Zuppa Toscana

I grew kale in my garden this year for the first time. This sent me on the hunt for some kale recipes. I found this Olive Garden copycat Zuppa Toscana aka Tuscan Soup, and had heard of before but never tried it. I used spicy sausage and left the peel on the potatoes. My entire family enjoyed this soup, which means it gets added to the blog. With some focaccia bread on the side, mmmmm!!!

Zuppa Toscana

lecremedelacrumb.com

1 pound spicy or mild Italian ground sausage

4 TBSPs butter 

1/2 white onion, diced

1 TBSP minced garlic

6 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

4/5 yellow potatoes, washed and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tsps salt or to taste

1 tsp black pepper

2 cups heavy cream

4 cups chopped kale

Chopped bacon and grated parmesan cheese for topping, optional

1. In a large pot, sauté sausage 5-6 minutes until browned. Use a slotted spoon to transfer sausage to a plate and set aside. Remove any grease that is left.

2. In the same pot, add butter and sauté onions over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for another minute until fragrant. Add chicken broth, water, potatoes, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.

3. Boil until potatoes are tender, check with a fork at about 10 minutes. Stir in kale and heavy cream. Add sausage. If you want to remove some of the grease, see my note at the bottom. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve garnished with bacon and grated parmesan cheese if desired. 

Note: Sausage is greasy and the spicy variety leaves an orange layer that hangs out at the top of the soup. I removed some of this fat with a gravy separator. I scooped the top layer as best as I could with a ladle, poured it into my gravy separator, and let it sit for a few minutes to let the grease rise to the top. Then poured the liquid back in. I added a picture of it below.

Another note: When recipes call for chicken broth, I usually substitute water and chicken bullion which works well in this soup.