Souptember Day 1 – Cajun Red Bean and Rice

It’s a popular question in almost every class, “What’s YOUR favorite thing to make?”.   My response is SOUPS!   I love a good soup.  It’s comforting, satisfying, and it’s healing to the soul.   September is lovely known as Souptember!  And the midwestern in me is watching the temperature waiting to dip one degree below 70 degrees to scream, “It’s soup season!!”

Over the next 12 days, I will share soup recipes I have used over the years, either in my classes, for potlucks, or just at home.

Day 1 – Cajun Red Beans and Rice.    This soup is layered with some cajun spice, a dash or two of hot sauce, and meaty bits of andouille sausage and pancetta.  As mentioned in Steel Magnolia “It freezes beautifully”, just omit the rice.

Cajun Red Bean and Rice Soup

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Ingredients

  

• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 andouille sausages, sliced about 24 oz
• 12 oz pancetta or bacon
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp Cajun Seasoning
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• couple dashes of hot sauce
• 2 cans red beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups unsalted chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 2 green onion stalks, sliced
• 1 1/2 cup cooked white rice

Instructions

 

• Set a large pot over medium-high heat with the butter and oil; once hot, add in the sausage and pancetta, stirring until browned, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage onto a plate and set it aside.
• Add the cajun seasoning, salt and pepper, onion, garlic, celery, and bell peppers, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes
• Stir in the bay Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce, and cook for another 2 minutes to develop the flavor of the seasonings.
• Add the browned sausage,pancetta, beans, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Uncover and stir in the parsley right before serving. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with cooked rice and scallions. Enjoy!

Notes

Using pancetta in place of ham hocks.  Ham hocks may be hard to find.  Pancetta is a cured, smoked option to add in the flavor.  Bacon will do the same job as pancetta, just cut into lardon size pieces.