Zuppa Toscana – Sausage, Potato and Kale Soup

When I made my Caldo Verde soup a week or two ago, my co-worker told me about a similar soup and how much he loved it at Olive Garden.  I decided I would try it next time I made soup.  As I was feeling "under the weather", today was the day.  Soup seemed appropriate even though my taste/smell functions were semi-muted at this point...

Most of the recipes I looked at were very close so I just went with this one.  (I use their Szechuan green beans recipe and it's delicious).  I followed it and used all the ingredients but I used a small bunch of kale and 5 cloves of garlic.  I also used 6 cups of broth and no water like the recipe did.  My measurements in everything else were close to the recipe.  I also had a couple cheese rinds (Parmesan & Gruyere) in the freezer, so I tossed those in the broth to enhance the flavor.  I made homemade chicken broth a couple nights before with a leftover Costco chicken in the crock pot.

I started by chopping the onion and kale and mincing the garlic.

I peeled and diced the potatoes then left them sitting in cold water.  I bought "Johnsonville Hot Italian" sausages, removed the casings and started by frying them in my dutch oven.

I broke them up before I started cooking them because they are harder to break up if you leave them shaped like sausages.

I removed the sausage when browned, then sauteed the onions, garlic, chili flakes and oregano.  I deglazed with a half cup of white wine and cooked it out till almost reduced.  I added in all the broth, potatoes and kale and seasoned with freshly cracked kosher salt and peppercorns.  I put the sausage back in.

I brought to a boil and then covered it and simmered for 40 minutes.  At that time, I removed from the heat, added in the cream, stirred and served.

The sausage gave it so much flavor, that's why I used Johnsonville.  There was a good "kick" from those and the chili flakes.  The broth was a big part in the good taste too.  I could subtly taste the Parmesan.  I saw that some recipes used real bacon bits on the top and I probably would have done that, had I been feeling better.  Next time...