Have a Little Zuppa

A couple decades ago, my first choice for lunch with my girlfriends was always Olive Garden. I usually ordered the Soup, Salad & Breadsticks. I think it cost about $5. So cheap and so all-you-can-eat.

You had a choice of three different kinds of soup - a Minestrone, the Pasta e Fagioli, and the Zuppa Toscana. The first bowl that they brought out was filled with a healthy portion of the soup, and all the subsequent bowls were slightly smaller. And you could switch soups in the middle of the meal. I mainly stuck with the Minestrone and the Pasta e Fagioli - the Toscana with the sausage and potato sounded, well, odd.

It was a great meal - all that soup, plus the yummy salad and breadsticks. Aaahh, the breadsticks. I would dip them in the rich, tomato-y broth and then order more. After Troy came along, he showed me an even better way. He'd ask for a dish of Alfredo sauce and that's what we'd dip our breadsticks in. Alfredo sauce! Can you imagine? Mmmmmm.

Finally, during one visit to the Olive Garden, the waitress convinced me to branch out of my tomato-broth soup rut and "just try" the Zuppa Toscana. She gave me her word, it was the best soup they had.

She was right.

I'd never get another kind of soup there again.

This stuff is deee-licious. It's a thin, creamy broth, with chunks of potatoes, skin on, spicy sausage, and kale. Yeah, I'd never had kale either, but don't be afraid...it's fine. It's slightly crunchy, like the skins left on the potatoes, and it makes the soup beautiful. The hot Italian sausage is perfect with the mild potatoes, and the broth is light and smooth. Have I convinced you yet?

Then a few years ago, someone at church passed around a copy of "Toscana Soup". The recipe is spot-on for copying Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana. I make it for my family, and they all love it - even the picky one.

I whipped up a big pot of it today and thought of you. Make some soon and totally impress the ones you love. It's that good.

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Zuppa Toscana

3 cans of chicken broth

1/4 cup heavy cream

4-5 medium russet potatoes

2 cups chopped kale

1/2 pound ground spicy Italian sausage

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

bacon - the real stuff, crumbled

Brown the sausage in a skillet. Drain it well - I've even squeezed it in a paper towel. Set aside.

Combine the broth and the cream in a saucepan over medium heat.

Slice the unpeeled potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, quarter them, and add them to the soup.

Add the kale.

Add the sausage.

Add the salt and the crushed red pepper. Add more if you like. I do.

Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

Just before serving, sprinkle with the bacon. The bacon adds a terrific flavor and some bright color.

Bask in the compliments.

(Note: you can play with these ingredients all you want. If you like more meat, use the whole pound. Use as many potatoes as you have on hand. I always chop the entire thing of kale. Keep the broth and cream ratio the same. Doubling the recipe is good...doubling means leftovers.)

Oh, and to make it all more interesting...here's a few pix.

This is what the kale looks like in the grocery stores. I haven't seen it at Walmart in a while, but Harmon's always has it. I think it's pretty enough to be called a bouquet of kale. So put that on your shopping list: a bouquet a kale.

I seriously think this is an interesting vegetable. Isn't it pretty, all curly like this? Oh, and it may be the only saving grace of this soup, health-wise. It's a nutritional powerhouse.

See that middle spine/stem lookin' thing? I just slice the leaves away from that, and chop 'em. Doesn't have to be neat.

This is not the nutritional powerhouse. It's the taste powerhouse.

All put together, ready to simmer. Isn't that pretty? You can see a few of the red pepper flakes. The kale will cook down some and turn a little bit darker green.

See what I mean about the bacon adding just the right amount of color?

It could be a Christmas soup.

Beautiful.

Have a bite.

And make sure you have some floss handy.