Italian Tuscany Soup Recipe

My wife loves this soup. She had it at a famous restaurant a few times and asked me if I could make it for her. So with my passion of cooking and my love for her, I topped myself. What’s great about this recipe are a few things. #1) you control the heat #2) you can add as much sausage as you want. #3) there will never be any leftovers. How you doing? And by the way this is a B.L.D. Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner. Depending on how cold it will be when you wake up in the morning. Enjoy everyone.

Ingredients:

1lb ground Italian Sweet Sausage (remove from casing and crumble)

1 ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 large diced white onion (sweet)

4 slices of thick bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

2 tsp. garlic puree (or mash fresh garlic into puree)

10 cups of Chicken Broth (Homemade or store bought Low Sodium)

2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin  olive oil

1 Cup heavy cream

6 large Russet Potatoes (slice into 1/2" rounds) Leaving skins on!

1 bag of Fresh Kale

In a 12qt. stock pot, add olive oil and bring to medium heat.

Add Italian sweet sausage (casings removed)  and crushed red pepper into pot.

Cook until sausage is no longer pink, constantly stirring and crumbling , leaving large chunks or to your liking.

When sausage is cooked, remove sausage with a slotted spoon,

Draining excess fat and place into a covered bowl.

Refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.

In the same pot, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat

For approximately 15 minutes or until the onions are soft.

Add the 10 cups of chicken broth to the pot and bring to a  boil.

Now, lower the heat to medium.

Add the sliced potatoes and cover pot and cook until soft, about fifteen minutes.(you don't want the potatoes falling apart)

Stir gently at half way point making sure not to break potatoes into pieces.

At this point, take cold sausage from refrigerator and add to pot and bring to a low simmer.

Slowly add the heavy cream and stir until thoroughly mixed.(Do not break up potato slices)

Ladle soup into warm bowls and top with fresh kale. Yumy!

Now you can serve this to your friends and family...and of course save a bowl for yourself!

Suggestion:  Serve with soft Italian bread or breadsticks for dunking into soup.

Or you can lightly toast some Italian bread slices and place them on the bottom before ladling soup on top.

ENJOY!