ZUPPA TOSCANA

Change of plans… I was going to try a steak with Port and dried cherries but then this happened:

and I decided that it was a soup kind of day.  I was inspired by a recipe on Pastaprincessandmore.wordpress.com to make Zuppa Toscana.  If you haven’t visited her site, then I highly recommend stopping by her blog.  If I knew where she lived I’d be stopping by for dinner because just the photographs of her food make me hungry (and more than a little embarrassed about my food presentation).  This soup is a nice thick winter soup and I baked a couple of loaves of French bread to go with it.

Zuppa Toscana with fresh French bread

ZUPPA TOSCANA

1 lb          Sweet Italian Sausage, remove casings
½ tsp       Red pepper flakes
½ lb         Bacon
1              White onion, large, chopped
3-4           Cloves garlic
½ Cup      White Wine
3 Cans     Chicken broth (14.5 oz)
4              Potatoes (medium size), thinly sliced
¾ Cup      Heavy cream
2 Cups     Kale, chopped using just leafy part

Using a dutch oven or deep, heavy skillet, cook Italian sausage with red pepper flakes over med-high heat until sausage is just cooked.  Remove to a small bowl.

In the same skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon to dice it and drain off all but a few tablespoons of bacon fat.  Sauté onions in bacon fat until translucent, then add garlic for a few minutes.  Add wine to deglaze the pan, scrapping up bacon bits.

Add diced bacon, sausage,  and chicken broth to skillet with onions & garlic. Bring to a boil.  Add potato slices until tender (about 15-20 minutes).  Reduce heat to medium, add cream and kale for about 5 minutes.