Wintery Spicy Sausage Kale Soup

Wintery Spicy Sausage Kale Soup

A great winter soup that is filling, but is also a little different. Tired of beef stew or chicken noodle soup? Give this soup a try! The turkey sausage is a refreshing change of pace compared to boring chunks of chicken breast. Also this soup is spicy, which also makes it great for the winter months or if you have a cold.

ingredients:

2 spicy or mild turkey sausages. You can substitute with pork as well, turkey is just healthier

2 white or yellow potatoes, skins on, sliced of cubed
handful of kale
garlic
salt
pepper
chili flakes, or cayenne pepper
1-2 containers chicken stock, or veggie stock
1 onion

butter

flour
cream or milk (optional)

directions:

1. Dice up your onion, and put it in a large pot with some butter or oil. Let it simmer and start to caramelize. When it's starts to become translucent put in your turkey sausage. If they are in casings, cut the casing of the turkey and squeeze out the meat inside. Season the onions and meat with salt, pepper, chili flakes (cayenne), and crushed garlic.

2. After you have cooked the meat for a while in the onions and spices, add your stock. At this point add your potatoes well.

3. In a sauce pan, add some butter. Melt it down, then slowly start to add flour. Make a rue which you will use to thicken your soup. If you don't want to make a rue, or you want your soup to be creamy add some cream or milk instead. Or you could add both.

4. Cook the soup on low to medium heat until the potatoes are cooked through. Once the potatoes are almost cooked, put in some chopped up kale and let it cooked for at least a few more minutes.

5. Taste test your soup. Is it spicy or salty enough for you? I find I like mine a little spicy, so I might add some more chili flakes at this point if I want.

Beef Stew with St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Beef Stew with St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

If you don't cook beef stew with either red wine, or an amber or dark beer, than you should. For this stew, I used the St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout. It gave it a dark deep rich flavour. Cooking with this beer gave it tastes of espresso and chocolate, which gave the stew another dimension.

ingredients:

2 pounds stew beef
2 carrots
2-3 celery stalks
1 onion

3 poatoes (skin on or off)
1 container of beef stock, or beef bouillon cube

handful of frozen peas

1-2 bay leaf

3 tbsp flour
salt
pepper

1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 bottle of dark or amber beer

directions:

1. Cut stewing beef into cubes. About 1-2 inches thick. Just make sure they are an even size and will cook at the same rate. Chop vegetables into similar sized pieces and set aside.

2. Dredge the beef in a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper. And heat some oil in a large pot. Once the pot is hot, put in the beef to get a sear on the outside of the beef. Flip around until there is a brown crust forming on all sides of the beef.

3. Next, drop in your potatoes, and pour in your beef stock. This is also when you can pour in your beer, and your vinegar. The vinegar will help break down the beef and make it more tender. I'm not going to put in the other vegetables yet because I don't want those to become overcooked. But I don't mind if the potatoes are mushy. If you want firmer potatoes, put them in with the rest of the vegetables later. Bring to a boil, and then simmer.

4. Simmer the beef in the broth for at least 30 minutes on its own. After 30 minutes, you can add the onions, celery, and carrots to the stew. Also add 1-2 bay leafs. And cover the pot again.

5. Continue to simmer the stew covered for another 30 minutes. At this point you can pull out your bay leafs. And drop in your frozen peas which should cook quite quickly, which is way we save them for last.

6. After a few minutes the beef stew should be done, and ready to serve. Best eaten with bread.