Italian Sausage Soup

1-2 TBS olive oil
1 pound of Italian sausage (hot or mild)
1 clove of garlic, minced (or 1 tsp)
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cans chicken broth (or beef or vegetable) + 1 can water
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (could use Italian-style and omit spices)
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp of red pepper (but not if you use hot Italian sausage!)
2 large carrots, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 14.5 oz can of great Northern beans (or kidney beans)
2 small zucchini, cubed
2 cups spinach–packed, rinsed, and torn
As many cooked pasta shells as you want to make (I do at least 4 cups dry)

1. Heat olive oil in large enough pan to hold lots of soup. Saute onions and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes. If you have some green bell pepper, you could chop that up and throw it in too. The great thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much use what you have. If you don’t have some of the ingredients, no big deal. I have made this several ways with various ingredients. At bare minimum I would want at least the Italian sausage (of course!), broth, some kind of tomatoes, some kind of beans, carrots, some spices, and some sort of small pasta (mostly for the kids’ sake). You could also skip this saute step and just throw the onions and garlic in with the sausage when you cook it. I am just extra cautious about making sure the onion is soft because Scott is very picky about onions. That’s also why I use a small amount of onion. If you like you can use a whole onion.
2. Add the sausage and cook until the sausage is browned. While the sausage is browning is when I get the vegetables chopped up and ready to go (with my handy dandy food processor–love it!) When the sausage is ready you can do one of two alternatives. You can put the sausage in a crock pot with the rest of the ingredients (except the pasta shells) and cook it on low all day (or probably on high for 4-5 hours–just guessing here). When dinnertime is coming up, start the pasta shells about 1/2 hour before. You can either stir them into the soup just before eating or leave them separate, which is what we do. That way we each add as much as we want and the kids that won’t eat the soup just eat the plain pasta (tossed with a little olive oil). And there is never enough. I don’t think it matters how much pasta I make, they always want more!
3. If you don’t have time for the crock pot, stir in the broth, tomatoes, carrots, celery, basil, rosemary, sage, and red pepper (if you’re using it, but remember NOT to use it if you are using hot Italian sausage–trust me!). Bring this to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. This is when you want to get your pasta going.
4. Stir in the beans and zucchini, if you’re using it. I usually don’t have zucchini but have added it when I do. Simmer another 15 minutes or so. You can cheat on simmer times a little bit if you’re in a hurry, but the more simmering the better. You could just keep it on until your pasta is ready.
5. If you have some spinach, add that, put the lid on your pot, and cook for 5 more minutes.
6. You can put a little pasta in the bowls and pour the soup over it or just mix some in the pot. Enjoy this delicious, satisfying soup! The kids, other than Gabe, will all eat this, although they mostly just pick out the pasta and a few things like carrots. But I figure at least they are getting some of the vitamins from the juice soaking into the pasta. Scott and I love this and eat every bite and then some more. Scott has a tendency somehow to forget to take leftovers to work for lunch. When this is in the fridge for leftovers, though, no way does he forget it! In fact, a funny coincidence is that just while typing up this recipe he called me from work on his break, while waiting for this to heat up. So good!

(I adapted this from two recipes: Italian Sausage Soup by Karen Marshall from allrecipes.com and Italian Sausage Soup by Chris Jordan from Work It, Mom!)

~ by Kathy on June 17, 2008.