The wind-dried sausage in this dish makes the chicken, already highly seasoned in the marinade, even spicier and richer in taste.

Everyone seems to love minestrone soup, maybe because it’s such a celebration of vegetables in one bowl. In this recipe, the meaty flavor from the sausages really enhances the tomato-flavored stock. To keep the flavors balanced, I always use a combination of hot and sweet Italian sausages. If you have access to a butcher who makes the sausages in-house, your soup will taste even better. The addition of the orzo pasta near the end of the cooking time keeps it from swelling too much in the soup.

This soup’s deep black color makes it ideal for Halloween. I make a big pot to serve after dark, when everyone in our house is exhausted after a long night of trick or treating.