Chicken Soup With Teet's Garlic Pure Pork Smoked Sausage!

When asked about cold weather comfort food, my first thought is always chicken soup. After all, chicken soup can cure just about anything that ails you! When we started the Teet's smoked pork challenge, I kept coming back to chicken soup. Simple? Sure. But when I added the wonderful smoky pork sausage to this soup, it was anything but simple! Teet's smoked garlic pork sausage transformed the rich stock and infused the chicken with an amazing depth of flavor. Pasta in chicken soup is a personal preference. I prefer it! Ditalini is my shape of choice for this soup.

Chicken Soup With Teet's Garlic Pure Pork Smoked Sausage!

by Susan Ritchie

Chicken/Stock:

4 chicken leg quarters, approximately 3.5-4 pounds 
8 ounces Teet's Smoked Garlic Pork Sausage, sliced 1 inch thick 

3 carrots, quartered 

3 celery stalks, quartered 

1 small yellow onion, quartered 

3 garlic cloves, smashed 

2 bay leaves 

2 Tablespoons whole black peppercorns 

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Place all ingredients in an 8 quart stock pot. Fill the pot with cold water, leaving about 2 inches. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for an hour. Turn off the heat and allow the stock to cool for approximately 30 minutes. Carefully remove the leg quarters to a plate and pour the stock through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the solids. You should end up with 5-6 cups of stock. As it rests, the chicken fat will rise to the top of the stock. Reserve 4 tablespoons of the chicken fat. Skim any unwanted fat from the stock. Remove the skin, bones and any excess fat from the leg quarters, and pull or cut the chicken into medium size pieces.

Soup:

Reserved leg quarter meat 

8 ounces Teet's Smoked Garlic Pork Sausage, sliced 1/2 inch thick 

Stock 

4 Tablespoons chicken fat 

7 medium carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick 

3 large celery stalks, sliced 1/4 inch thick 

1 large onion, diced (large dice) 

8 ounces De Cecco Ditalini pasta 

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Prepare the pasta according to the package directions for al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water to stop the cooking process.

Add the chicken fat to the stock pot over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery and onion. Cook, stirring constantly, until the onions soften and become transparent. Add the Teet's smoked garlic pork sausage and the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots are fork tender, approximately 20-25 minutes. Add the reserved chicken meat and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve:

Place 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pasta in a bowl. Ladle the hot soup over the pasta. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!