Zuppa Toscana - Soup Weather!

A dear friend (Thank you, Sherry!) took me to the Olive Garden and to see the Nutcracker ballet. It was such a special treat! And while I loved the Toscana soup that I had at the restaurant, it was very sparse on ingredients. It was mainly a bowl of broth with a couple of bits of taters and meat. I thought how delicious it could be if were chock full of goodies, a really hearty soup for a winter meal. I found a wonderful recipe for the soup HERE at FarmsteadChic. She used coconut milk in the base so that the soup would be dairy-free. I don't care about dairy-free, I just love coconut milk in soups! So, I took her ingredients and adapted the soup to my tastes. (recipe at bottom of page)

 The first step is to drizzle about a Tbsp of olive oil into a heavy pan and brown one pound of sausage. We still have sausage from our own hogs, so I used that. If I were to buy it, I love Jimmy Dean Bulk Italian, or the Sage variety. She has you cook it on med-high for 5-7 minutes.  I've found that cooking our sausage over high heat at the beginning to form a crust, and then turning to med low makes the meat shrink less and be less likely to get a tough, chewy texture. You cook it how you like.

 Remove the browned sausage and add some olive oil to the sausage drippings. Turn the heat to med-high and add one large chopped onion, 3 minced cloves of garlic, and 1Tbsp Italian seasoning. She adds 1 tsp crushed red pepper, but this was too much for my family. When using crushed pepper it releases it's oils throughout the cooking time, and the heat can sneak up on you. If you are uncertain if you will like that much heat, I wait until the end and add a sprinkle of ground Cayenne pepper. With the ground spice you can taste it and add more until it is to your personal heat level. While the onion cooks you can be chopping 2.5-3 pounds of unpeeled red potatoes while the onions and garlic soften and brown. And yes, red potatoes really do make a difference in taste and texture if you can be troubled to find them!

 Now you are going to add 6 cups of chicken broth. I save the broth off of the chickens that I pressure cook, and freeze it in mason jars. However, when I don't have any jarred, I use a powdered bullion by Knorr. It is honestly the very best bullion I have ever tried. When my hubby was having cancer treatments and was not able to eat much, he could sip a cup of this bullion broth and said it actually tasted good to him. 

Add one can of full fat coconut milk to the broth in the pot, and stir in well. Add salt to taste. She doesn't season until the end, but I like to have my vegetables cooked with the salt already applied. That way they take in the flavor as they cook and don't taste bland. Bring this to a boil and tossed in your cubed taters. Reduce the heat, put on a lid, and simmer the soup for about 10 minutes, while you chop your kale.

 I tried shredding the kale in two ways. First I chopped the long stems into pieces and held the stem section and used my other hand to pull off the leafy sides, as in the picture above. This worked fine. But what turned out to be best way was to lay each long leaf out and run my knife along both sides of the stem, extracting it. Then I could just tear the leafy sides into bite sized bits over the pot. However you do it, add the kale to the broth that is simmering. Her recipe says 5 ounces of kale, but I am certain that I threw in more. Greens cook down a huge amount, and you can add as much as you see fit. Add the sausage back in.

 Simmer the soup over low for approximately 5 more minutes, until the taters can be easily pierced with a fork, and the kale is tender. Then you can adjust the salt and pepper to taste. Here is where I add in my red cayenne powder. I think the cayenne gives the perfect kind of heat and tastes amazing with the coconut milk in the broth.

All you need to compliment this wonderful wintry meal is a loaf of hot crusty bread. This soup is just as hearty, chunky, and filling as I had hoped. Perfect after a day of cutting wood, or an evening of Christmas shopping. Soup weather is here to stay and I hope you'll try this one. It really is so much better than anything you will get in a restaurant, right in the comfort of your own home !

Zuppa Toscana 
 olive oil
1 lb Jimmy Dean Italian bulk sausage 
1 large onion, chopped 
3 cloves minced garlic
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
6 cups chicken broth
1 can full fat coconut milk
2.5-3 lb red potatoes, unpeeled but chopped
1 bunch fresh Kale 
salt, pepper, cayenne to taste

Brown sausage in heavy pot, remove to bowl. Add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning to drippings and saute. Add broth and coconut milk, salt to taste, bring to simmer. Add potatoes and cook about 10 minutes. Add chopped or torn kale and sausage and cook about 5 more minutes will both are tender. Adjust seasonings.

(For more in depth directions, see the main body of the post.)
Enjoy!