Serves 6
Joseph Randall developed this recipe after a visit to Lafayette, La. He starts it with what he calls the “holy trinity’’ of Southern cooking - onion, green pepper, and celery sauteed in plenty of butter. Use any smoked, hot sausage you can find and vary the amount of hot sauce depending on the heat in your sausage. This version of Randall’s recipe dramatically reduces the butter; the original called for a half-pound. M.E. MALONE
| 1/2 | cup (1 stick) butter |
| 1 | medium sweet onion, chopped |
| 1 | medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and chopped |
| 2 | ribs celery, chopped |
| 4 | cloves garlic, chopped |
| 1 | pound smoked Louisiana hot sausage or other smoked sausage, diced |
| 1/4 | cup flour |
| 1 1/2 | quarts chicken stock, heated until boiling |
| 1 1/2 | pounds sweet potatoes, baked, cooled, and peeled |
| 1 | tablespoon chopped fresh thyme |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
| 1 | teaspoon ground white pepper |
| 4 | dashes hot sauce, or to taste |
2. Stir the hot stock into the roux gradually, mixing until smooth. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. In a food processor, puree half the sweet potatoes and add them to the soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes more.
4. 
