Zuppa Toscana

Heed my words, people, you want to make this soup. It's the most delicious thing I've made in a long time, and it was not very hard to make. You can do the whole thing in 1 big stock pot, so the clean up is easier than you'd expect. Apparently, the source blog tells me, it's based on some soup from the Olive Garden, but I haven't been there in years, so I can't verify this.





















This was the first time I'd ever done anything with collard greens, and it turns out I really like it. It holds up a lot better than spinach would in this soup.

















After we opened it to put in the soup, we realized that the white wine we bought was from the Wayne Gretzsky Estate. It wasn't great, but it was fine for the soup.

















We added mushrooms because they're cheap at Costco and we basically put them in everything. One thing I liked about this recipe was that even though it calls for some cream, it's not so much a cream-based soup. There are several cups of other liquid, so the cream isn't the star. I'm sure you could use half-and-half, too, but I had cream left from "Thanksgiving," so we used that.


















That cheese above was not actually in the soup, it was just something we snacked on while cooking.

















This recipe makes a lot of soup, and we were thrilled about that after we tasted it. It's all I wanted to eat for the past 3 days.
















I will probably make it again before the holidays to freeze and keep on hand. Using turkey sausage and half and half would really help make it better for you.


Zuppa Toscana,
from Annie's Eats.

Ingredients:
1 lb. Italian sausage (or half regular, half turkey sausage)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup white wine to deglaze the pan
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 russett potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks
2 cups fresh collard greens, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
2.5 cups water
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Place a large stockpot or Dutch oven on the stove over medium heat. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook until well browned. Remove the cooked sausage from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl; set aside. Add the chopped onion to the pan and sauté until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for a minute more, just until fragrant. Add the wine to the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Add the potatoes, collard greens, chicken broth and water to the pot. Return the sausage to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer on medium-low. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender and cooked through. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.