The Culinary Works

I love food magazines and cookbooks because they are great culinary inspiration. I see recipes in magazines that I like and tear them out. I put them in a plastic envelope and when I need some ideas I can always refer back to them. I rarely make them exactly as they are written, which is ok. They give me ideas. I recently purchased a big file box and some hanging files with the intention to organize them in some way…we’ll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share our latest success that started as inspiration from a Food and Wine magazine article. There was a whole section on pressure cooking, which I’m dying to experiment with. One of the recipes was a Spanish Chickpea Soup made with Spanish Chorizo. YUM, right. But it made me think of how easy it would be to whip up a quick chickpea soup using either Spanish Chorizo or some other yummy looking sausage. THAT is what we did. We used Andouille sausage but you could use whatever u like. Spanish chorizo is firmer, more like a brat than Mexican chorizo. A cooked Italian link sausage would be great, or any of the fancy flavored varieties that speaks to you. Pork or beef sausage will work better, chicken sausage tends to get rubbery in the soup instead of more tender like the pork/beef would. Mark added the Harissa without my consent but I have to tell you, it was fantastic…it gives the soup a warmth and depth that is amazing without adding spicy heat. Super good!

Chickpea Soup

• 1 large Onion diced
• 1 package fully cooked sausage, sliced into half moons
• 2 Tbs finely chopped fresh Rosemary (which is a hedge in our front yard)
• 1 Tbs chopped fresh Thyme
• 1 Tbs powdered or paste Harissa
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 box organic unsalted chicken stock
• 2 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed

In olive oil, start sautéing the sausage over medium heat. As it starts to color, add your onion and let them slowly become aromatic. Add your rosemary and thyme. When they are clear add the Harissa and sauté for a bit. Deglaze the pan with the wine and let it reduce. Add the stock and the chick peas and allow the soup to simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper.

That is it!