My favorite soup from Olive Garden is the Zuppa Toscana. I really like the gnocchi one too but the sausage and kale really make me feel like family. We all want to make our favorite dishes at home. This is one that can be done fairly easily. It has a handful of ingredients that are probably already in your kitchen.
As with any soup we need a good broth or stock to start with. I chose chicken stock for my rendition. Veggie broth would be a good base as well. Beef would be too strong of flavor for this. It really is a delicate broth with strong ingredients.
Italian sausage is the meat and it can be either spicy or regular. It is most commonly made with pork but you could find a mixed meat variety if you wanted. I use a bit of bacon in my soup so the pork sausage goes well. Kale is the veg. There are a few varieties of kale so pick whatever you like or is on sale. I like the lacinato or dinosaur kale. It is a bit more tender than regular kale so it gets sexy in less time. It also holds it’s structure better. Soggy kale is not a thing we are looking for. OK, let’s get into what I came up with. Yes, I read 87 recipes. Yes I took what I wanted from several of them. I wanted to make a giant pot of this so that is what I based the ingredient levels on. Here we go!
10 cups of broth-chicken or vegetable
2 medium yellow onions diced and 3 cloves of garlic minced
almost 2 pounds of baby potatoes- any potato will work
1 pound spicy Italian sausage-remove it from the casing if you have links
6 to 8 slices of bacon cut into small strips
1 small bunch of kale-mine had 8 stalks and it was almost enough for my taste
Heavy cream, half and half or milk, whichever you have on hand. I didn’t measure this but I didn’t use more than a cup.
I started by cooking the sausage with some added red pepper flakes over medium heat until it was browned. This gives a nice layer of fat for everything else to cook in. When the sausage is brown take it out of the pot and put it on some paper towels. Toss in the bacon and let it get crispy. Put the bacon with the sausage on the paper. Put the onion and garlic into that hot pork fat and let them get soft. Once the onions are soft add the potatoes and give them a sizzle. The edges should brown up nicely before we carry on. Once the taters are sexy pour the broth over and set it to simmer.
While the potatoes are simmering let’s prep the kale. Rinse and remove as much of the stalk and stems as you can and rip it up. It doesn’t have to be pretty, just bite sized. It will cook down a bit so don’t make baby bites!
When the potatoes are firm but not soft add the kale, sausage and bacon and simmer for another 10 or so minutes. It is important that the potatoes are not too soft as the continued cooking will turn them to mush. We don’t want the kale to get too soft either, so keep watch.
When the kale has the bite that makes your mouth happy, it’s ready. If you think of it make some toasty bread with fancy butter or a salad or both. I usually just do the bread and fancy butter. If I have some Parmesan cheese I will sprinkle that over top. Fresh cracked black pepper is always nice.
It is always soup season! If you don’t have Olive Garden ingredients this soup can still be delicious. Ground pork or chorizo would be great but any meat or no meat would be tasty. Meat other than pork will need a pinch more seasoning but nothing fancy.
Make your favorite soup and salad. Stir up a compound butter and slather it on nice thick slices of crusty bread. Enjoy your kitchen!
Ali's Kitchen 