Angela's Spicy Clam and Sausage Soup
This is an old recipe of mine that is a go-to for me. Sometimes I use andouille sausage for a really spicy dish! I've tweaked it over the years. I'm converting this in Nov 2019, the original recipe was posted in 2007, so I can promise you, this is a really great soup!
Servings 6
Equipment
- 6-8 Qt stock pot
Ingredients
- 3 stalks celery ½ in slices
- 2 carrots thinly sliced
- 1 med white onion ¼ inch dice
- 1 leek thinly sliced white only [OPTIONAL but recommended]
- 5 cloves garlic minced; use more if you like
- 1 pint cremini mushrooms small container, sliced
- 1 pound Italian Sausage Sweet or Spicy, removed from casings (OR andouille)
- olive oil
- 2 Tbl butter, salted
- 2 Tbl tomato paste Use the kind in the tube
- 2 Tbl flour for roux to thicken
- 3 cups seafood stock (shrimp shells make great stock!) OR water with 2 bouillon cubes in a pinch
- 1 14oz can baby clams with juice or two small cans
- 1 14oz can san marzano tomatoes diced or crushed (or crush the whole ones)
- ½ cup sherry sub white wine
- ½ tsp dry thyme
- ½ tsp dry oregano
- 1 tsp dry basil
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- S/P to taste
- Grated Parmesano Reggiano garnish
Instructions
- Prep all the ingredients before you start cooking. Mise en place will greatly improve your cooking experience.
- In a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and butter. When butter is melted, add in celery, carrots, onions, leeks and garlic. Sweat until soft and translucent. Add in all the dried herbs.
- Turn up heat to medium high and add mushrooms. Stir to release the water from the mushrooms and keep other veg from overcooking. When mushrooms have wilted, add in the sausage, breaking into chunks as you go. Turn down heat if things start to brown too much. When sausage has rendered its fat, add in flour and stir for one minute. (This is making a roux.) Stir in tomato paste.
- Add stock and stir thoroughly stir up all the fond (stuck bits) from the bottom of the pot. Add in tomatoes and sherry and bring up to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes then add in the clams and juice. Bring back to simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Turn off heat and add the chopped parsley. Add fresh lemon juice and zest. Check seasoning.
- Serve with grated parmesan on top and a chunk of crusty bread.
Notes
There are many ingredients to this soup, but it is really worth it. I sometimes substitute andouille or chorizo for the Italian sausage. If you use one of these other sausages, substitute cilantro for all the basil and oregano, use fresh cilantro instead of parsley and use queso fresco or grated manchego for garnish to drive home the flavour profile.
You can't go wrong serving crusty bread with this soup!