Italian Sausage Soup
1 pound ground Italian sausage
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3 leaves fresh basil
1 15-ounce can butter beans
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1 15-ounce can black beans (beans may be substituted with beans of your choice)
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
Cook sausage until brown, add garlic and basil. Saute 4 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients: beans, tomato, broth.
Cover and simmer 10 to 15 minutes, then remove from heat.
Serve in soup bowl; sprinkle with cheese and serve with Italian bread, garlic bread or panini bread.
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Lentil Sausage Soup
1 pound French green lentils
¼ cup olive oil, plus extra for serving
4 cups diced yellow onions (3 large)
4 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts only (2 leeks)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 large cloves)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
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1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups medium diced celery (8 stalks)
3 cups medium diced carrots (4 to 6 carrots)
3 quarts homemade chicken stock or canned broth
¼ cup tomato paste
1 pound kielbasa, cut in ½ inch lengthwise and sliced 1/3-inch thick
2 tablespoons dry red wine or red wine vinegar
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Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving
In a large bowl, cover the lentils with boiling water and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drain.
In a large stockpot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and saute the onions, leeks, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and cumin for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are translucent and tender. Add the celery and carrots and saute for another 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and drained lentils, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour or until the lentils are cooked through and tender. Check the seasonings. Add the kielbasa and red wine and simmer until the kielbasa is hot. Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with grated Parmesan.
Yield: Serves 8 to 10.
Creamy Potato Sausage Soup
3 links sweet Italian sausage
2 medium baking potatoes, cut in half lengthwise
2 to 3 slices bacon, diced
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¾ cup onions, diced
1 medium to large clove garlic, minced
2 cups escarole, chopped, or kale, cut in half, then sliced
2 tablespoons chicken base
4 cups water
½ cup whipping cream
Remove sausage from casings; brown in a skillet, breaking up, until cooked through.
Place onions and bacon in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat until onions are tender. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add chicken base, water and potatoes, simmer 15 minutes. Add sausage, kale and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve.
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Yield: Serves 5.
Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 10- to 11-ounce fully cooked smoked Portuguese linguiça sausage or chorizo sausage, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams; about 2 large), peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices
1 pound white-skinned potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 9-ounce bag fresh spinach
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook until brown, stirring often, about 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to paper towels to drain. Add onions and garlic to pot and cook until translucent, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add all potatoes and cook until beginning to soften, stirring often, about 12 minutes. Add broth; bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Using potato masher, mash some of potatoes in pot. Add browned sausage to soup. Stir in spinach and simmer just until wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls and serve.
Hearty Kale and Sausage Soup
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 links linguica, chorizo, or other spicy sausage, split along the length and sliced ½-inch thick
1 onion, diced
3 small or 2 medium red-skinned potatoes, skin left on and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch (about 1 pound) kale, preferably cavolo nero, halved and chopped into thin ribbons
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 rind Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (optional)
1 can white beans, like navy, cannellini, or great northern, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper to taste
Set a Dutch oven or large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the sausage and saute until the sausage is golden brown on all sides. Remove the sausage and drain on a paper towel.
Reduce heat to medium and add the onion. Saute until the onion is translucent and then add the potatoes, about 5 minutes. Saute until the edges of the potatoes are starting to turn transparent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add ¼ cup of chicken broth and the kale to the pot. Stir to coat everything with chicken broth and then cover the pot with a lid. Stir the kale every three minutes until it is barely tender, adding more broth as needed if the pot becomes dry, about 12 minutes total.
Add the rest of the broth, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, cheese rind, and 2 teaspoons of salt. If the veggies aren't quite covered, add extra broth or water. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until the kale is completely tender and the potatoes are cooked through. Add the sausage and white beans. Remove bay leaf and cheese rind. Taste for seasonings and salt.
Serve this soup in individual bowls with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top and a crusty slice of bread to sop up the broth at the bottom of the bowl.
Yield: Serves 4 to 6.
Polish Sausage Soup
½ pound smoked Polish sausage, cubed
1 14½-ounce can Cajun-style stewed tomatoes
1 11½-ounce cancondensed bean with bacon soup, undiluted
1 14¾-ounce can condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
2 cups water
½ teaspoon dried basil
In a large saucepan brown sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until heated through.
Yield: Serves 6.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 255 calories, 14 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 33 milligrams cholesterol, 1,305 milligrams sodium, 23 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 9 grams protein.
Cabbage, Sausage and Vegetable Soup
2 packages smoked sausage, sliced
1 pound carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 pounds potatoes, cubed
4 14½-ounce cans stewed tomatoes
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons beef broth
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
Cut up sausage in bite-size slices and brown them in 8 quart pan, then start adding onions, carrots, cabbage, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste and seasonings. Potatoes can wait until very last to put in or they cook away. Bring all ingredients to a boil and then simmer for one or two hours.
Yield: Serves 20.
German Potato-Sausage Soup
12 ounces uncooked bulk turkey sausage
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1¾ cups less-sodium beef stock
½ cup light beer or non-alcoholic beer
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 cup small broccoli florets
2 cups shredded cabbage
1½ cups fat-free milk
In a 4-quart Dutch oven, cook sausage, mushrooms, onion and celery over medium heat until sausage is browned, stirring to break up sausage as it cooks. Drain off fat.
Add caraway seeds and pepper to sausage mixture in Dutch oven. Add beef stock and beer; bring to boiling. Add potatoes. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add broccoli. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes more or until potatoes and broccoli are tender.
Stir cabbage and milk into sausage-broccoli mixture. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or just until cabbage is tender and soup is heated through.
Yield: Serves 6.
Approximate nutritional analysis per serving: 179 calories, 5 grams fat (1 gram saturated), 44 milligrams cholesterol, 522 milligrams sodium, 16 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 17 grams protein.
Tomato, Rice and Sausage Soup
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound sausage
½ yellow onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
½ cup long-grain white rice
½ teaspoon apple cider or white vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat oil in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high until hot. Cook sausage, stirring occasionally, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion, and garlic. Cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until onion is tender.
Add tomatoes, stock, and rice; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is plump, about 20 minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Creamy Tomato Basil and Italian Sausage Soup
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage
10 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (stacked, rolled and thinly sliced)
1 26-ounce jar of your favorite pasta sauce or homemade sauce
1 cup water
1½ cups half and half
Pinch of salt and pepper
Place olive oil into a medium-sized Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook sausage until browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in basil leaves, pasta sauce, water, half and half, salt and pepper. Cook until warm then reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to serve.
Yield: Serves 4.
Mushroom, Fennel and Sausage Soup
1 pound cremini mushrooms (baby bellas), cleaned and quartered
½ bulb fresh fennel, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil (divided use)
½ teaspoon herbes de Provence
½ teaspoon black pepper (divided use)
½ pound Italian sausage, sweet or hot, sliced
¼ white onion, peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 14-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon sundried tomato paste
¼ cup sherry
1 quart chicken broth
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon coarse salt (or to taste)
In a zip bag, marinate the mushrooms and fennel with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, herbes, and ¼ teaspoon of the black pepper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to overnight.
In a soup pot, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat. Add the Italian sausage and cook for 3 or 4 minutes to give it some color.
Add the onions and garlic and continue to cook until they are translucent, about 2 or 3 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the sherry.
Add the mushrooms and fennel and cook until soft, another 5 minutes or so.
Add the tomatoes, garlic and onion powders, remaining salt and pepper, tomato paste and chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for another 20 minutes or so.
Serve hot.
Yield: Serves 4.
Note: For a vegetarian option to this delicious soup, simply substitute 1 14-ounce can of soy beans, rinsed and drained, for the sausage and substitute mushroom or vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
Tuscan-Style Bean and Sausage Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ pounds sweet, American-style Italian link sausages, casings removed
4 15.5-ounce cans cannellini beans, undrained
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, minced
2 medium onions, peeled, medium dice
2 medium carrots, peeled, medium dice
2 medium celery stalks, outer strings removed, finely diced
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 quart chicken stock
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 dried bay leaf
Freshly ground pepper, a few generous twists
Heat oil in a large, deep Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the sausages. Turn links until well-browned on all sides -- sausages will not be fully cooked. Remove pot from heat. Remove the sausages, cool briefly on paper toweling, then cut into ¼-inch slices.
In a large bowl, mash two cans of the beans into a chunky paste. Do not puree. Add the 2 additional cans of beans to the mashed mixture and set aside.
While sausages are cooling, return the pot to a burner and set to medium flame to reheat the oil and pan drippings. Add the prosciutto, onions, carrots, celery and thyme. Saute mixture until vegetables turn a medium-brown. Toss in the garlic and cook briefly. Do not brown.
Add the chicken stock, whole and mashed beans, rosemary sprigs, bay leaf and sausage. Add freshly ground pepper, to taste; it will mellow during the cooking process if you add it at this point, giving flavor, not a spicy heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, partially covered, for at about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.
Remove the Dutch oven from heat and let rest (off the stove) at least 20 minutes. Remove rosemary sprigs and bay leaf; serve hot in your largest soup bowls. Garnish suggestion: include a twist of prosciutto and a couple fresh rosemary springs, just to break the beige landscape.
