Chicken and Sausage Soup

Ingredients

• 
  6 cups Ham or Chick Stock - Homemade would be best
• Homemade Ham Stock
• 2 ham bones, preferably with some meat still on them
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp whole black peppercorn
• 2 large bay leaves
• 2 whole onions peeled and cut in half or quarters
• 3 to 4 quarts of water - filled is best 
• 2 lbs boneless chicken breast or thighs cut into approx 1/2 inch chunks
• 12 oz beef smoked sausage (or polish kielbasa, spicy smoked sausage, andouille) cut into slices
• 4 cups of Kale, roughly chopped, rinsed and dried
• Approx 3/4 cup diced celery
• Approx 3/4 cup diced carrot
• 1 whole diced onion approx 3/4 cup
• 1 or 2 15 oz cans of cannelloni beans drained and rinsed
• 1 tsp seasoning salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 large bay leaf or 2 to 3 smaller ones
• Olive Oil for sauteing 
• Optional - 1/4 cup of pureed fire roasted Anaheim peppers or hatch chilies, pureed sundried tomatoes, or something like this.

Directions - Ham Stock

Put ham bones, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and onion into pressure cooker. Fill with water up to just below the max fill line. Put on the heat and bring to pressure. Cook for 90 minutes, turn off heat and let cool for 30 minutes. Quick release pressure at this point if needed. Strain the stock through a wire mesh strainer and toss all of the solids. Nothing will be still usable as food after cooking. Let stock cool to room temperature, then put in fridge until completely chilled. Skim off any solidified fat and toss. Put stock into freezer safe containers and freeze in 2 cup portions.

Directions - Soup

In a soup pot or Dutch oven large enough to hold at least 9 quarts, pour about 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil into it and put over medium high heat. When the oil shimmering and even slightly smoking, dump in the sliced smoked sausage until both sides have taken on some color and may even have browned crispy edges. Take the sausage out and set aside. 

Put in another tbsp of oil if needed and dump in the chunked up chicken. Sprinkle with the seasoning salt and sauté until the chicken is cooked through. If it has taken on some color or crispy edges too, that is just fine. Take the chicken out and side aside with the sausage. If there is some liquid and chicken bits (frozen chicken breast will leech out significant liquid) in the pot, dump that out and lightly wipe out the pot. Don't wash it out or anything so extreme, just enough to get out any extra liquid and unnecessary chicken bits. 

Pour in another 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil and let it heat to shimmering again. Dump in the diced carrots, onions, and celery along with a good sprinkling of seasoning salt. Sauté until the vegetables have softened, add the pureed pepper or tomatoes and stir to combine. Add back in the sausage and chicken, stir to combine. Add in the 6 cups of stock, stir and let it all come up to a simmer. Once simmering, add the the kale and cannelloni beans, stir until all of the kale has been incorporated. Cover and let simmer until the vegetables are cooked through and the kale is softened too, about 25 to 30 minutes. 

Taste for seasoning. Add seasoning salt if needed.