Recipes

I found myself, in the long drought of not writing, coming back here, once in awhile to look for drink recipes. I'm glad I saved some of my favorites. I think, in light of how useful that turned out to be, I'm gonna peg some of my cooking successes here.

For instance, the other night, I made this soup, it's an Italian sausage and greens soup, loosely based on Olive Garden's zuppa toscana.

I say loosely based, because I ate it there, decided I loved it, and tried to replicate it, years ago. What I came up with was 50 times better. My latest incarnation of it was THE BEST, so I'm gonna document it.

No, this isn't an exact recipe, it's like a cooking memo, to myself.



6 link of hot Italian sausage, removed from its casing
1 Yukon Gold potato (I'm thinking about doing away with potatoes all together sometime, and subbing in a can of cannelini)
1 piece of bacon, chopped
1/2 of a small onion, minced finely
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of white wine
huge pinch of red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper
about an ounce (a chunk the size of a walnut) of grated parmesan
1 big can of chicken broth, low sodium, or whatever. I really liked Cento brand
pound, pound and a half of roughly chopped Kale
uh, heavy cream...a lot, probably a pint, I didn't measure



Ok:

Have a big soup pot on one burner, and a nonstick pan on the other. Don't turn the pot on yet, you have some frying to do.

Before that, though, take the potato, scrub it good, poke holes in it, and microwave it till it's cooked, like a baked potato.

In the meantime, fry the sausage, till browned and crumbly. I usually make a HUGE patty out of it, in the pan, using two spatulas, then sort of get it mostly cooked that way, then hack it apart using the spatulas, into browny little half-bitesized bits. Drain the sausage over something, in a paper towel, in a colander. Sausage=good Grease=bad. While that's draining, cook the chopped bacon till it gets light brown, then dump the onions and garlic in on top of things. Low heat is good, you don't want brown, you want sauteed. When they're nearly done, dump the white wine in, and sort of deglaze the pan.

Remember the potato? Should be cool enough to handle by now, if you started it before everything else. Dice it up into half inch cubes.

Into the pot goes the sausage, the deglazed wine/onion/garlic/bacon mix, potato cubes, and the can of chicken broth. Add the parmesan, finely chopped or shredded, along with a healthy pinch of red pepper flakes, and a good generous amount of black pepper. Let it come to a low boil, then add the chopped kale. Let it simmer with the kale for like 10-15 minutes, till it looks good and wilty, then add enough heavy cream to fill it out, and make it look creamy. Let it get hot and bubbling again.


Best served with a loaf of crusty-untoasted bread, and an awesome Mozzarella Caprese salad.