A whole chicken is stewed with smoked sausage, then combined with bell pepper, rice and tomatoes and flavored with chili powder, pepper sauce, cayenne and Worcestershire in this thick Cajun soup.
INGREDIENTS (for 8 servings):
- 1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
- 1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
- 3 green bell peppers, diced
- 2 onions, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
PREPARATION:
Place chicken and sausage in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until chicken is opaque and falls from the bone, 45 minutes. (I usually do this the night before and refrigerate to skim the fat.) Remove chicken and sausage, reserving broth. Shred chicken.
In a large pot over medium heat, cook bell pepper, onion and garlic until onion is translucent, adding reserved chicken broth if necessary. Stir in tomatoes, chili powder, pepper sauce, cayenne, Worcestershire and bay leaves; reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
Stir the shredded chicken, sausage and tomato paste into the spiced vegetables. Continue to simmer until flavor is as spicy as you like, adding reserved liquid as needed to thin.
Stir in 1 cup reserved liquid with the rice. Simmer 20 minutes, until rice is tender. Serve or continue to simmer, as desired.