatoes, and carrots in the pressure cooker.  Taste the broth and season to taste with salt, pepper, and roasted cumin.  Remember the potatoes will need a bit of seasoning.  Add the barley and browned pork belly to the pressure cooker and stir to thoroughly mix.  Drop in the bay leaves.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set the pressure cook timer for 15 minutes.  After the timer goes off, let it sit for 10 minutes before venting the pressure according to your cookers instructions.  It won't hurt to let the pressure to go down naturally.  Serve and enjoy.


I think this would have been even better with some fresh crusty bread but I didn't have time since we had those errands to run.  As it was, it was rich warm and definitely drove the chill away.


Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before but the good wife is a huge fan of soup.  I think if I made enough she would eat it everyday.  On top of this is the fact that a good soup is a great aid in getting better when you are sick.  Making soup out of fresh ingredients or at least home grown and canned ingredients yields a tastier more effective soup.


A few weeks ago, I came down with something.  It was enough to keep me home from work for 2 days which is something that hasn't happened in over 30 years.  Sadly, the good wife caught whatever it was that I had and worse news is that she has a harder time getting over them than I do.  After a couple of days of feeling better she relapsed a bit yesterday.  When I got home I asked if she wanted soup for supper to warm her up since she was complaining of feeling cold.  When asked what kind of soup she wanted she said tomato.

A hot bowl of Tomato Soup

I'll throw this out right now, I'm not a fan of tomato soup.   That said, I set myself to find the best tomato soup recipe to fix for the good wife's supper.  I would eat left over kimchi soup for my supper.  In looking at recipes online I noticed one glaring fault, they all called for adding either sugar or honey.  Ostensibly this is to "cut the acidity of the tomatoes" and I'm guessing make the soup more palatable.  Considering how much sugar goes into commercially produced soups and sauces, I think they are trying to mimic that flavor so people will not know the difference between home made and commercially made.  In light of that, I put down the laptop and went to the kitchen to do my own thing.


Tomato Soup


1 quart canned tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped, about 1.5 cups
6 Tbs butter
3-4 Tbs AP flour
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ground turmeric
1-2 tsp ground white pepper
salt to taste


Melt the butter in a stock pot then add the onion.  Cook the onion until it is just translucent.  Add the celery seed, turmeric, white pepper and 1.5 tsp salt and stir to combine.  Add the flour to the pot and stir then cook to form a light roux.  Add the tomatoes, juice included, to the pot and stir.  Add the chicken broth and stir.  Let the pot come to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15-30 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, blend until the soup is smooth.  As an alternative, let cool and puree in a blender in batches.  Once the soup is smooth, stir in the heavy cream.  Taste and add more salt if desired.  Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich.  Makes 4 servings.

Let's eat!

I think it is one of those immutable laws of the universe that tomato soup has to be accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich.  In this case, the bread was some that I'd made a couple of days before to go with a pasta dish.  I was going to use plain old sandwich bread until the good wife said she wanted it done with the leftover bread.  After seeing it, I was tempted  to make myself one to go with the kimchi soup and rice. 


Now, it's time to stir things up a bit.  I know that there are sandwiches being plastered all over the internet being called grilled cheese sandwiches.  In this, I'm strictly a purist.  A grilled cheese sandwich consists of 2 pieces of buttered bread on a hot griddle with cheese in between them.  I'll allow that some of those other sandwiches sound good, once you put something other than cheese in the middle it is no longer a grilled cheese sandwich.  OK, that was my rant to begin the new year.


It's time for another confession.  After tasting this soup, I think I could eat a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and like it.  I guess that was the problem before, trying commercially made soups.  The prime ingredient in this soup was a jar of tomatoes that were grown in my garden and canned by the good wife.  I'm certain though, that this soup would be good using good quality canned tomatoes from the store.

Give this soup a go the next time cold weather hits or someone in the house is feeling ill.  I think you'll like it as a warmer or a medicine.  Let me know how you like it.


Uncle T

Egg Drop Soup and Spam Fried Rice

I imagine some will wonder what kind of culinary disaster Uncle T had in his kitchen with this combination.  One, Spam Fried Rice, is a dish I've made several times as a quick tasty meal.  The Egg Drop Soup was a request from the good wife.  We've both had some sort of virus and have been eating lots of homemade soups as part of our treatment.  The good wife had a craving for the Egg Drop Soup which she always gets when we go out to the local Asian buffet.  Due to both of us being sick it meant making it at home.  As easy as it is I should have started doing it sooner.

A hot bowl of Egg Drop Soup

In researching recipes for Egg Drop Soup I came across a wide variety that ranged from 3 ingredients to others with almost a dozen ingredients.  None of these totals include the seasoning which also varied greatly.  In the end, as usual, I came up with a recipe that would suit our tastes and the purpose for which it was being eaten.


Egg Drop Soup


1 quart + 1/4 cup chicken broth
3 - 4 eggs
1/4 cup + 1 Tbs cornstarch
1 Tbs water
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 green onions
1 - 2 tsp salt
1 - 2 tsp white pepper
1 - 2 tsp 7 spice
1 - 2 tsp turmeric
1 Tbs roasted sesame oil


Slice the mushrooms thinly and set aside.  Slice the green onions, including the green tops, thinly and add to the mushrooms.  Bring 1 quart of chicken broth to a low boil and add the mushrooms and onions.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Add the spices starting with 1 Tsp each and stir into the broth.  Taste and add more of each to suit tastes.  Add the roasted sesame oil and stir in.  Combine cornstarch and remaining chicken broth and pour into the pot and stir.  You are looking for just slightly thickened broth as you are trying for a smooth mouth feel.   Crack the eggs into a measuring cup and break yolks.  Combine the 1 Tbs cornstarch and 1 Tbs water and add to the eggs and stir.  Bring the soup to a higher boil and slowly pour in the eggs while stirring the soup.  Pouring the eggs slowly will produce the nice thin threads of egg.  Serve hot and enjoy.  This will serve 4 people.


The cornstarch in the eggs was reported to make the egg strands softer and they did have a nice feel to them.  Since I haven't made this soup without cornstarch in the eggs I can't say for sure that it works but I've heard the same thing about adding cornstarch to scrambled eggs.  I also found recipes fairly evenly split about whether or not to have the turmeric.  As for the 7 spice, I used a middle eastern spice blend that I get from a local Mediterranean market run by a Lebanese family.  The recipes that called for something similar called for Chinese 5 spice which I didn't have at the house. 

A good bowl of Spam Fried Rice

The Spam Fried Rice came about a few months ago while getting ready to fix lunch after church one Sunday.  I had started out getting ready to make Spam Musubi, aka Hawaiian sushi, when I had the idea.  Fried rice usually calls for using leftover rice but I didn't see the need to make a double recipe sometime just to have enough leftover rice to make fried rice.  While the rice cooked in the pressure cooker I prepped and cooked most everything else.  It's too easy since there is no real hard fast list of ingredients for the most part.  The only must haves are rice and soy sauce, everything else is up to what you want or have left in the refrigerator.


Spam Fried Rice


1 can Spam, we use the low Sodium Spam
1.5 cups uncooked rice
water
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
3 green onions, white and green parts sliced
1 egg
sesame oil
soy sauce
salt
pepper

Take the Spam out of the can and slice through the side into at least 6 slices.  Cut each slice into 4 strips and then the strips into 3 pieces.  You'll end up with at least 72 Spam pieces.  Put them into a hot pan, I use a shallow stock pot, and start to brown.  Stir them to brown on a couple of sides and remove from the pot.  Add a bit of sesame oil and add the mushrooms.  Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper.  Once the mushrooms are browned, remove them from the pot.  Add more sesame oil if necessary and put in the onions.  Cook until the onions are translucent and remove.  While the mushrooms are cooking, crack the egg into a bowl and scramble it up and add just a bit of water.  Once the onions are removed, turn off the heat them pour the scrambled egg into the pot and move pot to coat the bottom evenly with the egg.  The residual heat should be enough to cook the egg.  Once the egg is cooked, break it apart and add to the other things that have been removed from the pot.  Add 1 - 2 Tbs sesame oil to the pot and bring to heat.  Add the rice and stir well.  Start adding soy sauce and stirring until you get the color you want.  Add the other ingredients and combine well, the peas will be heated up enough when added at the end.  Serve hot.  This serves 4.

A quick tasty hot supper

See, quick simple and full of flavor.  I've also made it using sliced red peppers from the freezer or slices of carrot.  I've even added a 1/4 cup of whole kernel corn that was in the freezer.  The egg and peas are in there simply because just about every place I've gotten fried rice from has had them in theirs.


Since this was one meal and I wanted things done as close together as possible I did the Egg Drop Soup up to the point just before adding the eggs.  Once the Spam Fried Rice was done, I started stirring the soup and adding the egg.


Give these recipes a try either together or for different meals.  I think you'll be pleased with them either way.  Let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Spaetzle and Sauerkraut Soup

What a way to combine some of our favorite things.  This came about because of a statement by the good wife.  After finding a container of leftover spaetzle in the refrigerator while putting up leftover spaetzle from supper she told me to make soup to use it up.  Her wish is my command.


I've been trying to use more of our fermented food as part of meals or in recipes.  Yes, I know cooking with them kills the probiotics but sometimes it's about the flavor.  Besides, the improved nutritional benefit is still there and that is good enough.  Since the weather is cooling and since sauerkraut and spaetzle go together well it seemed natural.


I started searching for recipes for soups containing these and couldn't find any with them together.  The spaetzle soups tended be chicken with spaetzle and the occasional recipe with pork or mushrooms.  All the sauerkraut soup recipes had either white beans, potatoes, or both along with a meat that was usually sausage.  So, as frequently happens, I went my own way and started planning.


In the end, this tasty soup ended up containing homemade spaetzle, home fermented sauerkraut, homemade pork broth, and homemade mettwurst.   I chose the mettwurst because it is a good spicy sausage that pairs well with sauerkraut on the plate and I figured it would do the same in the soup.  The soup was made in the electric pressure cooker using a combination of different settings.

A full pot of soup.  The pressure cooker has a 6 quart capacity.

OK, I know most people won't go to the extent of growing cabbage and making their own sauerkraut.  That's OK.  I would suggest buying kraut that comes in a bag in the cooler section of the store rather than the canned variety.  The bagged kraut has much better flavor and crunch


Spaetzle and Sauerkraut Soup


1 lb smoked sausage (mettwurst, kielbasa, etc)
3 - 4 cups cooked spaetzle
1.5 - 2 lbs sauerkraut, drained
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
6 cups broth
1/2 - 1 Tbs salt*
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 Tbs garlic powder


Put the broth in a large pot and bring to a simmer.  Add the diced carrots and potatoes along with the spices and cook until tender.  I set the pressure cooker for 5 minutes.  Once they are tender, stir in the spaetzle and sauerkraut and let them get warm.  Slice the smoked sausage into 3/8 inch/1 cm pieces and add to the soup and stir.  Let the whole pot simmer for 30 minutes for the flavors to come together.  Serve with a good crusty bread.  Makes 6 servings.


*This will be variable depending on your broth.  My homemade broth didn't have any salt so both it and the potatoes need the salt.  Commercially produced broth has varying levels of salt so adjust to taste.  Don't forget the kraut will have some salt as well.

A bowl of filling tasty goodness

As with many soups and stews it was better the 2nd night and will probably be even better on the 3rd night.  This is a filling nutritious soups perfect for cooler weather.


If you make this soup let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Kimchi Chicken Soup

Yeah, I know, you're thinking this is an odd combination.  It did start as one of those let's see how this works kind of things.  I think I've mentioned before that we do a calorie restriction diet two days a week.  During the Fall and Winter our meals for those two days tend to be soups.  This soup has the benefit of being filling while consuming less of it.


Usually when I'm making soup for a fast day I pick kale or bok choy from the garden and add it to whatever broth and protein I've selected.  Add some sautéed sliced mushrooms and you have a quick flavorful soup.  When using bok choy I'll usually season the chicken or shrimp with Korean red pepper powder to add some heat and an Asian flair to the soup.


As you know, I make my own Kimchi and for the past two years I've made it from bok choy grown in my garden.  I did buy a large nappa Cabbage from our favorite international grocery and  made some with that while waiting for the time to fully harvest the bok choy.  Once the freeze threatened I harvested  and converted the bok choy to kimchi.  Once all the fermentation was done, I dumped both jars into a large bowl and mixed them thoroughly and put the mixture back in the jars.  That gave me two gallons of mixed nappa and bok choy kimchi.


We had been out running errands and didn't get back to the house till after dark.  So, instead of putting on my head lamp to go pick some kale, I decided to throw in some kimchi.  This is lighter and less hot than my standard kimchi soup but still filling.  I've fixed it twice and neither of us has finished our bowl.

Steaming Hot Kimchi Ckicken Soup

The written recipe is combined and should make four bowls for a normal meal with a little something extra on the side, like a bowl of rice.


Kimchi Chicken Soup


2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
8 oz mushrooms
5 cups chicken broth
18 oz kimchi
3/4 cup kimchi liquid
3 Tbs sesame oil, divided
salt
pepper
garlic powder


Slice the chicken breast into three strips each and then slice about 1/4 thick.  Set on plate and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Slice the mushrooms and place in hot skillet with half of the sesame oil in it, season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  While the mushrooms are cooking, put the chicken broth, kimchi, and kimchi liquid in a pot and turn on medium heat.  When the mushrooms are done, transfer to the pot.  Add the  rest of the sesame oil to the skillet and when hot, add the chicken.  Cook the chicken till brown on that side then flip.  Once the chicken is done on both sides add to the soup.  Stir to combine.  Bring the soup to a simmer, if not already there, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Serve hot.


See, quick and easy.  My batch had more than the good wife's and the whole bowl came to just under 400 calories and I ate about half of my bowl.  This is a flavorful filling soup that you ought to try, especially if you are a fan of kimchi.  If you give this a try let me know what you think.


Uncle T

Canary Bean and Mussel Soup

A few days ago I wrote about getting mussels in a 10 lb bag in the post about Spicy Seafood Stew.  After I made that stew I still had 5 lbs of mussels in the refrigerator.  Being a frugal sort, I decided to go ahead and steam the remaining mussels in a pot with more white wine lest any go bad while I was deciding how to use them.  They were steamed using the method discussed here, Mussels in White Wine


After the mussels were steamed, I picked the meat from the shells and stored them in the wine broth for later use.  The wine and mussel liquor came to a little over 2 cups.


As for using the canary beans, I found them at our favorite ethnic grocery store, Grand Mart.  I was on the side of the store that is primarily foods from Hispanic regions and saw a good selection of dried beans.  Since the pressure cooker makes quick work of dried beans, I decided to see if there were some we hadn't tried before.  That's how I came to have canary beans at the house.


Of course with cold weather soup seemed to be a natural choice.  Having the primary ingredients on hand it was just a matter of deciding on additions to help flavor the soup.  This soup is the result.


Canary Bean and Mussel Soup


1 1/2 cup dried canary beans
meat from 5 lbs of mussels, steamed
4 - 6 oz bacon, diced
1 medium onion, finely minced
2 cups white wine broth from steaming mussels
2 cups water
2 - 3 bay leaves


Put dried beans in pressure cooker with the diced bacon and minced onion.  Pour in the white wine broth and water and stir.  Add the bay leaves and stir.  Put the lid on the pressure cooker and set timer to cook 40 minutes under pressure.  Allow pressure to naturally release.  Stir in mussels and let set until the mussels come up to the temperature of the soup.  Taste broth and add salt and pepper if desired.  Serve with hot crusty bread.  Makes 4 servings.




Canary bean and mussel soup

Cooking the canary beans with the pressure cooker for 40 minutes left them with a firm texture.  Next time I may add a few minutes to get the beans a bit softer.  They weren't under done they were just a bit firmer than we usually eat.  They were a nice contrast to the soft texture of the mussels.


If you don't have a pressure cooker then soak the beans over night and make the soup in a slow cooker.


For the bread I used the same recipe referenced in the link above with the same changes.  The changes are after proofing and bake time.  After proofing divide the dough in half and roll into long loaves.  Use the same time for the second proofing.  Bake at the same temp but only for 25 - 30 minutes.


We finished this soup last night.  It reheated well and as usual the flavors melded to make the soup better the second time.  A slow reheat also kept the mussels from getting tough.


Give this soup a try as a way to get more beans into your diet, not to mention an excellent use for mussels.  I think you'll like this soup.  If you fix it, let me know how you liked it.


Uncle T

Spicy Seafood Stew

One of the benefits of living in coastal Virginia is the availability of a wide array of fresh seafood.  Plus, if a particular seafood isn't available locally we are close enough to get it shipped fresh and still maintain a high quality.  This brings us to mussels.


The good wife and I got introduced to mussels while stationed in Germany.  After all, they weren't very common in Tennessee when we were growing up.  Once we got back to the states we found that we'd have to get fresh mussels and prepare them ourselves if we wanted them since their use is not common in most American restaurants.  That said, when we find mussels for a good price we snatch them up and indulge ourselves.


Normally, we do mussels in a white wine sauce with some good crusty bread.  However, the good price we found was for a 10 lb bag so I get to play around more.  Since it is getting cold soups and stews feature prominently in our menu so it was only natural to use the mussels in a soup or stew.  I looked around at various recipes and thought about what else I had available and came up with this recipe.

Harvest tag indicating where the mussels were harvested

Be sure to clean the mussels before you put them in the stew.  Cleaning mussels is fairly simple, make sure there is no loose sand on the shell and pull off the beards.  Also at this time discard any that are gaping open and won't close when handled.


2 lbs of mussels, cleaned and ready for the pot

1 lb each of cod and shrimp, ready for the pot

Spicy Seafood Stew


1 lb hot Italian sausage
1 lb cod or other firm white fish
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails removed optional
2 lbs mussels
1 large onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup dry white wine
6 cups fish broth
6 cups chicken broth, optional
3 Tbs fish sauce, optional


Brown sausage in a deep pot and break it up to desired size.  If you get sausage in casings remove the casings.  Remove the browned sausage from the pot.  Put the onion and garlic in the sausage grease and sauté until translucent.  Add the tomato paste and stir together.  Cook until the tomato paste has darkened a bit then add the diced tomatoes.  Cook until the tomatoes start to simmer then add the wine and fish broth.  Bring to a simmer.  If you don't have or can't find fish broth you can use chicken broth and the fish sauce to make a substitute.  Once the liquid is simmering return the sausage to the pot.  Stir to mix and return to a simmer.  Add the cod, cut into 1 inch pieces, and cook for 1 - 2 minutes.  Add the mussels and gently stir and cook for 1 - 2 minutes.  Add the shrimp and gently stir then cook until the shrimp are done.  The shrimp should be done in about 3 minutes.  Ladle into a bowl and serve with crusty bread.  This makes 4 - 6 servings.

A nice bowl of spicy seafood stew

This stew ends up being nicely spiced but not so much that the seafood is over shadowed.  The broth is excellent sopped up with the bread.  I think an excellent substitution would be using Spanish chorizo in place of the hot Italian sausage.  You would just need to add some olive oil to the pot so you'd be able to sauté the onions.


The next time you're wanting a good stew then give this one a try.  Too many stores have decent fish markets now not to try it.  If you do try it let me know how it turns out.


Uncle T

Pressure Cooker Sausage and Kale Soup

Have I mentioned that I really like my electric pressure cooker?  While there are some things that a long slow cook is to be preferred, some meals are just as good when using this quick method.  Dried beans come to mind as something that is just as good when pressure cooked.  Soups turn out very well also.  To that end, I've been thinking about soups to try in the pressure cooker.

Sausage and Kale Soup ready to serve

I was searching soups recipes and came across a list of soups that had pasta and one of them was sausage and kale.  The picture looked good so I started looking at sausage and kale soup recipes.  Seems most of them call for potatoes rather than pasta but I wanted to include pasta.  That was as much for the pasta as it was the chance to cook pasta in the pressure cooker.  Another change from other recipes was the use of dried beans instead of opening a can or two.  I also noticed that most recipes called for sweet Italian sausage and the rest for some sort of smoked sausage.  I used some of my home made hot Italian sausage.


The soup was cooked in two sessions with the two sessions totaling only 25 minutes.  Making the meat balls was the longest bit of prep work for this meal.  I used my small portion scoop, a #70 scoop,  to make the meat balls a consistent size.  After the meat balls were made they were lightly browned using the sear function on the pressure cooker.  Nothing like only having one pot to clean up after supper.


 Sausage and Kale Soup (Changes listed after the instructions)


1 lb hot Italian sausage
8 oz Rigatoni
1.5 cups dried great northern beans
4 - 6 cups chopped Kale, stems removed
2 quarts chicken broth
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt


Make meat balls out of the sausage, approximately 1/2 oz each.  Lightly brown in the pressure cooker.  Pour in the chicken broth, dried beans, and pasta.  Add the salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning and stir to mix.  Put the lid on, making sure the valve is set to pressure cook, and set timer for 15 minutes.  After timer goes off, release the steam.  Add the kale to the cooker and stir to fully incorporate.  Put lid back on and pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  When done, manually release steam again and serve.

A bowl full of goodness

Changes I'll make next time I make this include upping the amount of chicken broth to 3 quarts, waiting to put in the pasta, and just letting the hot soup wilt the kale rather than pressure cooking it.  It needs more chicken broth because I underestimated how much would be soaked up by the beans and pasta as they cooked.  I would do the meat, broth, and beans for 15 minutes, then add the pasta for the final 10 minutes.


Doing the dried beans this way yielded beans that were fully cooked but were still firm.  For something like this you don't want them cooked to mush like you would if you were just cooking a pot of white beans to eat with sausage and cornbread.


If you have the time to make it, some fresh hot crusty bread would go good with this soup.  It is not necessary though.