-Recipe- Sausage Potato Soup

This cold weather has me craving soup! Is there anything better then coming in after a long day or from evening chores to a warm bowl of yummy soup? This recipe is a pork lovers dream.. bacon crumble as a garnish?! YES PLEASE!!..

Some would call this “Zuppa Toscana” yes, like Olive Garden. But I call it sausage and potato soup. Mostly because my husband has no clue what it means when I say “Zuppa Toscana” and it is basically just sausage and potatoes in yummy creamy broth. This one is really uncomplicated, most of the work is browning meat and chopping your green and potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices HF Bacon, chopped (optional)
• 1 pound HF Italian Sausage
• 1 medium onion (1 1/4cup), diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1 tbsp. dried parsley
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• 3 medium russet potatoes, cleaned and cubbed into ½ inch pieces.
• Bunch of Kale (about 4 cups tightly packed), no stems, chopped.
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ¼ tsp red pepper (optional)
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch mix with ¼ water

Start with your bacon, now remember this is just a garnish so if you don’t have the bacon.. no big deal. Fry bacon in a frying pan until crispy and then carefully remove from grease with a slotted spoon and place on a paper plate lined with paper towels, save for later. Now try not to eat to much when preparing the rest of soup haha.

Next you need to cook your Italian sausage. Get a large soup pot, I poured a little of the bacon grease in the bottom to prevent sticking and start cooking your meat.

When that is just about done add your onion and garlic, cook until translucent. Add herbs, you could salt and pepper now, but feel free to wait until you add your liquids. At this point it smells delicious, good sign your on the right path!

So your sausage and aromatics are done.. its time to add your clear liquids (water and broth) stir it up and then add your potatoes. This is a good time to salt and pepper to taste.

Let everything simmer until potatoes are fork tender, usually about 20 minutes.

Once potatoes are tender turn the soup down, add Kale, cream and Parmesan cheese. Make sure you turn the soup to low BEFORE adding cream, otherwise it may curdle and no body wants that. Add some more pepper (or even red pepper flakes if you like a little spice) and salt to taste. Cook kale until tender and dark green (10 minutes or so).

Lastly, make a little cornstarch slurry to thicken the soup. In a separate little bowl mix together cornstarch and water before adding to soup and allowing to cook another 10 minutes while it thickens.

Your done! Spoon into a bowl, top with crumbled bacon and serve. We always eat soup with warm bread, fresh baked if I have the time. Focaccia is great with this soup! But feel free to enjoy alone, either way its delicious. Also is great as left overs, it reheats really well!

Enjoy!

Until next time - Elizabeth